Duration: 30 Min

Stretch for Your Best!

Lesson Overview

This lesson helps children understand that stretching their muscles is a part of a healthy lifestyle at all ages. This activity will teach several easy stretches for kids to do together.

Introduction

Provide kids with information on the positive benefits and importance of stretching:

  • Stretching is important at any age
  • Stretching:
    • helps move joints through a full range of motion, by keeping ligaments (attach muscle to muscle) and tendons (attach muscle to bone) flexible
    • prevents injury
    • improves athletic performance
    • encourages a healthful lifestyle
    • helps ease sore or tight muscles
    • promotes better posture
    • avoids stiffness and speeds recovery of muscles after running or playing sports
    • encourages blood to circulate to the muscles and joints throughout the body
    • reduces stress

Before the beginning of these stretching exercises for kids, inform participants of the proper way to prepare:

  • The President’s Council for Physical Fitness and Sports states, “warmed-up tissues are less likely to be injured.”
  • Stretching before warming up increases the risk for pulled muscles and doesn’t promote increased flexibility, so it’s best to wait until the end of physical activity, or at least warm-up, by walking or jogging and gradually increasing heart rate, for five to 10 minutes before stretching. Warming up helps to deliver more blood to the muscle and helps the muscle become warm and able to stretch easier.
  • Warm-up phase should not cause you to feel tired. Tell the kids to stretch for the feeling of a gentle pull, not a painful feeling. Advise them to stretch after exercising.

Activity: Stretching

On yoga mats or other dry, soft, flat areas, such as in the grass, lead the way in the following easy stretches for kids. Note the parts of the body that each pose stretches.

Toe Touch

A toe touch stretch is a basic stretch for kids, an easy one for most to perform. This stretch targets largely the muscles of the legs, especially the calves and hamstrings. From a standing position, the kids will bend over at the waist and reach for their toes with feet together. If the kids can’t quite reach their toes, they can stretch just as far as is comfortable. From a sitting position, each kid sits with legs outstretched and together. They then bend forward, reaching for the toes or as far as is comfortable. In both stretches for kids, they should hold the stretch for 15 seconds and then release.

Neck Half Circles

This stretch for children starts by touching the right ear to the right shoulder. The kids then roll their heads around, chin to chest, in a half-circle to the left shoulder, and then back again, chin to chest. Slow movements in this stretch for kids are important to protect the neck muscles from injury.

Shoulder Circles

Begin this kids’ stretching exercise by having them shrug their shoulders and rotate them forward and down in a circle. Switch directions after five or six turns by shrugging the shoulders and then moving backward in a circle.

Arm Circles

Arm circles can be used to stretch the muscles supporting the elbow and shoulder joint where the arm attaches to the shoulder. The child holds their arms out to the side, creating a horizontal line with their arms. The child then draws circles with their hands, starting with small circles and slowly growing to large circles, then back to smaller circles. Start first by drawing circles clockwise, and then switch to counter-clockwise. Keep the movements slow, and prevent the child from just flailing his arms around.

Side Bends

Have each child stand up straight with arms to the outside of each thigh. Slowly move the fingers down toward the outside of one knee, while bending at the waist. Alternate sides, do 10 side bends on each side.

Reach for the Stars

Just like the title of this stretch for kids, have the kids reach up as high as they can while standing on their tiptoes. This stretch can even be done while lying down on a mat. The goal is to reach their hands and feet away from each other.

Child’s Pose

The child’s pose is a stretch for kids, taken from yoga. It can be used outside of yoga as part of your child’s stretching routine for more of a full-body stretch. To perform the child’s pose, the child gets on their knees with feet together. The child then sits on their heels and bends their body forward until the forehead touches the ground. Bring the arms around to each side of the body, resting with their palms facing towards the sky. Hold the pose for 30 seconds, and then return back to an upright kneeling position.

Conclusion

After these stretching exercises for kids, ask them to recall the reasons for stretching offered in the Lesson Introduction above. Hand out the Healthy Families Newsletter in English or Spanish, so that families can continue stretching together at home. Find more health lessons for kids from Health Powered Kids to help children and families live their happiest and healthiest lives.

Additional Instructor Resources

How to Stay Safe During Physical Activity

Lesson Overview

This health safety lesson helps young people understand the equipment they need to stay safe during different sports and activities. They will color images of athletes and then label the different gear that keeps them safe.

Introduction

Explain to the youth that using the wrong or improperly fitted equipment is a major cause for injuries in playing games and sports. For example, playing tennis with a badly strung racquet while wearing worn-out shoes can be just as dangerous as playing football without shoulder pads!

