Week 5 Assignment

Children are learning loco-motor skills that help them run, jump, skip, etc. Furthermore, essential social skills and ways to manipulate utensils and objects with their hands are important for these age groups. These are things the children will use every day of their lives once they learn them. These skills will help with physical activities to help them stay active. Playing with a ball can help them with their kicking and their catching or throwing. It helps with hand eye coordination and social skills. When children don’t get enough physical fitness time, it can not only affect their bodies, but their minds too. Even from personal experience when the child wants to sit inside and not do anything their mind doesn’t get the same exercise either. Their imagination tends to grow to its fullest and becomes lazy. When they don’t get enough activity, they become bogged down and can lead to no energy and obesity. Obesity has tripled in the past 25 years. Keeping active is a great way to help with that number going down. “MyPyramid for kids… recommends that children be physically active for 60 minutes a day on most days.” (Robertson, pg. 265) “Allowing time for physical activities and exercise is a necessary part of creating nutritional policies to protect children’s health and well-being.” (Robertson, pg. 266) A child’s self-esteem can be hurt when they’re overweight, and that can cause lasting effects on the child’s life. It can lead to more health problems like anorexia or mental problems. It can lead to social disabilities because the way they are talked about by their peers. Being overweight as a child can really hurt them for the rest of their lives. I know some times it’s genetics, but a lot of times we can prevent obesity by being active and keeping a well-structured diet. Some activities we can play along with the children are sports. It’s always great to teach a child how to throw a ball or kick a soccer ball. Playing baseball or making up a game like an obstacle course is a great way to keep active and learn those gross-motor skills. One of my favorite games to play when I was growing up was kick-the-can. I don’t remember the rules really, but it was kind of like hide-and-seek and at the end we had to run over and kick the can, and whoever did that won the game for everyone. All aspects of the game were great because there wasn’t a true ‘winner’ or ‘loser’, everyone wanted to guard the can and try to hide and kick it. This helped develop my social skills with the neighborhood kids, my running, jumping, my skills to prepare and plan, many things. Playing outside alone can help children grow in a way that adults have lost touch with. After reading that obesity has tripled in the past 25 years, and knowing that a lot a children, even myself included aren’t eating properly, I have really turned myself around and started thinking of new ways to play with the children I watch and eat healthier. This has really made a difference in the way we interact also. I have more energy which means the girls have more fun and play more. This not only winds them down after a while, but is also getting that crucial 60 minutes of play a day in their day.

Some positive impact that physical activity has on children is that it keeps them active, allows them to keep their energy levels up, and allows them to work on their social skills. All of these things children can take with them throughout their lives. “Toddlers (and preschoolers) should engage in at least 60 minutes and up to several hours per day of daily, unstructured physical activity and should not be sedentary for more than 60 minutes at a time except when sleeping.” (NASPE)

National Association for Sport and Physical Education. (2006, May). Active start: Physical activity guidelines for children birth to five years. Beyond the Journal: Young Children on the Web. Retrieved from http://www.naeyc.org/files/yc/file/200605/NASPEGuidelinesBTJ.pdf (April 8, 2012)

Robertson, C. (2010) Safety, Nutrition, and Health in Early Education (4th ed.) Belmont, CA: Wadsworth