February Blog_2019

Blue's Blog February 2019
#bluesblog

February 14, 2019 - PDF Version

Hi everyone, It's Blue.  I wanted to wish you a Happy Valentines Day! I’m so excited, it’s February, American Heart Month!  Do you know what that means?  It means we get to celebrate our hearts.  Our hearts are located a little to the left of the middle of our chest and it is about the size of your fist.   Our hearts beat about 72 times a minute, pumping blood to the rest of the body. The blood carries oxygen (and other nutrients) needed by the body to work. 

In order to stay healthy, we need to keep our hearts healthy by being active and eating nutritious foods.  To keep our hearts healthy, we should all be active for about 60 minutes a day.   This means we are playing, running, swimming, riding our bikes or doing fun things that use the big muscles in our arms and legs.  We should also make sure we are fueling our heart with healthy foods, plenty of fruits and vegetables and not too many sweets! 

 

The Be Active Kids Clubhouse Team loves to keep our hearts healthy by being active and having fun.  A few activities we like to play to get our hearts healthy are Swat the Fly, tag, and riding our bikes and trikes.   Also, we share information about the heart in our Be Active Kids Movement Guide on pages 16 and 17.   Any activity found in the guide that has a heart on the right side in the tab are heart healthy activities as well.   We love to get moving and make our heart healthy!

 

         

                                    

 

 

 

 

 

 

You’re probably thinking I forgot that February is also when we celebrate Valentine’s Day, but I was saving the best for last.  We like to use such activities as dancing to the Cupid Shuffle, Valentine Tag, and the Heart Healthy Exercise Game when we are playing with friends to help them celebrate Valentine’s Day the healthy way.  The Clubhouse Team not only likes to celebrate the day by being active, but we like to fuel our bodies with healthy snacks on Valentine’s Day as well. 

 

We like heart-shaped fruit kabobs, Valentine’s Snack Mix, and Valentine’s Tic Tac Toe.  We have fun enjoying one of our favorite holidays by being active and eating healthy together! (Check out our friends at Friendly Avenue Christian Preschool, in Greensboro, NC doing the Cupid Shuffle)

Keep loving your heart with being active and healthy foods.  Share your pictures and ideas on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram using #caughtbeingactive and @beactivekids  

See you in March for National Nutrition month! 

- Blue the Caring Cub
 

Testimonials

  • Preservice Teachers Learn to Use Be Active Kids in Limited Spaces

    I really enjoyed our class meeting. It was interesting to discover that you can do just about anything with children in the classroom where there may not be much space to encourage them to be active.  A change that I will make in my own life is to be more active, as well as my daughter. I will share this information with my friends that have children such as yoga animals, or Simon Says.

    Cathy Sesta, Parent & Child Care Provider
  • Early Childhood Physical Activity Institute

    Thank you for inviting me to be part of this year’s Institute. I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed the experience. You’re doing amazing work and I hope I’ll be able to continue contributing to it a bunch in the future.

    Rae Pica, www.movingandlearning.com
  • Plenty of Resources That I Can Use and Share

    This class was informative, and I look forward to being physically active with young children. On Friday, I volunteered at a Parents Night Out through my daughter's school. When I got there the kids were watching a movie. I got them up to play Simon Says and Red Light Green Light, however, after that I was stuck on what to do. I wish I had the knowledge I gained from this class, to have made it more exciting.

    I enjoyed your Land and Lake Activity.

    Venessa Wright, Parent & Child Care Provider
  • Be Active Kids Trainers Rock!

    I loved the training.  I would have loved it more if I had the other teachers from my center there also.  I am really looking forward to taking my kit to work and sharing it with my staff.  I liked Brittney, she reminded me of myself as far as being very active and motivated.  When I am at work with my little ones we stay busy all day.  I feel like singing my instructions and dancing my actions helps them to focus better on what I need for them to do.  Britney was great and I learned a lot from her. I am always trying to find new little ways to get the kids moving.

    Tiffany Daniel, Sandhill Community College
  • ECPAI

    The Early Childhood Physical Activity Institute was just wonderful!  Thank you again for including me in such an important effort to create and sustain leaders in EC physical activity. I would love to return to NC anytime that you think I can help. I enjoyed meeting the folks who work with you and hearing about all of the great things that are planned. 

    Linda Carson, Choosy Kids
  • Be Active Kids has Much to Offer

    Congratulations to you and everyone who has been promoting PA for young
    children in NC. You have much to be proud of here. Be Active Kids is an excellent source of ideas for promoting active play in unstructured settings. The Be Active Kids website also has resources on promoting unstructured active play. I encourage folks to review these resources. 

    Diane Craft, SUNY Cortland & Active Play Books