Ask young people if they can think of any equipment they have used or have seen others wear while playing sports or doing other physical activities.

Remind young people during this health safety lesson, that before wearing protective equipment or playing, they should always check equipment for proper fit and replace worn-out equipment. For example, replace a child’s bike helmet if it:

  • has been in a bike accident
  • is damaged from being used (such as cracked or dented).

Activity: Staying Safe Coloring Sheet

Distribute the Staying Safe Coloring Sheet. As you walk through the different kinds of equipment below, have the youth color the athletes and label the different gear that keeps them safe.

Here are the “Most Valuable Pieces” of equipment that you should mention when teaching kids how to stay safe during physical activities.

Helmets:

  • Always wear a helmet made for the sport you are playing.
  • Bike helmets should have a CPSC sticker. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) set up the federal safety standard that all bike helmets must meet. Helmets that meet this standard will have this sticker attached.
  • Helmets should fit snugly but comfortably on your head and shouldn’t tilt backward or forward.

Eye Protection:

  • Eye gear for sports is made from a plastic called polycarbonate.
  • Facemasks, either a guard or shield, attached to helmets should also be made of polycarbonate.
  • Goggles should be worn to cover prescription eyeglasses. You can also purchase prescription polycarbonate goggles.

Mouth Guards:

  • Mouth guards can protect your mouth, teeth, and tongue.
  • Mouth guards should be worn in contact sports.
  • If you wear a retainer, always take it out before you start to exercise, practice or play.

Wrist, Knee, and Elbow Guards or Pads:

  • You should wear guards or pads when doing any activity that requires moving on wheels, such as skateboarding.
  • Guards or pads can prevent breaks, cuts, and absorb shock from falls.
  • Guards or pads should fit snugly and comfortably.

Protective Cup

  • Boys who play contact sports should wear a protective cup.
  • Boys should wear an athletic supporter when playing non-contact sports that involve running.
  • If you are unsure, ask your coach if you need a protective cup for your sport.

Footwear:

  • Football, baseball, softball and soccer are some sports that require cleats.
  • Skateboarding and biking have special types of shoes that are best for performing well.
  • Replace cleat and shoes that have worn out or are no longer supportive.

Activity: Safety Tips

Here are a few other tips on how to stay safe during physical activities.

Warm Up for Injury-Free Play: Muscles that have not been warmed up the right way tend to be injured more easily.

  • Start out with some light cardiovascular activities, such as easy jogging, jumping jacks, or brisk walking, to get your muscles moving and blood circulating.
  • Follow your warm-up with some stretches. Stretching works best after a warm-up because your ligaments and tendons are more elastic (flexible) due to the increase in heat and blood flow to the muscle.
  • Do not overdo your play, game, or sport. If you increase how often, how long or how hard you play too fast, you might see better performance at first, but this can lead to injuries later.

Stay Off the Court When You Are Hurt: If you have been injured and you try to come back too soon, you run the risk of re-injuring yourself – maybe even more seriously than before.

  • Concussion: A concussion is a blow to the head that affects how the brain works. A concussion can also happen after a hit to the body that causes the head to move quickly back and forth. Because you cannot see this type of injury, it is easy to come back too soon from a concussion. Always listen to your doctor and get the OK from him or her to play again.
  • Pain relief: Some athletes use pain relievers to avoid pain. Pain is your body’s way of signaling it is not happy with what you are doing. If you have pain, get treatment so you can fix what’s causing it.

The Rules of the Game: Rules are made to keep you and your teammates in the game and to avoid injuries. Follow all the rules to have a safe season.

  • Rules are made to promote safety so that everyone can enjoy the game.
  • You need to follow other rules even if they don’t relate to the sport. For example, if you are inline skating on a public street, pay strict attention to all traffic laws.
  • You need to use the right techniques when playing a sport. This will help you or your opponent not get injured. For example, when playing football, always keep your head up when tackling, neck injuries are common when players tackle with head down. In hockey, high sticking is a violation because it can be dangerous to other players. The right technique would be to keep the stick below waist level. It is also important to use the right technique when lifting weights. This will keep you from holding your breath and possibly fainting.

Whether you are following rules, regulations, or proper techniques, remember that they are not there to restrict you, they are there to keep you safe and injury free.

Conclusion

At the end of this health safety lesson, ask the young people to think of one way they will keep themselves safe during sports or other activities this week. If time permits, allow the youth to share their reflections. Conclude this lesson on health safety by reminding young people that rules and protective equipment are not there to restrict you, they are there to keep you safe and injury-free! Depend on Health Powered Kids for safe and simple exercises for children.

