• Encourage students to stand and stretch arms over head, out to the sides, around their bodies, adding swinging and repeat several times.
• Use music for stepping, hopping, and jumping in place. Encourage silent landings (bend knees, land toes first).
• Have students make up dances or share the latest popular line dances. Some folk and square dances may be aligned with social studies lessons.
• Play "Keep It Up" with balloons. Begin with one balloon per child and progress to small group games with one balloon per group.  Groups may add additional balloons as they gain control and awareness. Discuss ground rules for safety and control (i.e. one hit at a time, directional cues, contact the balloons in order, etc.).
• Practice progressive relaxation, tensing each body segment and then relaxing in turn (head, neck, shoulders, right arm, right hand, left arm, left hand, etc.).
• Sitting exercise ("sittercise"): do a variety of arm, leg, foot, and trunk exercises while remaining seated. (use music).
• Play "Fitness with the Leader". This is "Follow the Leader" using exercises.
• Measure heart rates after various locomotor movements (hop, walk, jump, skip, etc.).
• Make up "hand jive" routines, share and teach to others.
• Practice deep breathing and relaxing.
• Plan exercise stations (stretch and strengthen for each part of the body) for the classroom and progress in a circuit through the stations.
• Try juggling, top spinning, or yo yo contests.
• Sport mimics: act out sport movements such as batting, kicking, dribbling, throwing/catching, dunking, swimming various strokes, volleyball passing/serving, and shooting. Everyone is skillful without the equipment!!
• Collect milk jugs to fill with varied amounts of water to use as weights.  "A pint's a pound with world around"!
• Make paper airplanes and see how far they can fly.

Cut the Screen Time
Screen time includes watching TV, playing computer/video games, and surfing the Internet. Limit screen time to less than one to two hours per day. Remember screen time is more than just TV.

Let children choose only their favorite TV shows and then keep the TV off.

Submitted by Amy Juneau, FCS, Iberia/St. Mary/St. Martin Parishes.