Instilling Healthy Habits at Home & at Preschool – Happy National Preschool Fitness Day!
Did you know that more than half of obese children become overweight by the time they’re 2? Did you also know that roughly one in five children is overweight by their 6th birthday? Given such high statistics, whether you’re a parent or a teacher, it’s critical to support physical fitness for preschool children and instill healthy lifestyle habits early on so that children may continue these habits as they grow.
Today is the National Preschool Fitness Day and in light of this, I’d like to take the opportunity to highlight a few child care centers that offer great fitness programs.
Kiddie Academy of Gainesville is a child care center where Health and Nutrition are part of the curriculum and where children spend two hours outside daily. The center has an indoor gym and a soccer enrichment program.
Jefferson Montessori School of Gaithersburg offers dance and sport classes and has a state of the art “Sports Court” that provides the ideal arena for a wide variety of organized games and sports.
Kiddie Academy of Ashburn is a brand new child care center where gym-like setting is part of the classroom. The center also offers an enrichment soccer program.
Merritt Academy in Fairfax makes sure kids stay active and spend 2-3 hours outdoors daily. The campus of this private school has a large indoor gym, a swimming pool and a multipurpose field. The program offers a ton of extracurricular classes to choose from such as swimming, soccer, martial arts, and even tennis!
If your preschool or child care center doesn’t offer a fitness program, I’d like to encourage you, parent, to sign up for extracurricular classes that will keep your little one(s) active. Check out Activity Rocket, a one-stop shop for DC’s best kids’ classes, camps and sports and see what fun classes are offered in your area.
Keep in mind that taking classes isn’t necessary to instill healthy habits, simply staying active and eating healthy will do. If you missed it, check out our previous blog post on 5 healthy food tips, and don’t stay indoors all winter long, check out fun snow games you can play with your kids and keep active (hey, the snow hasn’t melted yet!)
You can also visit the First Lady’s Let’s Move! initiative website to learn more about simple steps you can take to help your child learn habits that prevent childhood obesity and can keep them healthy for life.
Happy and fun National Preschool Fitness Day to you!