Continuing the Conversation

Hand out the Healthy Families Newsletter in English or Spanish, so that families can continue discussing ways they will stay safe during sports and other activities.

Additional Instructor Resources

Concussions in Sports: What You Should Know

 

Smart Snacking

Lesson Overview

This lesson helps young people understand how choosing healthful snacks is a habit that can benefit them every day as they grow. The youth will discuss their snacking habits and make a plan to switch out unhealthful snacks with healthful ones.

Instructor Notes

Before facilitating this lesson, you may want to review the following information about snacking. These facts can be shared with young people during your discussions.

  • Snacks are foods we eat between meals to satisfy hunger and supply us with consistent energy. To lots of kids and teens, a snack is a bag of chips, some cookies or other high calorie, low nutrient food. Kids are eating more snacks than ever and their calorie intake from those snacks has nearly doubled over the last 30 years. Unfortunately, the extra snacking has contributed to individuals becoming overweight in our society.
  • Does that mean snacking is bad for kids? Definitely not! Snacking can help them stay focused at school and while doing homework, and give them a nutritious boost for the day.
  • When we think of healthful snack choices we should look to the five food groups (vegetables, fruits, grains, dairy and protein).
  • Healthful snacks are ones that fit into the five food groups. For example, string cheese (dairy) and carrot sticks (vegetable). Potato chips may start out as a healthful vegetable but after processing, it becomes high in calories, fat and sodium.

Activity: Snacking Habits

  1. Ask the youth: What is a habit? A habit is something you do often or regularly, without even thinking about it.
  2. Ask young people to name some habits and write their answers on the board. Habits might include brushing teeth, cracking knuckles, biting nails, smoking or exercise.
  3. Ask young people to circle the habits that are good for you. Are there more unhealthful habits listed than healthful ones? Why? Possible answers might be:
    • easier to do unhealthful habits
    • harder to do healthful ones
    • healthful ones might need reminding or support from family or friends.
  4. Have each young person take out a piece of paper and pencil and ask them to write down up to five things that they eat on a regular basis for snacks. Give the youth time to write their answers. Invite young people to share what they wrote.
  5. Ask the youth, why do we eat snacks? When do we eat snacks? Can the snack choices you make over and over become a habit? How do you know if your snack choice is a healthful habit for you or one that is not healthful? Give them a few minutes to brainstorm and share their answers. Explain how foods that fall into the five food groups are healthful snacks and ones that we should choose regularly over unhealthful snacks.
  6. Ask young people to share what might be some consequences (results) of making unhealthful snack choices a habit over time. Possible answers might be:
    • extra weight
    • blocked arteries
    • heart disease
    • cancer
    • being tired.
  7. Open the Online Interactive Lesson and Activity. This helps you review the benefits of healthy snacking and gives examples of many snack foods from the five food groups. Young people can choose snacks from the food groups to build their own creative snack idea.
  8. Have the youth to create an action plan for choosing healthful snacks instead of unhealthful snacks on the My Pledge to Eat Right and Move More worksheet.

Conclusion

Ask the young people to identify someone (friend, family member, or teacher) to help support or remind them of their action plan to change their snacking habit.

Continuing the Conversation

Hand out the Healthy Families Newsletter in English or Spanish, so that families can work together to plan smart snacks at home.

Related Health Powered Kids Blog(s)

Healthy snacking: Moving beyond milk and cookies

Snacking made easy!

Additional Instructor Resources

Are You a Smart Snacker? – (Russian) – (Somali) – (Spanish)
There Are Sneaky Sugars! – (Russian) – (Somali) – (Spanish)
What Kind of Sugar is in Your Food?  – (Russian) – (Somali) – (Spanish)
Check the Nutrition Facts Label! – (Russian) – (Somali) – (Spanish)

Skin: Caring for the Largest Organ

Lesson Overview

This lesson helps young people understand the basic structure, function, and care of skin. Youth will be introduced to the topic with an online interactive quiz. They will read about the skin, including tips for its care, then get creative by designing products and giving persuasive presentations.

Introduction

This lesson focuses on three aspects of skin: its basic structure, the jobs it does for our bodies and how to care for it. You can introduce the topic by having young people take the Online Quiz either individually or as a larger group. Discuss the answers. Were there any answers that surprised you?

Give each of the young people a copy of the Skin Handout. Review the diagram and headings. If time permits, youth may want to read this before starting the activity below.

