Question:
How much physical activity do kids need?
Answer:
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005 recommends that children and adolescents engage in at least 60 minutes of physical activity on most, and ideally all, days of the week. Daily physical activity helps children maintain a healthy weight and reduces their risk for chronic diseases, such diabetes and heart disease. It improves their fitness, relieves stress, builds self esteem and increases their capacity for learning. Along with adequate calcium intake, getting kids up and moving helps them build the strongest bones possible, and most important, it puts them on track for a lifetime of physical activity. Short bursts of physical activity spread throughout the day can all add up to the 60 minutes kids need:
- Add a two-minute fitness break between subjects during the day.
- Make sure that children get out for daily recess, and avoid withholding it as punishment.
- Serve as a role model by joining children in their activities and talking about ways you are physically active.
- Talk about ways children can add more physical activity to their day and have them keep a physical activity log.
- Most important, teach children that a few minutes here and there can add up the 60 or more minutes they need each day.
Related Resources
Physical Activity Brochures for Parents, Teachers
and Principals
Food
and Fitness Relay Activity
Eyewitness
to Fitness Activity
A
Journal of Movement Activity
Making
Fitness Time Together Time Handout (PDF)
Related Book
The Busy Body Book: A Kid's Guide to Fitness
(Booklist Editor's Choice and Books for Youth Awards)
by Lizzy Rockwell
Crown Books for Young Readers, 2004
Kids walk and skate and tumble through the pages as Rockwell explains how their bones and muscles, heart and lungs, and nerves and brain all work together to keep them on the go.
