SPRING SCHEDULE: HAPPY FEET, HEALTHY FOOD KIDS' CLUB 10-Week Increments Photo courtesy of Braden Summers Please feel free to use and adapt our 10-week schedule for working up to a sucessful 1-K fun run. The schedule is meant to teach children how to build distance gradually. Use it as a general guide. Keep it flexible so that it can include children of all abilities. It encourages participation, but allows for some fast running. Later, we will post schedules for older children working for a 2 mile or 5-K run. Schedule WEEK 1 - Indoor Book Discussion Running/Apples - Make it Fun Read p.6 Happy Feet, Healthy Food (HF, HF). Brainstorm as a group, for 20 more running activities. Vote on your favorite apple snack found in the book. - Outdoor Physical Activity (1/2 mile) Walk 300m, Jog 100m, Run 100m, Jog 100m, Walk 200m - Make it Fun Run to music. Use some children's tunes, or music with a good beat. OR sing a song while you are walking and running. WEEK 2 - Indoor Book Discussion Walking/Lunchbox Sandwich Special - Make it Fun Read p. 8 HF, HF. Think of a personal home walking goal (ex. Walk to the post office with Mom.) and do it this week. Make it a goal to eat a complete healthy lunch one day. List the menu in words or drawings and bring it to club next week for a special bulletin board or club scrapbook. - Outdoor Physical Activity (1/2 mile) Walk 200m, Jog 200m, Run 100m, Jog 100m, Walk 200m - Make it Fun Add a non-competitive relay. Try a slap-hand relay. Group kids into teams. Instead of passing a baton, kids give "High Fives" to next runners. WEEK 3 - Indoor Book Discussion Hiking/Trail Mix - Make it Fun Read p. 10 HF, HF. Brainstorm as a group, for 20 things you would like to see while hiking. Name as many things as you can think of that you could add to our trail mix recipe. - Outdoor Physical Activity (1/2 mile) Walk 200m, Jog 200m, Run 200m, Jog 100m, Walk 100m - Make it Fun Add a walk down a nature trail. Have the children walk quietly - no talking, so that they don't scare away the wildlife. WEEK 4 - Indoor Book Discussion Running/Oranges - Make it Fun Read p. 12 HF, HF. Discuss fun runs. Who has been to one? This is a good time to announce your end of the club fun run. Talk about the importance of pacing. Pass out orange sections for kids to eat before their exercise today. It's a tradition for children to stand in lines at the Boston Marathon and hand out oranges to the runners. Ask them to pretend they are running the Boston Marathon today. - Outdoor Physical Activity (3/4 mile) Walk 200m, Jog 300m, Run 200m, Walk 200m, Jog 200m, Walk 100m - Make it Fun Play follow the leader on the way to your running area. Walk and jog around the grounds. Run the bases at a baseball diamond, weave in and out of a path, find a little hill and run down. Have the children follow your lead. WEEK 5 - Indoor Book Discussion Exercise/Dog Snacks - Make it Fun Read p. 14 HF, HF. Brainstorm as a group for 10 more ways you can exercise with your pet. Think of 10 healthy snacks that you can feed a pet. Think of 10 unhealthy treats that you should not feed a pet. - Outdoor Physical Activity (3/4 mile) Walk 100m, Jog 300m, Run 200m, Walk 200m, Jog 300m, Walk 100m - Make it Fun Partner run. Have children run with a buddy today. WEEK 6 - Indoor Book Discussion Cycling/Bananas - Make it Fun Read p. 16 HF, HF. List 5 safety rules for bike riding. Write the rainbow of colors on a chart. Start with red. Have kids raise their hands if they have a red bike. Go to orange, and do the same. Then yellow, green, blue, and violet. Find out your class's rainbow of bikes. Discuss the banana split recipe. It's sort of a "topsy-turvy" recipe for it has lots of healthy ingredients and just a few unhealthy add-ons. Ask the kids to try it at home and have a discussion next week. - Outdoor Physical Activity (3/4 mile) Walk 100m, Run any pace 1000m, Walk 100m - Make it Fun Take a nature trail walk after your running session. Find a maple and oak leaf to bring back to the room and press. WEEK 7 - Indoor Book Discussion Baseball/Berries - Make it Fun Read p. 18 HF, HF. Poll the kids for their favorite baseball team. Let each group take turns chanting for their team 5 times (ex. "Red Sox Rule!") Brainstorm for 10 ways to eat berries. Take a moment now to discuss the banana split recipe from last week. - Outdoor Physical Activity (3/4 mile) 1200 meters - any pace - Make it Fun Increase your distance by taking another nature trail walk after the running. Collect something to bring back to room and draw: acorns, leaves, caterpillars, etc. WEEK 8 - Indoor Book Discussion Crunches/Avocados - Make it Fun Read p. 20 HF, HF. See how many places kids can think of to do crunches in 3 minutes. Do this as a group. Have kids raise hands. Write their responses on a chart. Do the same for guacomole dip. Have kids think of foods that are healthier than chips to dip into guacomole. Time for 3 minutes. - Outdoor Physical Activity (1 mile) 200m walk, 200m jog (repeat walk/run 4X) - Make it Fun If you want, substitute the "Indian Messenger" game. Walk in single file. Child at the back sprints to the front. When child reaches front, child who is now at the back sprints to the front. Do this for a mile. WEEK 9 - Indoor Book Discussion Basketball/Nuts - Make it Fun Read p. 22 HF, HF. Like basketball, many skills are learned at home, away from the pressure of a team or class. Have kids share things that they have learned to do at home. Take 3 minutes to think of as many different kinds of foods that you can eat with nuts. - Outdoor Physical Activity (1 mile) 200m walk, 1400m any pace - Make it Fun Increase your distance by taking another short nature trail walk - Visit your trail and observe. How is the season changing? What can you collect? WEEK 10 - Indoor Book Discussion Dance/Grapes - Make it Fun Read p. 24 HF, HF. This dance page is mostly ballet. Let your ballet dancers take turns and demonstate the steps they know. Brainstorm for 5 (or more) foods which are made from grapes. Lots of kids think it's "fun" to eat grapes. Why? - Outdoor Physical Activity (1/2 mile warm up, 1-K fun run after club) Warm up for your fun run. Take a walk to your nature trail. Jog and walk a little on your field. - Make it Fun FUN RUN! Have parents pick children up after club session and head straight for an after-club fun run at a beautiful locale. Take a lot of photos. Award a little "prize" at the finish line along with a healthy treat. Say, "Goodbye," for the season and look forward to your spring club. THE TEXT: HAPPY FEET, HEALTHY FOOD, Your Child's First Journal of Exercise and Healthy Eating LINKS TO LAST YEAR'S SPRING CLUB First Week at Miles of Math Second Week at Miles of Math Third Week at Miles of Math Fourth Week at Miles of Math Fifth Week at Miles of Math Sixth Week at Miles of Math Seventh Week at Miles of Math Eighth Week at Miles of Math Ninth Week at Miles of Math Tenth Week at Miles of Math goodrow@infionline.net