FRIDAY NIGHT OUT WITH FAMILY SPELLS FUN AND FITNESS Family Fun, Food, and Fitness, Photos by Kevin MacDonald, Organized by Ellen Jahne, Story by Carol Goodrow Parents discuss. Children run and spell. Everyone eats healthy foods. 100 100s, KR's Run to Spell Game Friday night was wellness night at the Family Resource Center. Families and children from grades K-5 attended for a night of healthy educational fun. 100 100s, KR's RUN TO SPELL GAME Children headed to the gym, parents to the media center. The kids played KR's Run to Spell game. We called it 100 100s. Some parents wandered into the gym to join us. Each time a child ran or walked a 100 meter lap, she/he spelled a work on our chart. When 100 words were added to the chart, 100 laps had been completed. Here's how you play. 1. Prepare a chart by numbering 1 - 100. 2. Use cards from the Happy Feet, Healthy Food Kids' Club (See bottom of Happy Feet page for printable cards.) These bright yellow cards have simple direction on them. They are color coded by green, yellow, and red yarn. GREEN YARN These cards are for the outer lane. Ex. Run 1 lap. Run 1 lap with a buddy. Boston Marathon - Run 3 laps. Ultramarathon - Run 5 laps. Run a lap with a buddy. Sing while you run. YELLOW YARN These cards are for the inner lane. Ex. Speed walk 1 lap. Skip a lap. Walk a lap with 2 buddies. Sing the ABCs while you walk. RED YARN These cards are for the middle of the gym. Ex. Stretch for 20 seconds. Do 2 +2 push-ups. Do ten jumping jacks. 3. Designate lanes in the gym - outer lane for running, inner lane for walking, center of gym for stretching. 4. Children pick a card and follow directions. 5. Each time a child runs or walks a lap they run to chart and write a spelling word of their choice. When game is complete, children are awarded with 100 100s, Run to Spell yellow ribbons. The above is a new version of our Run the Spell games. We've played many. Here's the original version. Run to Spell Run to Spell Blank POWERPOINT While we played our Run to Spell game in the gym, the parents were with Bonnie Smith from UCONN in the media center. They were listening to a lecture and discussing healthy life styles. CAFETERIA The evening ended with a healthy food buffet in the cafeteria. There were fruit, vegetable, and make your own trail mix tables. There were choices galore. There was not one child refusing the healthy food. To the contrary. Every child had a full plate of goodies. MAKE YOUR OWN TRAIL MIX We used an adaptation of KRs "Make your own Trail Mix" activity. The children and chose their own ingredients, used our measuring utensils and recorded their recipe on our Make your own Trail Mix blank. Everyone was smiling. All the kids left with ribbons, water bottles and more. it was a fun family night of fitness - celebrating healthy lifestyles. For more information please contact Carol Goodrow at the email address below. Do something nice for your community. Plan your own "Wellness Family Fun Event". rwedit@rodale.com