"To help me learn how to keep my body strong through physical activities."

• SWIMMING: Have a backyard swimming party or just play in the sprinklers.
• CREATING A GAME: Give the girls a few items like a ball, stick, hoop etc... have them make up their own game and play it.
• FITNESS GOALS: Discuss how many minutes a day they should be engaged in physical movement. Set goals and follow up.
• AEROBICS: Invite a local aerobics instructor to come and teach a special class for your group. Kickboxing, floor, funk, or whatever style your group likes. The instructor can talk about healthy exercise habits during the routine.
• BICYCLE SAFETY: Have a bicycle safety class. Have the children bring their bikes. Check the bikes to see if they are safe. Learn the rules of riding on the road. Practice quick stopping, figure 8, avoiding hazards in the road...Go for a short bike ride to practice skills.
• SPORTS: Attend a sporting event together. Maybe one that they have never been to before like Curling, Rugby, Lacrosse etc... Learn the rules of the game.
• OLYMPICS: Have an olympics. (you can do winter or summer) Divide the children up into teams; the teams can be the names of different countries. Make up some easy games that are similar to the olympic sports. Keep track of what country wins each game. Have an awards ceremony and give them homemade medals on a stand with the music of the country playing. If you don't know the rules of the sports then you can look them up on the internet. Be creative and keep it simple. Everyone will have a blast.
• BOWLING: Take the girls bowling and learn the rules of the game and how to score. If you don't have enough money to go to a bowing alley, then you can make your own at your house or church.
• BE A GOOD SPORT: Support your Achievement Day children by attending a sporting event that one of your girls is participating in. You can all go as a group and be the cheering section. It is a great lesson in supporting friends and being good sports. Besides it will make someone feel very important. Talk about the game and how you play it in case someone does not know the rules.
• FATHER DAUGHTER KICKBALL: Play kickball with the Dads. The girls and the Fathers have to hold hands during the whole game. Only one of them will kick the ball and then they run together while holding hands. Some people have buckets of water be the bases and while you are waiting at the base you have to have your hands in the water to be safe. If the girls don't have a father, you can have a brother, uncle, friend, home teacher etc... join in on the fun.
• JUMPROPE EXTRAVAGANZA: Find every kind of jump rope that you can and Jump, Jump, Jump !!!
• GAME LIST: Have each child bring the rules to a fun game that they can play with their friends during the summer. (It must be an active, outside game like steal the flag, speed, hop scotch.. make sure that they are unfamiliar games, have them be creative and ask parents and grandparents what they played when they were young) Go to a park or backyard and try each game. Write down all of the ideas and have the children go home and put the list on their wall. Make sure that you leave space for them to add more ideas to the list. When they are bored they can look at the list of ideas and go outside and play the games instead of watch TV.
• BEACH BLANKET VOLLEYBALL: Have the girls divide into two teams. Each girl holds a section of the sheet or blanket and has to work with her team to get the beach ball over the net to the other side. The other team must catch the ball and send it back without dropping it. Rules of volleyball apply. Also girls can play Regulation Basketball Shootout. Each girl is asked a question about a rule from a sport. If she answers correctly she gets a chance to shoot the basketball into the net from the lines around the key. (starting with the square line and advancing to the free throw line and then to the other square.) The first girl around is declared winner.
• "MOM I'M BORED": Make a "Bored Book" have the girls bring ideas for crafts, games, sports etc... Put all of the ideas in a little book. The children can go home and add to the book. When they are bored, they can look at the book and get ideas of things to do. Stress the importance of being physically and mentally active as opposed to sitting and watching TV or playing electronic games.
• TAE-BO: Invite a Tae-bo instructor to teach you about exercising.
• GAMES: indoor basketball, broom hockey, soccer.
• HOMEMADE AEROBIC TAPE: Record 5 or 10 minutes of “high energy” music on a cassette tape. Buy some inexpensive cassette tapes and copy the music so that each girl can have a tape of her own. At your AD activity, have the girls make up an exercise routine to the music. Challenge them to do the routine 5 days a week until the next recognition night. You can give them a calendar to keep track. Tell them that they will perform the routine at the next recognition night and the girls who accomplished their goal of 5 days a week, will receive an award. (so they will have an incentive and goal) Only serve healthy treats at the recognition night and only give simple awards that are appropriate and will encourage the children to continue to exercise.
• EXERCISE TREASURE HUNT: Have a treasure hunt. Include on the clues to "skip" on the way to the next clue, then hop to the next, then do jumping jacks to the next one, then crab walk, then run etc...The treasure could be a healthy snack and drink. Tell them that they just completed their daily exercise and didn't even know it. Try to think of ways that they can exercise and have fun at the same time.
• HULA DANCING: - Have someone come and teach the girls how to hula. It's great exercise and fun, too! Have a flower for each girl to put in her hair to make it feel authentic!
• HULA HOOP FUN: provide a hula hoop for each child and let them come up with all of the things that they can do with a hula hoop. IE spin on waist, arms, legs, jump through it, roll it, throw a ball through it etc...It is fun to see their creativity while they are being physically active and having fun. What a great combination!!!
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