Some adults have used this time to do spring cleaning and projects around the house. But what about the kids? What is it they can do to stay active while they don’t have access to sports and summer programs they were involved with in the past? Some kids may be able to come up with ideas on their own but others may need some adult intervention and guidance to ensure they are active and healthy this summer.

Why It’s Important to Keep Kids Active

There is some truth to the saying “staying busy keeps me out of trouble.” When people are bored, it can lead them down an unhealthy path, particularly for troubled youth. With activities available, a lot of these kids can curb potentially devastating and life-altering decisions and turn their lives around. Unfortunately, the COVID situation has dramatically changed the way some of these programs operate or has cancelled them altogether which could initiate some emotional distress for many children.

Being active is also a benefit to children for building social skills. Being able to play well with others, sharing with others, and using communications skills during activities are all benefits to the development of a child. Children can also benefit from the physical aspects of many activities as they provide ways to exercise. Children need to burn energy as a natural part of growing. Exercise is good for everyone, but especially for children. As children grow, they need exercise to build bone and muscle strength, prevent fat, improve emotional mood, and decrease anxiety and depression. A good level of exercise will provide a healthy weight and promote a healthy level of self-esteem, which is vital for adolescents.

Ways to Keep Kids Active

With so many restrictions being implemented regarding stay-at-home orders, many may think their summer is cancelled. However, rather than relying on events in the community to stay active, you will have to get creative and provide these opportunities in privatized settings. Here are some ideas to do just that.

1. Summer is the best time for swimming so you may have to find someone with a pool or pond to check this one off the list since many community pools won’t be opening this year. If not, get a slip-and-slide or at least a sprinkler to run through. Just a tarp with some soap and water on it will do the trick, and it will even give the kiddos a little cleaning as well!

2. Daily bike riding is an excellent way to get some exercise. Doing family bike rides is a great life-long activity that can be enjoyed by all members of the family. Child mounted seats or pull-behind methods ensure that every member of the household can be a part of the fun.

3. Boating with a canoe or kayak is an excellent and fun way to stay active. This is something you can do at a pretty young age with an accompanying adult and with safety gear like life jackets, of course. Bring a fishing pole while you are at it and make a day of it on the water between rowing sessions. You could even combine a swimming session in between or find some rocks to skip, which is a childhood favorite!

4. Roller blading/roller skating is a fun way to stay active as a youngster and even as an adult. Playing hockey or creating other games on the skates can make it even more enjoyable. Don’t forget to wear your protective equipment unless you are a pro!

5. Wiffleball or even real baseball out in the yard or at the diamond is a lost art. Having a catch with a family member or friend or taking some batting practice and simulating a home run derby is always a good time. Don’t like baseball? How about throwing a football or frisbee? You could also do some bean bag tossing or throw some washers.

6. It may be raining but don’t let that stop you. Board games with the family or games on an iPad may be what is needed to keep your mind sharp and activated. There are many resources online to help no matter what age you are. Maybe putting together a puzzle is more up your alley. You can do that on an electronic device too!

Just because life has changed doesn’t mean it has to be a bad thing. Make the most of it and enjoy some activities to keep yourself and your children healthy. These are just a few ideas but the sky is the limit and it doesn’t take much creativity to find plenty of things to do depending on your taste. Making a small effort over time will provide a large benefit for your physical and emotional health and will teach your kids to follow suit.

The post How to Encourage Active Kids Amid School Closings appeared first on TeachHUB.

Free Resources

ClassDojo is a communication platform that allows teachers, students, and families to create school communities through sharing of classroom learning, photos, videos, and more. They have a fantastic mission of ensuring every child gets the education they deserve and learning experiences they love.

Scholastic Learn at Home is an amazing website that offers articles, stories, and fun learning activities at every age level. It is updated every Monday with five new days of activities. There is also a daily reading quest for students at different reading levels as well as additional access to BookFlix, ScienceFlix, and a Summer Reading Palooza!

youcubed is a website that engages students in mathematics. You can search for math activities and challenges by grade level and topic. They have modified some of their tasks to be more at home friendly for parents. There are also parent resources, student resources, and additional math apps and games.

Sora by OverDrive is an app that gives kids access to free digital and audio books. This is such a great way for students to continue their independent reading while schools are closed.

Virtual field trips are a great way to keep students engaged while they’re stuck at home! You can explore Hawaii, Yosemite, The National Aquarium, The Great Wall of China, and even go to Mars! There are a lot of great virtual places to visit and then you can have your students write about their “trip.”

Go Noodle gives kids an opportunity to take brain breaks as well as improve productivity and behavior. It also offers yoga and mindfulness activities. Their resources have a wide span of variety and provide for different abilities, interests, and ages.

Amazon future engineer offers free computer science courses and virtual robotics courses for kids in grades 2-12. You can also access code.org and BootUp project lessons from this website. Students can also remix popular songs to learn how to apply their coding skills!

Mathigon offers a ton of math resources and activities for kids of all ages. Kids can use virtual manipulatives, make origami, solve problems and puzzles, go on a treasure hunt, and build tangrams.

ReadTheory provides tips and strategies for teachers to improve their students’ reading comprehension. Teachers can also assign reading passages and questions to students and monitor their progress. You can set goals for students to keep them motivated as they work. It also gives an immediate and detailed response about why a student misses a question, so parents can help them from home. Texts are available for the elementary level through high school.

ABC Database Suite that has access to six educational databases. ABC World Culture, ABC World Food, ABC Food America, ABC the USA, ABC Maps Online, and ABC Lingo Lite. Each database has a unique experience for students to learn about a variety of topics. There are downloadable activities and assignments, and the possibilities are endless.

Science Buddies is a great website for kids to participate in STEM activities at home. There are a lot of different activities as well as project guides, ask an expert, research on science careers, and a tab for teachers, parents, and students.

Breakout EDU has a wonderful variety of games to keep kids engaged in math, science, reading, and social studies. The games span K-12 and gives teachers, parents, and students a digital tutorial to help them get started.

Boardmaker is a complete special education platform that provides a multitude of resources to meet the needs of special needs students, including non-academic needs. They’ve compiled many resources and tools to help educators during school closings, many free.

Parlay is a comprehensive platform that makes student discussions productive, collaborative, and interactive. Parlay allows educators to provide personalized feedback to individual students, hold live discussions, adjust instruction based engagement data, and much more.

SmartMusic is a music learning software for educators and students that makes practicing fun for students and tracking student progress easy for teachers. It offers a multitude of resources including teaching apps and strategies, practice tools, a huge repertoire library, and more.

We are so thankful that these companies have helped to provide us with these free educational resources so we can continue to find ways to reach our students and keep them learning until we resume school in the fall. We also appreciate all of our families in supporting us as we have navigated through this challenging time in education. We hope this gives you a few more tools in your pocket as you provide families with ideas for summer learning.

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