Activity

  1. In small groups, invent new skin-care products and try to “sell” them to the rest of the class. The youth can do this as a written advertisement (preferably with some art…like a magazine ad), a pretend radio ad (spoken with no actions) or a pretend video/television ad (incorporating actions). Be sure to include:
    • a description of your product (a cream, a cleanser, or something less common…be creative!)
    • the problem it solves
    • why people should buy it.
  2. Young people do skits or presentations for others about skin health and skin care. Tell them the goal is be persuasive…to convince their peers to do their best to keep their skin healthy. If they have access to the Internet you can allow them to look up additional information.

Conclusion

Skin health and skin care will always be an important part of our lives. Encourage young people to take the handout and newsletter home as references they can keep and perhaps share with other family members.

Continuing the Conversation

Hand out the Healthy Families Newsletter in English or Spanish, which also includes these tips, so that families can continue discussing skin health at home.

Additional Instructor Resources

Safe Food is Good Food

Lesson Overview

This lesson helps young people understand how handling food safely will help them avoid becoming sick from food poisoning. Youth will gain interest in the topic by reading a story and solving a mystery.  They will learn tips for keeping food safe and test their knowledge with a quiz.

Introduction: Food Safety Story

Without introducing the topic of food poisoning, tell the young people that there is a mystery you need them to solve. Distribute copies of Food Safety Story. Have the youth work in small groups to read through it and identify the reasons they think the catastrophe might have happened. After a while debrief as a group, perhaps asking each group to share one idea, one at a time, until all ideas have been shared. Write their ideas on a flipchart or whiteboard. Then introduce the topic of food safety, assuring young people that you will come back to the story at the end of the lesson.

Activity: Learning about Causes and Consequences of Food Poisoning

Introduce food poisoning by explaining that it is an illness that can happen when we eat foods that have harmful bacteria, viruses and parasites or their toxins. The effects can range from barely noticeable to extremely unpleasant.

1. Ask the young people if they know what symptoms these harmful germs may cause.

Symptoms of food poison may include:

  • upset stomach

  • nausea

  • vomiting

  • diarrhea

  • fever

Tell the youth that mild cases of food poisoning are actually common and we may not even know we have it because we think it is just a stomach flu or virus. We can’t get rid of all bacteria and some bacteria can even be good for us. There are many things we can do, however, to prevent us from getting sick from the foods we eat.

2. Most of the germs that can cause food poisoning (also known as food borne illness) come from animals, such as meat, eggs, milk, shellfish, or unwashed produced. Raw or undercooked foods are also more likely to cause food poisoning because the process of thoroughly cooking often kills unhealthy germs. Sometimes the germs are transferred from work surfaces or hands that haven’t be properly cleaned after touching contaminated food. So cleanliness and proper cooking are two of the most important ways to prevent it.

3. Ask how many help their families cook at home. What kind of things do you or your family members do to keep things clean while cooking?  Make sure the following are mentioned:

  • Wash your hands before and after handling food.

  • Don’t use the same cutting board you use for raw meats. It needs to be thoroughly cleaned and sanitized after each use.

  • Wash counters and food preparation areas with soap and water before cooking.

  • Wash fruits and vegetables before eating. For example, was the outside of melon before cutting into it.

4. Imagine that you are looking in the refrigerator for a snack. What kind of things do you do to make sure food is safe before eating it?

  • Only eat foods that are cooked right – if it doesn’t look done, don’t eat it.

  • If a food smells or looks different than it normally would, the food might be spoiled and you shouldn’t eat or drink it.

  • Keep leftovers only 3 to 4 days in the fridge and heat them up well before eating.

  • Check expiration dates and use the food before it expires. Don’t eat if it is after the expiration date.

  • Germs grow best at room temperature, so cover and refrigerate food right away to keep the bacteria from growing out of control.

 Activity: Myth or Fact?

Introduce the Myth or Fact quiz explaining that it focuses on ways we can keep our food safe. Use the interactive whiteboard lesson or the worksheet located in the What You Need section above. Have the youth work in small groups or as a large group to complete the activity and see how “food safety savvy” they are.

Conclusion

Now that you have learned more about the potential causes of food poisoning, ask the youth to revisit the list of things they think could have caused the illness in the half of Ms. Carey’s class. Be sure to include the following:

  • Preparing raw meat (the turkeys) in the same place as the sandwiches were being made could have contaminated the sandwiches.

  • The tuna sandwiches might have contained mayonnaise and both tuna and mayonnaise need to be kept chilled.

  • Suzy’s apples weren’t washed.

  • Tou’s salad may have gone bad even though it smelled okay.

  • Victor’s chicken may have been undercooked since he rushed it.

Answer to the activity: Students may not have cleaned their hands after visiting the petting farm.

