By: Andra Wilson
It’s important for children to stay physically active year-round, but during the summer months without school PE, recess, and after school sports, there may be more time for sedentary activities like watching television, computer games, and video games.
Here are some recommendations for the amount of physical activity children should accumulate each day to reap health and behavioral benefits.
National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) Guidelines:
- Toddlers (ages one to three) minimum of 30 minutes of structured physical activity daily
- Preschoolers (ages three to five) at least 60 minutes of structured physical activity daily
- Elementary school-aged children should accumulate 60 minutes of developmental and age-appropriate physical activity each day
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
Young people (ages six to 19) engage in at least 60 minutes of physical activity on most, preferably all, days. Adults need 2 ½ hours per week of physical activity
4 Summertime activity tips:
1. Change “Go play outside” to “LET’S play outside”. Play with your children. Sounds simple, but parents need to find time to do this over the summer as often as possible. While telling your children to go outside and play is well intended, going with them and engaging in games will bring the family together. This way, the whole family gets a few more minutes of physical activity and quality time together.
2. Be Creative! Create a family sports/activity “summer-league”. Pick a few favorite sports or active games that your family likes to play together. Create a team name, practice schedule, game schedule, and goals for physical activity minutes. Play for fun, track your progress, and at the end of the “season” celebrate your family’s physical activity progress with a fun family outing.
3. Limit screen time as a family. Two hours or less a day. Help children find the fun in other activities at home. Parents need to unplug and limit screen and phone time as well. It goes a long way to be able switch “because I said so” to “because we do so”. Model this and children will follow your lead.
4. Offer variety. Plan a variety of dates with friends, picnics, and summer camps for your children. Meet at the beach or a park on a regular basis with friends, and choose a variety of camps, classes, or leagues offered over the summer. Choose programs or locations that offer children a variety of physical activities with plenty of space and opportunities to run and explore.
For more information on SBFitKidz camps, classes & programs visit:
www.sbfitkidz.com sbfitkidz@gmail.com 805.705.1661
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