New initiative helps kids stay healthy at home
The College of Education's Center for Health and Community Impact recently launched a program to help parents keep their children healthy at home. Launched last month, #healthykidsquarantined is a social media initiative through which the center shares lessons, tools and resources to promote regular physical activity and healthy eating.
"The center is comprised of a group of teachers, researchers and community leaders who are committed to improving the health and well-being of children and their families," said Nate McCaughtry, Ph.D., the center's director and assistant dean of the Division of Kinesiology, Health and Sport Studies. "Healthy Kids Quarantined seeks to ensure kids stay active and eat healthy while they are at home."
The program encourages children of all ages to engage in a minimum of 60 minutes of physical activity daily. Some activities include yoga with Kids Work It Out, fitness bingo, and dancing along with GoNoodle, Kidz Bop or TikTok. Fitness resources may provide hour-long activities or a series of exercises broken up into smaller intervals. They may also include challenges or games to make exercise fun.
Another goal is to get families to eat healthy. The toolkit includes nutrition resources and simple recipes - such as fruit smoothies, berry infused water, and baked carrot fries - to help children eat five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables daily and make healthy food and beverage choices. A recent activity involved using MyPlate to create a healthy family menu for the week.
Resources are separated by early childhood, elementary and middle school and are age-appropriate for each group. Adapted activities for children with disabilities are also provided. Parents can access activity suggestions, nutrition resources, challenges, and weekly calendars and lessons at dl.orangedox.com/healthykidsquarantined or review the daily plan on social media by following @wsukhs on Facebook and Instagram or @waynestatekhs on Twitter. Parents can locate lessons or share photos and videos of their families utilizing these resources using the hashtag #healthykidsquarantined on social media.
School districts, educational associations and community organizations are encouraged to share information about the initiative throughout their networks.
"We know families are spending a great deal of time together at home during this health crisis," said McCaughtry. "Many of us are also parents, so we appreciate the challenge of keeping kids constructively occupied - and off their devices - during home quarantine. This initiative emphasizes the importance of maintaining good health while providing parents with tips and tools to make it easy and fun. We may be social distancing, but we don't have to do it alone. We can all work together to ensure our children are happy and healthy while at home."
For more information about Healthy Kids Quarantined, Learn more about the Center for Health and Community Impact at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TZnebzwlvhJxhbo5frwRPqmcItZ-tOBI/view.
Contact:
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Tracy Walker
Phone: 313-577-0260
Email: tracy.walker@wayne.edu