1. FITNESS PLAY 2017 Preschoolers
By: Elizabeth Hardee & Bates McKinney

2. Why Is Fitness Play Important?
What was our childhood obesity statistics for Spartanburg County? In an effort to decrease this trend we feel programs should educate participants about making healthy activity choices starting as early as possible.
Childhood Obesity is affecting 28% of 1st graders; 35.1% of 3rd graders & 37.7% of 5th graders in Spartanburg County. This is an unfortunate trend across the nation.

3. Why Is Fitness Play Important?
Fitness education has to be fun, engage participants in a variety of ways & involve parents whenever possible.
When possible combine fitness activities with nutrition education & outdoor education to be most effective.
Playing outside improves academic performance. Studies in the US show that schools that use outdoor classrooms and other forms of nature-based experiential education support significant student gains in social studies, science, language arts, and math. Students in outdoor science programs improved their science testing scores by 27% (American Institutes for Research, 2005).

4. Developmental Milestones for Preschoolers
Developmental Milestones for 4 Year Olds:
Movement milestones
Hops and stands on one foot up to five seconds
Goes upstairs and downstairs without support
Kicks ball forward
Throws ball overhand
Catches bounced ball most of the time
Moves forward and backward with agility
Best Practices for Teaching Fitness to 4 Year Olds:
Physical activity guidelines for preschoolers recommend that each day:
They get at least 60 minutes of structured (adult-led) physical activity
They get at least 60 minutes of unstructured (free play) physical activity
They not be inactive for more than 1 hour at a time unless sleeping
Pair up fitness activities with learning about nutrition. Example: Skip Over the Sugar game where you lay out sugary snacks & teach the kids to skip over it for a better snack. Reinforce concepts from nutrition lessons while being active.
Pair up environmental education with fitness. Example: Do a nature hike, nature scavenger hunt, or set up raised garden beds & allow kids to help garden while doing simple exercises like squatting, stretching, and pulling a rake.
Early learners construct ideas about how the world works through exploration and social interaction; getting kids outside to do both are crucial.

5. How Do We Teach Age Appropriate Fitness Education?
Best Practices for teaching 4 years olds:
Utilize research-based curriculum as often as possible. We utilize Color Me Healthy & Eat Smart Move More Grow Healthy Toolkit. It’s inexpensive & research based!!
Positive, nurturing relationships with adults who engage in responsive conversations with individual children, model reading and writing behavior, and foster children's interest in and enjoyment of reading and writing
Print-rich environments that provide opportunities and tools for children to see and use written language for a variety of purposes, with teachers drawing children's attention to specific letters and words. Use fitness words often.
Adults' daily reading of high-quality books to individual children or small groups, including books that positively reflect children's identity, home language, and culture. Get books that talk about fun sports & fitness concepts.
Opportunities for children to talk about what is read and to focus on the sounds and parts of language as well as the meaning. Have students talk about favorite activities.
Teaching strategies and experiences that develop phonemic awareness, such as songs, fingerplays, games, poems, and stories in which phonemic patterns such as rhyme and alliteration are salient, while using fitness based themes.
Opportunities to engage in play that incorporates physical games like “Red Rover” or “Bubble-Pop.”
Firsthand experiences that expand children's vocabulary, such as trips in the community to local swimming pools, parks, farms and nature based areas for exposure to various tools, objects, and materials.

6. How Do We Teach Fitness & Environmental Education & Make It Fun
Arts/Crafts about physical activity & nature
Relay Races using a variety of concepts
Nature hikes to a variety of local places
Fitness classes like Zumba, dance parties, and
Games that involve teaching sports
Physical activities in nature and exposure to bugs, plants, and water play
Plays/Skits
Online computer games
Traditional lesson plans

