Incorporating Physical Activity Into Daily Learning
As a child growing up in a small town, I pretty much had the run of the place—keep in mind, this was in the 70s.
I played at all of the parks, walked by myself everywhere, went to friends houses unannounced, cross-country skied on the golf course across the highway, swam in the outdoor pool every waking hour it was open, played hockey at every outdoor rink, and sled down every hill in or just outside of town. I was virtually never home from the age of six onward.
The only expectations were to finish my homework, be home for dinner and be home again for a 9 o’clock bedtime. My childhood was an amazingly independent and active experience!
As you would know, times have changed drastically. Children now mostly have play dates planned ahead of time, are not allowed to wander their neighbourhood, must play in their own backyard (if they have one), and have their parents or a babysitter present for any/all organized sports they might have the opportunity to be involved in.
While these children may be considered the “lucky ones,” some families do not have the means to have their children in any form of peer group activity, outside of school, and this means that these children often do not even leave their house with the exception of attending school.
As a teacher, I meet more and more students who fall into the latter category. Many families are struggling financially, work multiple jobs, and have little time and/or resources to help their children experience the world outside of their own homes.
Often these kids are latch-key, at home on their own with an older sibling, while mom and dad continue to work into the night. Without the internal impetus to get up off the couch and off the video game(s), these children are not getting the physical activity they need to lead long healthy lives.
At school, teachers can help all children develop healthy daily physical activity by making it part of their learning routine. For example, my students know that it is work first then play.
Also, longer activities are broken down into impromptu movement challenges to help re-stimulate the body to re-stimulate the brain. Music is played for a short period of time, students may move freely around the room or on the floor and when the music slowly lowers in volume they start walking back to their desks to complete the task.
Once completed and handed in, the students know that can choose their learning and this opens a can of spirited choices which include physical activities in the classroom:
Ping pong
Skipping
Boxing a punching bag
Yoga
Dancing to pre-selected videos
It also gives me as the teacher opportunities to work for short periods of time one-on-one with those students who need various extra learning supports not offered in the grade level instructional time.
Long story short: people require 60 minutes a day of exercise to maintain optimal health.
These sorts of movement activities can be incorporated at home too. Set a timer on your phone, drop everything, get up and move your body for 10 minutes every two hours of the day that you are awake! Since most of us are awake for at least 12 hours a day, we can all hit this target!
After one of your daily movement breaks, you can check out our K-6 Learning Library to stimulate your student or child’s brain with one of our many learning activities!
Thank you for reading this blog post on incorporating physical activity into daily learning.
The lesson plans in our K-6 Learning Library will help you and your child or students right now and for years to come. The best part is you can edit these resources so that your child or students can focus on what they can do right now and build on it rather than internalize that they are not performing at grade level.