Child Obesity and Play-On

Aloha,

We are working with a program called Play-On, created by AAPAR, the American Association for Physical Activity and Recreation. AAPAR's program, developed by two PhD's at LSU, is a curriculum designed to meet the NASPE physical education standards.

By using the Play-On program, schools have a better chance of compliance with the federal standards for Physical Education. We've all heard the stories of PE classes being cut down to make room for more academic time. Unfortunately, we've also seen the evidence that childhood obesity is on the rise. The reasons for this are numerous. Everyone has their favorite demon to blame--Video games, television, the computer, increased time demands on parents and children, and broken family structure are all on the list. The results speak for themselves; childhood obesity is up 25% in the past decade.

Playgrounds offer some antidote to this trend. Taking your children to the park to play gets them exercising. Being outdoors alone makes a difference--We create our own Vitamin D in our skin when we are exposed to sunlight. Taking the children to the park is like going to the gym for adults, although they probably have more fun at it than we adults do.

The Play-On program is designed to help schools see their playground equipment as fitness equipment--not the grueling chin-up bar type either. There are 100 Learning Activities for grades K-5 that encourage swinging, sliding, overhead brachiating, spinning, balancing, climbing, and overall fitness. These activities come right from the NASPE standards.

BTW (that's By the Way for the internet impaired, ask your teenager) overhead brachiating is what we do when we use monkey bars. Funny factoid: Monkey Bars are misnamed. Monkeys cannot brachiate. They should be called chimpanzee bars. If you touch your left ear with your right hand (with your arm going over your head), you are brachiating. Monkeys cannot do this.

More information about Play-On is available on the Innovative Playgrounds and Recreation website, www.ipr-hawaii.com follow any link to our manufacturer Gametime and you'll see more info about Play-On.

Next week we'll be more about Play-On, including a great opportunity for schools to participate in a national study regarding playgrounds, curriculum, and fitness. Until then, keep playing.

Ian Ross
The Playground Guy