7. Visual Play
Great examples of using visual play to teach fitness are visual aids; posters with athletes & sports teams; picture-find games, mini-sports centers & real visual aids of exercises.
Often these activities are done in solitary as a seated learning activity, especially as children reach 4 years old, they can tolerate more independent learning activities. However, the goal is to increase physical activity as much as possible.
Introduce the fitness item by showing them a picture, read about it in a book that has a lot of graphics and have the children share what they know about the particular sports or physical activities.
Have science/outdoor centers that introduce nature concepts.
Pair this up with lots of auditory stimulus to be the most effective.
Activities for teaching 4 year olds:
Singing & Dancing with Color Me Healthy
Jack Be Nimble Jumps-Grow Healthy Toolkit
How Plants Grow-Grow Healthy Toolkit

8. Auditory Play Songs about fitness, nature & being healthy
Musical Chairs-combine
Read fun books about being active, choosing to play outside, camping, hiking, water activities, and anything that connects the concepts
Have kids make up a song about what they have learned based off of fitness activity
Activities for teaching 4 years olds:
Color Me Active “A Visit to Mr. And Mrs. Smith’s Farm”
Color Me Active “What’s Going On At The Park?”
Color Me Active “Climb Every Mountain”

9. Kinesthetic Play
Getting the kids up & moving is huge because our goal is to provide at least 60 minutes of vigorous physical activity
Also, young kids want to touch things and our job is to involve as many of their senses that we can while teaching. Have bean bags, jump ropes, cones, hula-hoops, balls, scarves, bubbles and balloons to make activity fun
Have outside areas designated for digging in sand, raised garden beds, butterfly bushes, water stations, and circular paths to increase activity
Activities for teaching 4 years olds:
Toss the Protein, Veggie Toss, Fruit Toss
Home Olympics
Grow Healthy-Balloon Toss
Nature Scavenger Hunt
Color Me Healthy-I Can Feel My Heart Beat”
Sidewalk Chalk & draw hopscotch

10. Nature Play
Why is it important to include nature based play in your childcare facility?
Today’s children and families often have limited opportunities to connect with the
natural environment.
Supports multiple development domains. Nature is important to children’s development in every major way—intellectually, emotionally, socially, spiritually and physically (Kellert, 2005).
Supports creativity and problem solving. Studies of children in schoolyards found that children engage in more creative forms of play in the green areas. They also played more cooperatively (Bell and Dyment, 2006).
Enhances cognitive abilities. Proximity to, views of, and daily exposure to natural settings increases children’s ability to focus and enhances cognitive abilities (Wells, 2000).
Improves academic performance. Studies in the US show that schools that use outdoor classrooms and other forms of nature-based experiential education support significant student gains in social studies, science, language arts, and math. Students in outdoor science programs improved their science testing scores by 27% (American Institutes for Research, 2005).
Improves nutrition. Children who grow their own food are more likely to eat fruits and vegetables (Bell & Dyment, 2008) and to show higher levels of knowledge about nutrition (Waliczek, & Zajicek, 2006). They are also more likely to continue healthy eating habits throughout their lives (Morris & Zidenberg-Cherr, 2002).

11. Nature Play How Can We Successfully Design Nature Play?
First & foremost we, as childcare providers, need to be comfortable in outdoor settings. Get familiar with insects, plants & species in your environment. The more you know, the less you model fear of nature and the better you can teach about nature.
Communication is key with parents. We want them to know that we will be going outside every day to take advantage of playing in multiple seasons. They will need a schedule ideally one month in advance, but at minimum a weekly schedule, that informs them of activities that require old clothes, tennis shoes, & any other clothing requirement.
Set a schedule to get outside every day during the most comfortable times; for example in hot summer months getting outside early in the day to avoid heat.
Naturalizing outdoor learning environments means bringing back trees, shrubs, perennial plants, vines, and edible plants for children’s enjoyment and healthy development .
Have edible plants, flowers, toddler safe sand and a safe environment that kids can play using their imagination.
Circular paths encourage physical activity

12. Get Moving!!
Model
The most important thing you can do is make fitness & environmental education FUN!!
Engage
Diversify
Be Creative
Teach

13. Classroom Wrap-Up Q&A Complete Grow Healthy “Action Plan” Survey
Thank You!!