Continuing the Conversation

Hand out the Healthy Families Newsletter in English or Spanish, which also includes these tips, so that families can continue discussing food safety at home.

Related Health Powered Kids Blog

Keeping your food safe

Additional Instructor Resources

 

Quench Your Thirst! The Importance of Water

Lesson Overview

This lesson helps young people understand why drinking water is important. An Interactive whiteboard lesson teaches facts about the body’s need for water and offers tips to help the youth to drink more water. Using actual healthy and dehydrated plants reinforces the message that all living things need water!

Introduction

Here are some facts to share with the youth about the importance of water.

  • Every part of your body needs water. In fact, water makes up 60 percent of body weight.
  • Dehydration happens when there is not enough water in your body.
  • Mild dehydration can cause headaches, nausea and fatigue (tiredness). You may need more water in hot temperatures or if you sweat a lot.
  • If you’re getting enough water you’ll rarely feel thirsty. Your urine will also be clear or slightly yellow. Dark yellow urine is a sign of dehydration.
  • There has been a significant rise in the intake of beverages with added sugars and excess calories on the market. Most are geared to entice children to consume. These added calorie beverages are contributing to overweight and obesity in our children.
  • Drinking more water is one of the simplest things you can do to be healthier.

Activity: Plants

  1. Ask the young people if they think it would be a good idea to give small children, animals, or plants pop or a sports/energy drink? What would happen to them if they did? Possible answers include:
    • sick
    •  tired
    •  wouldn’t grow normally
    •  may even die.
  2. Show young people the healthy and unhealthy plant. Point out the differences between the healthy watered plant and the unhealthy plant. Healthy plants are full of color and stand tall and firm. Unhealthy plants sag, lack bright color, look wilted or limp.
  3. What do you think may happen to our bodies if we stopped drinking mostly water and drank pop, fruit drinks, sports/energy drinks instead? Or if we simply stopped drinking much at all? The answers are the same as for animals, babies and plants, but may include more diseases, injuries, our organs not working right, headaches, not thinking as clearly, or extra weight. Drinks other than water have added ingredients that can get in the way of the water’s ability to do what it’s supposed to do for us.

Water is what human beings, animals and plants were meant to drink! Drinking water actually helps you stay healthy!

Activity: Getting Enough Water

Use the interactive whiteboard, if available, to guide the youth through the following questions in the lesson (see What You Need).

  1. What percentage of our bodies are made up of water? Correct answer: 60%
  2. Why do you think we need to drink water when our bodies already have so much of it? The answers may include the information listed in the introduction above.
  3. So, we know that water is good for us, but do we know why? Ask the youth what they think water actually does in the body, and which things it doesn’t do.
    • Keeps our body temperatures normal
    • Lubricates and cushions joints
    • Makes your hair grow faster (false)
    • Helps your kidneys work correctly
    • Makes you sleepy (false)
    • Protects your spinal cord
    • Helps digestion
    • Helps your body get rid of waste
    • Helps you float better when you are swimming (false)

Conclusion

Your ideas

Ask young people for ideas or tips they have for drinking more water each day. Possible ideas include:

  • fill a reusable water bottle and take it with you when you go places

  • drink water and milk with every meal

  • drink a glass of water when you wake up in the morning

  • keep cold water in a pitcher in the fridge.

Continuing the Conversation

Hand out the Healthy Families Newsletter in English or Spanish, which also includes these tips, so that families can continue discussing the importance of drinking enough water at home. Find more health lesson plans to encourage healthy habits for kids.

Additional Instructor Resources

There Are Sneaky Sugars! – (Russian) – (Somali) – (Spanish)
Water: Meeting Your Daily Fluid Needs
Don’t wait until you are thirsty

Power-Up With Snacks!

Lesson Overview

This lesson helps young people choose healthy snacks. The youth will color a worksheet and decide which foods are healthful choices.

Introduction

Introduce the lesson by discussing the following questions with young people:

Why do we eat snacks?

  • Stop our stomachs from being hungry

When do we eat snacks?  

  • Between mealtimes

How do we know if a snack is healthful?

  • When we think of “Power-Up” snack choices we should think of how they might fit into the five food groups (vegetables, fruits, grains, dairy and protein). Snacks that keep our bodies strong and healthy can be tied to the five food groups.

Show food models or pictures as you explain the food groups. You may want to reference the MyPlate graphic as a guide. For example – baby carrots (vegetable), berries (fruit), pita bread (grains), string cheese (dairy), and hard-boiled egg (protein). As for potato chips and cheese balls, they maybe started out as a healthy vegetable or grain, but through processing, more than half of a serving becomes extra calories from added fats and sugars. Processing often adds extra salt to the food item too.

