Kids Running - Space Blanket

WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH YOUR SPACE BLANKET?
Do you tend to have the post-marathon blues? All that training and the 26.2 miles have been run? Don't let your experience end with a lonely bib number posted on the wall above your desk. Share your experience with local schoolchildren. The possibilities are only as limited as your imagination.

VOLUNTEER YOUR TIME AND TEACH A LESSON!
Give Back by Carol Goodrow

painting

Photo courtesy of photosbyjohn.net

Offer your services to a local elementary school. Talk about your marathon. Donate your space blanket. Teach an art lesson. Create a bulletin board. And then take the class out for a fun run. Here are 10 quick ideas.

And if you do any of these activities, please make sure to email me first for free souvenir running bookmarks to take with you to hand out to your visited class.

1. SPACE BLANKETS ON DOGS
Kids make the dogs - freehand of course. Then they add a little scrap of your space blanket for a dog sweater, collar, or leash.
Join the class for a little outdoor "Run, Spot, Run!"

Read at least 4 chapters of The Treasure of Health and Happiness. Make sure to get them to a point where they are begging for 1 more chapter. It will happen. Then leave the book with the classroom teacher or school library.

2. HEALTHY EATING
Create a handout with samples of your best-breakfasts-while-training-for-the-marathon menus. Include nutrition information - on a simple level, of course. Have kids illustrate their healthiest and most delicious breakfasts.

Read the children's picture book, The Healthy Wolf. They'll be healthy eaters forever. Don't have this gem of an out-of-print book? Then sprint to amazon.com and buy one of the remaining used copies. The Healthy Wolf

3. RUNNING NUMBER ACTIVITY
Donate your bib number to the class. Then have kids design their own. Pin them on and have your own fun run. Total the miles run and plot on a graph. Visit the class frequently until the total cumulative mileage equals 100 miles of fun. Then hand out our blue 100 mile ribbons. This offer stands while the ribbons remain in stock. Write to carolgoodrow@verizon.net for ribbons.

Read a chapter of Kids Running to the class. Inspire them with the chapter on Fun Runs in which the four kid-characters get ready for their first fun run. Donate the book to the class or school library.

4. GIRLS AS ATHLETES
If you are visiting a girls-only class, then bring in a history of the famous women marathon runners. Talk about Kathrine Switzer, Joan Benoit, and Roberta Gibb. Make sure to hand out the Fun Run bookmark with quotes from Deena Kastor. And if there are boys in the class, that's okay too. This will help build respect for their girl classmates.

Read the picture book We Are Girls Who Love to Run to the class. Donate the book to the class or school library.
And top this off by going out for a fun-filledjog.

5. RUNNING TO STAY FIT AND TRIM
Admit it. Part of your love of running is what it does for your body. It helps you use up extra energy, burn fat, and stay fit and trim. Share this knowledge with the children. Make sure to give the message that it's important to be lean but not skinny - or ultra thin and it is more for health reasons than vanity, but laugh at the lengths people have gone through to "look thin" in the past.

Read Myrtle the Hurdler and her Pink and Purple, Polka-Dotted Girdle to the class. Donate the book to the class or school library.
Make a pact with the kids to eat more fruit and vegetables for health purposes, then play a fun game of veggie tag. How to play? Get tagged? Go to a writing center and write the names of 5 fruits and veggies, then run again.

6. RUNNING LOG
Bring your running log or journal to the class. Share your notes. Let the students know what facts you kept track of while training for your run. Take the children out for a run and then have them write a journal entry. Use blank paper or one of our free journal forms.

Bring a copy of Happy Feet, Healthy Food. Show and read them your favorite pages. Make sure to read the Boston Marathon page (page 44). Then leave the book with the classroom teacher so that she/he may use the journal to stay healthy and fit.

7. CROSS-TRAINING
Talk to the students about the importance of cross-training. Every day can't be a hard run. Every now and then a walk is relaxing. But let them know the importance of miles. And a fun way to do miles? Visit a maze. Can't go on a field trip with the class? Have them design running mazes, then use boxes and cones to build one outdoors. Have fun finding your way through the maze.

But first read Mazes Around the World to the class. Donate the book to the class or school library.

8. TRAINING FOR A TRIATHLON NEXT?
Tell the kids all about this 3-sport event. Talk about the swim, transition, bike safety and equipment, transition, and the final run. Let the kids create their own 3-sport events. Hand out a graphic organizer with 3 circles on it. Let them fill in their 3 favorite sports and then number and add arrows to show the order of events.

Sometime during the lesson read CoCo Loves to Tri to the class. They will identify with this energetic dog. Donate the book to the class or school library.

9. START THE KIDS ON A MARATHON
Not 26.2 miles at once of course, but in kids' bite-sized pieces. Print our free Pasta marathon printables and get out running. Then when the marathon is complete, let the kids make pasta necklaces to wear in celebration.
Take your best healthy pasta recipe to the class - both the food and the paper copy. Share the recipe, but also give a taste to each child. Tell the benefits of a hearty meal in build up to a long run. Donate the recipe to the classroom.

Have a kid-friendly pasta cookbook? Email carolgoodrow@verizon.net and let us know about it.

10. ENCASE YOUR RUNNING SHOES
Spray them gold. Mount them in a case and bring them to the classroom. Talk about the benefits of wearing a good fitting pair of shoes. How did your shoes serve you?
Take your best healthy pasta recipe to the class - both the food and the paper copy. Share the recipe, but also give a taste to each child. Tell the benefits of a hearty meal in build up to a long run. Donate the recipe to the classroom.

Bring Laces: 100s of Ways to Pimp Your Kicks
Donate the book to the classroom so that children can practice tying laces.

carolgoodrow@verizon.net