0-6Yrs

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY RESOURCE GUIDE

1.1. Fun and Active Together activity plans

1.1.1. Checklist

Before the activity F Prepare all necessary and optional equipment

F Involve participants in the planning and implementation of the physical activity

F Establish a safe and motivating environment for physical activity

F Ensure participants are familiar with rules and safety procedures

F Ensure any equipment being used is easily accessible and appropriate to the facility and for the age and ability of the participants

F Ensure that all activities and facilities enable everyone to participate

During cooking F Allow participants to do only what they are comfortable with

F Ensure participants have warm-up activity

F Encourage participants to engage in moderate to vigorous physical activity during the activity time

F Ensure participants have time to cool down

Following cooking activity F Talk about ways participants can incorporate physical activity into their daily lives

F Reflect on the physical activity, and make notes on ways of modifying the activity for later use

All activities listed provide opportunity to allow for a warm up and cool down period along with amoderate amount of physical activity. Establish a safe and motivating environment for physical activity.

Ensure participants are familiar with rules and safety procedures.

Activity Name Equipment

Amoeba Tag None

Animal Yoga None

Bubble Chase Bubble mix and wands

Captain’s Calling None

Crossovers None

Dance Party Audio equipment

Golf Bean bags, Frisbees, or rubber chickens, and hoola hoops

Mini Olympics Any equipment available

My Friend Beanie Beanbags

Name that Activity None

Obstacle Course Any equipment available

Rock, Paper, Scissors, Move None

Up! Balloons

Wave None

Wriggly Ribbons Canning rings and ribbons

Happy Healthy Beginnings - Activities Summary Chart

0-6Yrs

Equipment: None

ActivityChoose two participants to be “it.” “It” participants must hold hands and tag others. Any participant that gets tagged must join the chain by linking hands. When another person is tagged they can stay together or split, but they must split with even numbers and can link together at will. This game is played until nobody is left.

NotesDiscuss with participants different strategiesaround how to best tag others (stick together or split apart).

Planning and Reflection

Equipment: None

ActivityButterfly pose: Have participants sit and place the bottoms of their feet together and pull their heels close to their body. Ask them to sit up straight and hold their feet while gently moving their knees up and down, like the flapping of wings. To rest, put their hands under the knees and bring the “wings” together to give them a hug.

Cat pose: Ask participants to get onto all fours. Ask them to breathe in and lift their head and tail -- arch their back so their belly moves down. Then breathe out and drop their head toward the floor and round their back up high towards the sky, like a stretching cat. Alternate between the stretches again. Sit down on their heels to rest.

Downward dog pose: Ask participants to start on all fours. Breathe out and lift their knees up away from the ground. Drop their head between their upper arms. They can get a great stretch by stretching their heels onto the ground. Remind participants to keep breathing. Breathe out and bend their knees back down to rest.

Cobra pose: Ask participants to lie down on their stomach. Place their hands down under their chest and push their upper body upward as far as they can while keeping their hips and legs down. Remind them to breathe. Drop their body back down to the ground to rest.

NotesDiscuss the different ways of being fit with participants. Strength, flexibility, endurance, and balance all work together to help you move.

Planning and Reflection

0-6Yrs

Equipment: Bubble mix and wand (one per group)

ActivityDivide participants into pairs or small groups. Provide each group with a bottle of bubble mix and a wand. Ask each group to take turns blowing bubbles. While one blows, the other tries to pop the bubbles before they hit the ground. Ask participants to pop the bubbles using different actions (e.g. karate chop, tickle) or body parts (e.g. knees, elbows, toes).

NotesDiscuss the many things you can learn about while you engage in physical activity and play.

Planning and Reflection

Equipment: None

ActivityThis is a variation on Simon Says.

Create a list of seafaring commands. Examples: Pull up the lifeboats, Take down the sails, Walk the plank, Mop the decks, Scan the horizon, Cast a fishing rod, Dance a jig.

Participants begin by standing at attention giving salutes. The captain begins calling out commands, and participants do them, but only if the captain has first called out “Attention!” and they have saluted.

If a player follows a command when he was supposed to be at ease, it’s “man overboard” for him.The last crew member left standing wins and becomes the new captain.

NotesDiscuss with participants ways they can be physically active around water and things that are important to remember about water safety.

Planning and Reflection

0-6Yrs

Equipment: None

ActivityHave participants reach with their right hand across their body and touch their left shoulder. Then reach with their left hand and touch their right shoulder. Do it 2 or 3 more times, alternating arms.

Have participants try touching their right elbow to their left knee. Then touch the left elbow to the right knee. Do it 2 or 3 times, alternating arms.

Have participants try bending their right knee and kicking back and touching the back of their left knee with their foot. Then bend the left knee and kick back and touch the back of their right knee with their foot. Do it 2 or 3 times, alternating legs.

NotesDiscuss with participants that intentionally moving an arm or a leg across the midfield of your body stimulates the whole brain. Both sides of the brain start working together in harmony.

Planning and Reflection

Equipment: Audio equipment

ActivityActivity 1: Divide participants into pairs with one participant in each group being a leader. Haveparticipants face each other. Have leaders move their body to the music while the partner tries tomirror the person like a reflection. Give each participant an opportunity to be the leader.