Ask the youth to share some examples of healthful snack choices versus unhealthful snack choices. Reinforce that we need to feed our bodies with healthful “Power-Up” snacks from the five food groups instead of snacks that won’t help to keep our bodies healthy and strong.

Open the Online Interactive Lesson and Activity. This helps you review the benefits of healthy snacking and gives examples of many snack foods from the five food groups. Young people can choose snacks from the food groups to build their own creative snack idea.

Activity: Healthful Snacks Coloring Sheet

Hand out the Healthful Snacks Worksheet. Give the young people a few minutes to color (or circle if time is limited) the healthful snacks on the worksheet. Take a couple of minutes to explain why the individual items are considered either healthful or unhealthful.

Conclusion

Continuing the Conversation

Hand out the Healthy Families Newsletter in English or Spanish, so that families can continue discussing healthy snacking at home.

Health Powered Kids Blog(s)

Healthy snacking: Moving beyond milk and cookies

Snacking made easy!

Additional Instructor Resources

www.choosemyplate.gov
Sneaky Sugars Handout – (Russian) – (Somali) – (Spanish)
What Kind of Sugar is in Your Food? Handout – (Russian) – (Somali) – (Spanish)
Are You a Smart Snacker? Handout – (Russian) – (Somali) – (Spanish)

Power Off!

Lesson Overview

This lesson helps young people define “screen time” and potential problems with spending too much time looking at electronic screens.  They will analyze how much of their day they spend in front of electronic screens and think of healthy ways to limit their screen time.

Introduction

Help the youth define screentime by asking these questions and discussing as a group:

  • What exactly is screen time? (Screen time includes time spent in front of the TV, computer, phone/texting, or video game playing.)
  • How much screen time do you have?
  • What are some ways you can cut down on screen time?

Activity: How Much Screen Time Do You Have?

Ask young people to write down their screen time each day for one week. They track their total numbers of hours each day. It could also help for them to write down what type of screen time it is. This will give them a visual sense of how they’re spending their time throughout the week.

After young people have tracked their screen time for a week, discuss the group’s results with the following questions:

  • How much screen time do you usually have in the morning, before school? Is this your routine just about every morning?
  • Do you have any screen time during school? How much?
  • What about after school, before dinner?
  • How about during dinner?
  • How about at night, after dinner?
  • How about on Saturdays? Sundays?

Young people might be surprised by how much screen time pediatricians (doctors who take care of children) think is healthy for youth to have each day.

Ask the youth, how much for kids 2 years old and younger? (Have the young people write down a number.)

Next, how much for kids older than 2? (Again, have them write down a number.)

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends the following for screen time:

  • Children younger than 18 months: No screen time, except for video-chatting.
  • Children 18 months to 24 months: If you want to introduce screen time to your child, choose high-quality programs and watch them with your child.
  • Children age 2 to 5: Limit your child to 1 hour or less of high-quality programs each day. Watch these programs with your child to help him/her better understand them.
  • Children age 6 and older: Set a screen time limit that is right for your child and the whole family. It’s important that screen time never replaces healthful behaviors such as physical activity, sleep and interaction with others.

Ask the young people, how do you feel about this? Does it surprise you? (Getting feedback from them will help them to feel like they’re part of this process.)

Can you guess what some of the reasons are for why you should only have two hours or less? Ask them for their ideas, but make sure they get this message:

  • One of the main reasons is that the more screen time you have, the more time you spend sitting or lying down, and not really moving your body.
  • The less time you spend moving your body, the higher the chances are that you could end up having too much extra weight on your body.
  • Extra weight can cause health problems now, and when you get just a little older. Health problems include: weaker heart and bones, high blood pressure, and diabetes. These conditions used to only be found in older people, now pediatricians are seeing younger kids with these conditions.

Activity: Cutting down screen time

Now we need to take a look at the amount of time you spend in front of a screen each day to figure out ways to get it to about two hours or less, if it’s not there already. Here are some simple things you can do:

  • Try to remember to turn off the television if nobody’s really watching.
  • Plan ahead! Look at the shows that are going to be on each day, and choose which ones would be good to watch.
  • Turn off the television and games when eating meals.
  • Avoid eating while at the computer or watching TV. This helps keep us from eating too much.
  • Set a timer to help us remember to get away from the TV or computer or whatever screen we’re using, because it’s easy to lose track of time when you’re in front of a screen.

