Getting kids active may (also) help them process the new normal during this uncertain moment of their lives. Play is important to help children process their own emotional responses to adversity and stress. Outdoor physical activity can provide children with a sense of control and agency over their own actions and is important for physical-emotional skill building. Play and physical activity, at home or outdoors (while practicing physical distancing), may therefore help children process this unusual social climate we are all in. activehealthykids.org
When sending plans home or delivering them online, consider recommending that your students participate in regular brain and body breaks. Some teachers schedule these in while others provide choice boards or a selection of breaks and ask students to participate in these or other movement breaks periodically through the day. Others encourage this through synchronous ‘dance parties’ using Zoom (or other web conference tool) or asynchronous video using, for example, FlipGrid. Below are some resources teachers can use to support a healthy and active lifestyle while students learn from home:
- Brain & Body Breaks:
- Brain Breaks from MindUp
- Activity Breaks shared by MET student, Erica Hargreave. Erica employs these breaks routinely in her adult learning online courses. These activities (including the ever popular chair dancing) would be appropriate for middle and secondary teachers teaching online with an LMS (learning management system), sharing via email or even printing and sending prompts as part of a resource package.
- Megan Zeni, a favourite resource for garden and outdoor learning shared her April calendar of outdoor learning activities to support home learning. UPDATE: Megan shared this post to support return to school and Rob Fleming’s recommendation that more outdoor time be built into the school day to support student (and teacher) health and safety.
- Physical and Health Education:
- UBC Rec’s Play and Learn Website has live online play & learn sessions and resources intended for ages 6-8 and 9-12. The FREE live streamed activity sessions include a variety of topics: art, science, nutrition, drama, wellness, enrichment and more…
- Cross-Curricular #homefun:
- Scott Morrison from Elon University suggests having ‘homefun’ activities built into courses. His course on garden-based learning includes provocations:
“Plant seeds. Are there any seeds in the food you have been eating lately? What do you know about saving seeds? Find some seeds that you can plant. Should you plant them inside or outside? What do they need to sprout? What conditions are optimum?”; Gaze at stars. There are millions of stars in the sky. Use the app Night Sky to learn more about constellations. What stories do the stars tell?”
- How about this for some Physics #homefun? (ESPN video shared by @AllisonBryan225 on Twitter)
