| This month
is much anticipated for us Upper Midwesterners. We can
be outside without mittens, boots, scarves, hats, and
winter jackets!!! After being indoors for months, it is
a treat to be outside. These activities to share,
perhaps over Memorial Day week-end, are “classics” to
the older generation but might be new to our children.
They are tried and true through the years and provide
health, emotional, and educational benefits. Welcome to
May. #1 A
recent study disclosed that when children reach middle
school years their level of exercise dramatically falls
off. Everyone knows that for our health and wellness,
exercise needs to be part of the solution. There is a
gadget available that can help families become aware of
their activity levels – the pedometer. These are
available in sports or discount stores and online from
$9.00 to $40.00. It is great to have one for the family
to use or a unique gift for your student as a present at
the end of classes for doing their personal best in
school.
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Educate a child about a pedometer. It
counts the steps you walk. Some models convert the steps to miles,
states the calories used, and keeps a 7 day history of steps taken.
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The suggested number of steps for
adults to reach each day is 10,000. For children in 5th grade and
above it’s 13,000 steps.
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5th to 8th graders while at school
average 3,000 steps a day. This leaves a gap of 11,000 steps to be
taken before or after school to
maintain a healthy lifestyle.
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#2
Using a pedometer helps with fitness levels and
incorporates math skills.
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Ask a child to guess how many steps
are taken during a period of time – perhaps from getting home after
school to dinnertime. Have the child wear the pedometer during that
same time frame and compare the actual steps to the estimated steps.
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Calculate the length of their walking
stride. Take 10 strides, measure the distance covered and divide by
10 to figure the length of their stride or step. For example: if you
took 10 steps and went 20 feet your stride length would be 2 feet.
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Calculate how many miles you walk. It
takes about 2,500 steps (depending on your stride length) to cover a
mile .
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Graph the number of steps you take
each week so you have a visual record of your progress
Couch potatoes BEWARE – perhaps so many steps should be taken before
a favorite TV show may be watched or video game played.
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WALK-TALK Begin a daily or weekly
family walk time with a child and parent or other members of the
family. Informal conversations often occur without distractions
during the walk. You can be enlightened about how your child is
doing with school, friends, attitude, etc.
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Get out a map and set a goal of
walking across Wisconsin which is about 284 miles. The length of
Wisconsin about 370 miles. Set up markers as you walk a certain
distance in your neighborhood to show where you would be on the map.
If you want to walk across America – it would take about 7,500,000
steps!
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My personal favorite is to have a
child wear the pedometer during Family Dance Night. Select your
favorite dancing music and dance those steps away. It is amazing how
quickly the steps will add up.
#3
Memorial Day is an important holiday to discuss with a
child. If there is a veteran in your family or circle of
friends, encourage a child to ask questions regarding
their service to our country. This game was a favorite
of our older veterans when they were young. It improves
hand-eye coordination and finger dexterity and keeps
hands and wrists strong and nimble. This is a wonderful
cross-generational activity that benefits everyone and
can be played anywhere. By including jacks in your
Memorial Day gathering, older guests will reminisce
about their childhood. You can play by yourself or make
a competitive game with 2 to 4 players.
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You will need a set of jacks with a
small rubber ball. At discount stores you can find larger plastic
jacks but try to find the original metal jacks (Cracker Barrel
stores carry them) because they last a long time.
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This variation is called “onesies” and
is the most common method of playing jacks.
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First player gathers all the jacks in
his right hand. Open hand above a table or the ground and jacks will
drop and scatter.
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Using only your right hand toss the
ball and pick up one jack before the ball bounces twice.
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Place the jack in your left hand.
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Continue with toss the ball, pick up
one jack without touching any other jacks, catch the ball and pass
the picked up jack to left hand.
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Continue this pattern until you miss.
Count how many jacks are in your left hand for scoring purposes.
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Next player proceeds the same way
trying to pick up more jacks than the first player.
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All different variations exist like “twosies”,
“threesies” and other fun jack games. Ask a veteran or older friend
how jacks were played with their friends.
The strength
and agility of our hands is important for many tasks
from brushing teeth, handwriting, tying shoelaces,
opening doors, etc. These tasks are done by old and
young alike. Jacks can be used as a fun exercise to
improve the motor muscles of the hands, wrists, and
forearms.
#4
Classic games are fun to play when there are multi-age
guests. If your Memorial week-end includes such a
gathering, the game Pick-up sticks joins our previous
segment on “jacks” as all time favorites. The origin of
the game is uncertain. In China sets were made of ivory.
Native Americans played with straws of wheat, and other
countries had their own version with different names –
Pick-up sticks, Jackstraws, Spellicans, or Spilikins.
There are also many variations and rules so have fun
making up your own family version.
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Pick-up sticks can be hand-made
with dowels or skewers. Most versions have the following 25 to 30
painted sticks – 1 black, 7 red, 7 blue, 7 yellow, and 8 green .
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Each color is given a point value and
sometimes a name.
| Black |
Emperor |
25 points |
| Red |
Captains |
10 points |
| Blue |
Prince |
5 points |
| Green |
Chieftain |
2 points |
| Yellow |
Warriors |
1 point |
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Decide how many points are needed to
win a game 50, 100, 300, 500, etc.
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First player holds all the sticks
vertically in one hand. One end of the sticks must touch the playing
area.
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Player releases his hand and allows
the sticks to drop.
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The goal is to pick up
individual sticks using your fingers and not
touching or moving any stick other than the stick
being picked up.
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If another stick
moves, that player’s turn is over. Count points from
sticks picked up before next player collects the
sticks and begins his turn.
This game
allows interaction among the players (everyone is
watching to see if a stick moves!!!) and aids in
hand-eye coordination and finger dexterity skills needed
by old and young alike.
Let me
know by e-mail what your favorite activity was this month. I am compiling information for a resource book
and want your input. Thanks.
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