Ask the youth to come up with some ideas of things they would like to do to replace screen time with other things. And let’s make them things that will be fun to do as a family, or fun for you to do with your friends, or sometimes just fun for you on your own.

Remind young people that this is just one of many lessons about breaking habits that aren’t so healthful and replacing them with habits that are healthful. Changing habits is challenging for everybody—kids and parents. We can all help each other, and remind each other we’re doing this to make improvements in our health, but also to have fun together as a family.

Conclusion

Set screen time goals for the next week. Some examples include:

  • Turn the television off if nobody’s really watching it.
  • Eat our food in the kitchen or dining room. No screen time while eating!
  • Do not text during family meals or other time set aside for family activities.

Keep track of your screen time each day. When you’ve reached two hours, replace your screen time with a healthy activity. If you’ve had plenty of exercise already, read a book, make artwork or crafts, or even just have a conversation with other family members.

Continuing the Conversation

Hand out the Healthy Families Newsletter in English or Spanish, which also includes these tips, so that families can continue discussing ways to limit screen time at home.

Additional Instructor Resources

Decreasing Screen Time Article

Portion Distortion

Lesson Overview

This lesson helps young people understand the importance of accurately estimating how much of a food they should eat. The youth will estimate portion sizes of snacks and compare to the actual serving size. To make estimating easier, they will compare portion sizes to common items.

Introduction

To introduce this topic, share the following information with the youth. If desired, you can reference the Nutrition Facts label on this handout.

  • Average portion sizes of food and beverages in America have significantly increased over the past 20 years. Often the portion size of food and/or drink we have is enough for two or three people. This increase in portion size is changing what we think of as a “normal” portion.
  • A portion is the amount of food that you choose to eat for a meal or snack.
  • A serving is a measured amount of food or drink, such as one slice of bread or 1 cup (eight ounces) of milk.
  • Many foods that come as a single portion actually have multiple servings. The Nutrition Facts label on packaged foods—found on the backs of cans, sides of boxes, etc. — tells you the number of servings in the container.
  • It is important for young people to understand that this distortion of portion sizes is causing us to think we can eat more of certain foods than our bodies truly need which can lead to being overweight or obese and an increased risk for chronic (long-lasting) disease.

Activity: What’s your portion size?

For this activity you will need a full bag of chips or box of snack crackers and two paper plates.

Any young person or instructor handling food should wash their hands prior to handling the food.

  1. On one plate, ask a volunteer to pour out the amount of snack they think one serving would be.
  2. Next, have him or her look at the Nutrition Facts label on the package. It tells you how many servings are in the package and what amount equals one serving size. Have the volunteer take out one serving size and put it on the other plate next to the plate with the serving size he or she thought might be one serving.
  3. Ask the youth to compare the two, and let them share their thoughts about it.
  4. What happens if we are always eating portions that are more than one serving and we start to think that a bigger portion of food is “normal?” Give the group time to answer. If we eat portions on a regular basis that are larger than our body requires we may gain excess weight or become unhealthy.
  5. Give a few examples of portion distortion:
    • A single serving of pretzels is 10 pieces, however many people will eat twice as many without realizing they’re eating a double portion.
    • Many brand name cereals list a portion as ¾ or 1 cup. If you were to pour out ¾ cup of cereal it would look rather small, especially if you use a typical cereal bowl.

Understanding portion sizes is an important component to maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Activity: Estimating Accurate Portions

  1. Show young people the Portion Distortion Slides/Quiz-Interactive Web Application.
  2. Ask them, what are some ways we can keep our portions within a single serving size? Possible answers might be:
    • Don’t eat snacks like chips or cookies right from the bag. Instead, put one serving size on our plate, close the bag, and put it away.
    • Look at the Nutrition Facts labels on foods more often so we know the actual serving size.
  3. Review the importance of understanding what is an acceptable portion size of the food they are eating.

Serving sizes are listed on the labels of most foods, so use the Nutrition Facts label to decide the amount that is right for you. For foods that don’t have a label, common items can be your guide to help you decide the right portion.

  • Deck of cards = 3 ounce serving of meat/protein
  • Tennis ball = serving of fruit or 1/2 cup ice cream
  • Fist = 1 cup serving vegetables and grains
  • Tip of thumb = dressings, butter or cream cheese
  • 4 dice = 1 ounce of cheese

If time permits, use the ChooseMyPlate.gov Food Gallery to come up with your own comparison of portion size to common objects.

Conclusion

Have young people write down the most surprising thing they learned about portion sizes today and post it on a visible area in the classroom or take home to post on their refrigerator.