Encourage them to try new and crazy moves.

Activity 2: Invite participants to move to the music. When the music stops, call, “freeze.”Challenge participants to stay perfectly still until the music starts again (e.g., three to fourseconds).

Activity 3: Ask participants to act out movements of different animals when the leader calls outdifferent animal names. Ask participants to suggest other animals.

Activity 4: Invite cultural dancers to come and lead participants in a cultural dance.

NotesDiscuss with students the connection betweenmovement patterns and dance.

Planning and Reflection

0-6Yrs

Equipment: Throwing object, e.g. Frisbees, bean bags, rubber chickens and Hoola hoops

ActivityPlot out a course of holes, where participants start at a marker (a tee) and aim their object toward a hoola hoop.

Participants continue to throw the object, counting how many throws until it lands inside the hoop. Then they move to the next tee.

Variations: Set out a towel for a hazard/trap. If the object lands in the hazard, it can only be picked up once they jump 10 times.

NotesDiscuss with participants ways to use equipment they have at home in creative ways to come up with new games.

Planning and Reflection

Equipment: Use what equipment is available. Optional: soft balls, bean bags, skipping ropes, hoola hoops, tunnels, or stools.

ActivitySet up several stations around the activity area with a variety of activities for participants to perform.

Divide participants into small groups. Have each group start at a different station and rotate clockwise through the circuit.

Station Ideas: Long jump, long throw, skilled throw (set up targets for aiming bean bags), skipping rope, jumping hurdles (make snow hurdles in the winter).

Finish off the fun with a mini-Olympic awards ceremony to honour all of the athletes. Buy medals at the local dollar store or make your own with construction paper, stickers, and string.

NotesDiscuss with participants how physical activity can be both competitive and connecting.

Planning and Reflection

0-6Yrs

Equipment: Beanbags

ActivityActivity 1: Ask participants to explore all sorts of ways to balance the bean bag on different parts of their body, e.g., on the head, shoulders, nose, ear; between the knees, toes, elbows.

Activity 2: Challenge participants to see what they can do while still keeping the bean bag balanced, e.g., walk, run, hop.

Activity 3: Arrange participants in a circle and play “pass the package” by passing several bean bags around the circle. Pass with hands, from foot to foot, or with elbows. Ask participants to take great care not to let it hit the ground.

NotesDiscuss with participants how their bodies need balance.

Planning and Reflection

Equipment: None

ActivityArrange the group in a circle. Ask each participant to lead the group in a 30 second activity that starts with the first letter of their name, e.g. Lisa – lunges, Jesse – jumping jacks, Samir – skating.

NotesA great activity for getting to know one another.

Planning and Reflection

0-6Yrs

Equipment: Any equipment available (e.g. chair, hoola hoop, blanket, stool, rope, pylon)

ActivitySet up an obstacle course and show participants ways to move through it (e.g. crawl under a chair, jump in and out of the hoola hoop, roll on the blanket, stand up on a stool and jump off, balance on a skinny scarf on the ground, walk backwards along a rope, circle around a pylon, hop to the marker).

Have participants rearrange the equipment and create new ways of moving through the course.

NotesAsk participants what their favourite physical activity is. Challenge participants to engage in one physical activity with their family this week.

Planning and Reflection

Equipment: None

ActivityDesignate two lines, using pylons or markers.

Divide participants into pairs and ask them to face each other at one line.

Have participants play a game of rock, paper, scissors. The person who loses the game travels to the other line and back using methods of their choice (e.g. skipping, hopping, galloping). When they arrive back, they choose another participant to play against and the game repeats.

NotesDiscuss with participants ways they can incorporate 10 minute chunks of physical activity into their day.

Planning and Reflection

0-6Yrs

Equipment: Balloons

ActivityHave participants try to keep all the balloons up off the ground.

Variations: Participants can only use a certain part of their body, e.g. head, toes. Participants only need to keep up balloons of a certain colour. Keep changing the colour.

NotesDiscuss with participants how participating in physical activities can affect other things, like learning and thinking.

Planning and Reflection

Equipment: None

ActivityArrange participants in a circle. Choose stretches or movements and have participants “pass” each stretch or movement around the circle and hold it as others join in, creating a wave effect.

Ideas for movements:

• bendingandtouchingtoes• squatting• jumpingfromacrouchedposition

Variations: Have participants choose activities to “pass” around the group.

NotesDiscuss with participants the importance of stretching before doing vigorous activities.

Planning and Reflection

0-6Yrs

Equipment: Canning ring with a 3 to 9 foot ribbon tied to it (one per participant)

ActivityActivity 1: Provide the wriggly ribbons to each participant. Ask them to practice different patterns (e.g. figure 8, waves, spiral, circle). Show participants how to use the whole arm, lower arm (from the elbow) or just the wrist to make the ribbon move. Ask participants to try to use their other hand.

Activity 2: Play Simon says with the wriggly ribbons.

Activity 3: Divide participants into pairs. Have one participant be the leader; the other participant must copy the leader’s movements like a reflection.

NotesDiscuss with participants how fun and creative physical activity can be.

Planning and Reflection