By Faith Barbare, Owner and Certified Personal Trainer and Fitness Nutrition Specialist at SimplyFit
It comes as no surprise that there has been an overwhelming increase in childhood obesity over the years. Children have a natural instinct to get up and get moving, but with today’s technology and the need to meet curriculum standards, children are spending less time performing physical activities.
Since 1990, the obesity rate in children has grown at an alarming 60%. As teachers, it should be part of our mission to get our class up and moving as much as possible. Children are full of energy and allowing them to use fitness as an outlet can go a long way in the classroom. Allowing them to get out their wiggles in a structured way helps them stay focused and can make nap time easier for everyone involved.
Fitness in the classroom is also a great way for kids to reduce stress while working on their social, emotional, and mental development. Getting preschool kids active in structured play helps them learn to work with their classmates and follow instructions. Keeping children active at a young age can reduce their risk of health problems as adults; such as, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and mental illnesses. Getting children involved with fitness in the classroom builds a strong foundation that will be beneficial for years to come. As a former pre-school teacher, I wanted to share some of the games and activities that I used to use to get my students moving.
Fitness Lesson Plan Ideas
Class Activities
The National Association of Sports and Physical Education recommends that children get 60 minutes of structured play and 60 minutes of free play each day. Structured play is playing with a purpose and is teacher lead.
Here are some great ideas to get your preschoolers moving and learning at the same time.
- Kids Yoga – A great circle time activity to get the kids moving while keeping them calm at the same time. For younger children, I recommend turning the poses into kid-friendly names. For example, a “squat pose” might be referred to as “squatting like a frog”. You can find fun ways to make the yoga moves fit into your unit for the week.
- Paper Plate Skating – Allow kids to grab their paper plate skates and glide around the classroom. You can play Follow the Leader on your skates for extra fun.
- Follow the Leader – A great game to play in or out of the classroom. This game is great for rainy days as well. Encourage your class to pick fitness activities to move to like hopping, jogging or skipping.
- Not Your Average Nature Hunt – Take your class for a nature hunt outdoors. While on your hunt use different fitness activities (hopping, jogging, running, etc.) to transition to each item.
- ABC Exercise Cards – Help your children learn while they play. These exercise cards keep them moving while learning the letters of the alphabet. The possibilities are endless with the things you can do with these cards.
Small-Group Activities
- Fitness Jenga – Get out the Jenga blocks and get ready to get moving. Write a fitness activity on each block. You can get inspired here. Play the game as you normally would except stop to act out each activity on the blocks the kids pull out. For younger kids, you can lay all the blocks flat and let them pick a block and perform the activity without placing the blocks on top of each other.
- Spin The Exercise – Find a blank spinner board, print two and fill in one with different exercises and one with numbers from 1 – 10 or print off this premade one here. Each kid takes a turn spinning for the exercise and again for the number of reps. Have everyone in the small group join in on the fun by performing each move together.
- Down On the Farm Activity Cards – Finding fun ways to get kids moving that relate to their weekly unit is a plus for everyone. I found these super cute activity cards to be used during farm week or just for fun. From galloping like a horse to flapping like a chicken, your class is sure to have fun with this one.
- Foam Dice – There are tons of learning games where you can use dice. When I run across those games, I like to bring out the big dice. This gets the kids up out of their chairs and moving while learning a lesson at the same time. Here is a fun counting game for your class.
- Fitness Dice – Print off these fun activity blocks and allow your class to roll their fitness activity along with the length of time they do the activity. Who’s up for a crab walk?
Music and Movement
One of the best ways to get kids moving is by turning on the music. It’s a natural feeling to want to get up and dance. There are plenty of options to keep things interesting. From freeze dance to learning new moves to a song, there is something for every age.
- Freeze Dance – Just pop on a song and let the kids get out their wiggles, but make sure they freeze when you pause the song.
- Directional Dance Songs – There are tons of CDs and YouTube channels that provide you with instructional songs that walk your class through the moves by the words in the song.
- Shawn Brown Youtube channel offers fun songs with videos.
- Gonoodle.com provides fun videos for movement with purpose.
- Dance Moves – I have yet to find a song that didn’t have dance moves to it, but if you get stumped, just make up the moves yourself or have the class come up with them. Have fun with it and don’t take it too seriously.
Story Books and Movement
There are tons of books you can use to get your kids moving. One of my all-time favorites is Stretch by Doreen Cronin. I used this story after we came in from recess to get my students to calm down and refocus for the rest of the class. It gets them stretching and working out the wiggles.
Here are some other great storybooks to get your class moving:
- Bounce by Doreen Cronin
- Wiggle by Doreen Cronin
- Down by the Cool of the Pool by Tony Mitton
- Rachel’s Day in the Garden by Giselle Shardlow
Rainy Day Activities
For those rainy days that have you stuck indoors, here are some great games to play with the class when space is available. Remember, structured play is just as important as free play. Starting recess time with a fun game can get everyone playing together.
- Duck, Duck, Goose
- Red Light, Green Light
- Four Square
- Freeze Tag
- Freeze Dance
- Follow the Leader
Bringing It All Together
It’s clear, there is no shortage of activities for preschool kids. Sometimes we have to think outside of the box or head to Pinterest to get the ideas flowing. Whether the kids are up dancing to their favorite song or calming down with a yoga stretch on the floor, there is something for every kid and any unit.
The best way to get your kids moving is to get up and join them. Show them just how fun it is to get moving. Anytime you can pair learning with fitness you’ve created a game and a positive correlation between the two. How will you get your preschool class moving today?
If you have any question, please drop them in the comments or reach out to me through the “Contact Us” form.
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