 Continuing the Conversation

Hand out the Healthy Families Newsletter in English or Spanish, so that young people can continue discussing healthy portion sizes with their families at home.

Related Health Powered Kids Blog

Portion sizes: What amount is ‘right’?

Additional Instructor Resources:

Move it! The Importance of Daily Exercise for Kids

Lesson Overview

This exercise lesson helps kids understand why being active is important for their bodies and minds. The youth will experience how they feel different before and after physical activity. In this activity, kids will estimate how much daily exercise they get and think of ways they can be more active.

Introduction

Ask young people, why is it good for us to move around and get exercise?

There are so many reasons why exercise is important. Some of the most important things for kids to know are:

  1. Exercise is good for heart health. It helps your heart pump blood all through your body. Your heart can never take a rest, so it needs to be strong! Good food and plenty of exercise help.
  2. Exercise can put you in a good mood. When you exercise, your body makes a chemical — called an endorphin — that helps you feel good.
  3. Exercise helps your body stay at, or reach, a healthy weight. The food you eat is energy that you put into your body. This energy is also called “calories.” To stay at a healthy weight, you have to use up the energy you eat. Exercise helps you do that. If you don’t use the energy, it stays in your body and can make you gain weight that you don’t need. Extra weight is hard on your heart, muscles, and bones.

Energy In vs. Energy Out

In this exercise lesson, explain that “energy in” is the food we eat and the beverages we drink. “Energy out” is the physical activity or exercise we do every day.

Talk with the children about what happens when we take more energy in than energy out and vice versa. Our bodies need energy to properly grow. If we take in more food and beverages on a regular basis than our bodies need, it is possible for us to gain excessive weight. Explain not only the importance of exercise for kids, but also how a healthy balanced diet helps our bodies grow and be healthy.

Activity: Before and After

  1. With the kids sitting quietly, explain that you are going to do a classroom experiment involving exercise.
  2. On the flip chart or whiteboard draw a vertical line down the middle. Label one column “before” and the other “after.”
  3. Ask for words that describe how they are feeling as they are sitting quietly in their seats. Encourage them to pay attention to what kind of mood they are in, what their bodies are telling them, and how much energy they have. They may say things like: calm, tired, antsy, bored, comfortable. Whatever they say is fine as long as they say what they actually feel. Write these words or phrases in the “before” column.
  4. Lead the kids in a variety of exercises, such as high-knee marching around the classroom, sit-ups, push-ups, jogging in place, or jumping jacks. See if anyone has suggestions of activities. Exercise for at least five minutes before having them return to their seats.
  5. Now have them share how they are feeling after exercising. Write those words in the “after” column. They may say things like: alert, awake, happy, full of energy, excited.
  6. Talk about the activity. Reiterate information on the positive health benefits and importance of exercise for kids:
    • It helps your body maintain overall good health.
    • It helps build and maintain healthy bones and muscles.
    • It increases flexibility.
    • It feels good, if done right.

Activity: Thinking Through Exercise Habits

  1. Ask: How much time should kids exercise each day? How can you get more? The answer is that it’s good for kids to exercise daily for at least one hour, but wait to offer this until the kids have made suggestions of their own. Then use the following questions to help them think about their own exercise habits.
  2. How much exercise do you get at school? Prompt them to think about how much time they spend in gym class, and how much time outside for recess. Ask them if that adds up to one hour a day. You may want to add up the amount of time mentioned on the board.
  3. How much exercise do you get when you’re home after school? If young people say that they don’t get much exercise after school, ask them what they do instead of exercise. Ask what their favorite exercise is and plan how they can do more of it. They could turn off the television after 7 p.m., encourage the family to go on a walk before or after dinner, or go outdoors and play with their friends.
  4. What about exercise on the weekends? Ask the kids to make a list. Make sure they remember things like soccer, dance, etc., in addition to playing outside with friends. In fact, it can be anything that involves moving your body, like going for a bike ride, walking the dog, running, helping in the yard, ballet class, soccer practice, gym class—anything that gets your body moving. After the kids make their lists, ask them to write downtimes during the day that they can add these exercises to what they’re already doing so that they reach one hour a day.

Conclusion

After this exercise lesson is complete, encourage the group to try more simple exercises for kids at least one time, even if they don’t think they will be very good at them. Remind them that you don’t have to think you’re good at something to enjoy and to benefit from it. If they stay open to new possibilities they may be surprised by what they discover.

Continuing the Conversation

Hand out the Healthy Families Newsletter in English or Spanish, so that families can explore new ways to exercise together at home.

Additional Instructor Resources

Encouraging Your Child to Exercise video