The main focus of these activities is on healthy lifestyles, which include healthy eating and physical activity. Help students make the connection between turning off the TV and other screens and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. We have drawn from a variety of strands of curriculum to show how physical activity can be incorporated into the classroom.
 

Health and Physical Education - ACTIVE PARTICIPATION

By the end of Grade 3, students will:

• Describe the relationship between healthy eating practices, healthy active living and healthy bodies.

Physical Activity Brainstorm

Divide the class into small groups of 5 to 6 students. In each group one student is the recorder and one is the presenter. Assign one group the task of brainstorming a list of their favourite physical activities. The recorder writes down this list. They can also include active living activities such as taking the stairs instead of the elevator, walking to school instead of getting a ride, and helping with household chores. The children role-play the activity and make up a game of Simon Says or Follow the Leader. Discuss the variety of possible physical activities and how fun they are.

Assign another group the task of brainstorming a list of the benefits of physical activity. Remind them to include a range of benefits. Have a class discussion about the variety of benefits of physical activity. Encourage the class to think about physical activity as being enjoyable and beneficial, rather than as a chore. Discuss the negative effects of not being physically active. Ask the students for examples or stories that illustrate the benefits of physical activity.
 

Let’s Get Physical

Prepare 50 index cards by writing out the name of a different food on one side of each card (e.g. tomato) and a physical activity movement with number of repetitions on the other side (e.g. two push ups). Create 10 cards for each of the four Food Groups and 10 cards for the ‘other foods’ category. Place all of the cards in a box in the centre of the room. Place signs with the name of each food group and the ‘other foods’ category around the room.

• Divide the class into five lines, each standing below a food group/category sign.
• On “GO”, the first person from each line speed walks to the box and picks out a card.
• Those 5 students go to the front of the food group line to which the food on the card belongs.
• They lead that line in the movements written on the card (e.g. 10 jumping jacks).
• If students run to the same line (because they both have selected pictures from the same food group or the Other Foods category), they take turns leading the line through the movements on the card.
• Those five students then go to the end of their new line.
• Again on “GO”, the next student in each line runs to the box, gets a card, and goes to the food group represented on the card, leading them through the specified physical activity movement. When all the cards have been chosen from the box the game ends.  

Discuss the importance of eating a variety of foods and being active. Explain to the class that these elements work together to make them feel healthy, energetic and good about themselves. This activity can be done in the gymnasium or outside. In a larger space, have students run, hop, skip and choose different movements for traveling from their group to the card box and back.  
 

HOMEWORK

Emphasize to students that this is a fun and healthy activity as an alternative to TV watching and other screens.
 

Adapted from Central Western Ontario TV-Turnoff Week Leader-Teacher Package 2003