After a summer of fun, being active, and enjoying the outdoors, the Fall can be a time when children spend time being less active. The weather begins to change for many regions, and it can be easy for students to adopt a less active lifestyle. The long, warm summer days and evenings are replaced by darker evenings and colder weather. This can lead to less activity outside of the home and more hours indoors. Often this results in children spending countless hours watching TV or sitting in front of a computer. These sedentary activities, and others like them, can negatively impact a child's health.

Therefore, providing parents with some key information of the importance of keeping their children active all year can be helpful.

PBS provides some valuable information on how and why physical activity should be promoted for young children. Ideas of how physical activity and movement can be integrated into classroom subjects such as language arts, math, and social studies are provided. See also this curriculum integration information.

The National Coalition for Promoting Physical Activity has published a number of reports about the importance of being physically active. These reports provide some great information to include in newsletters to parents, or you can even recommend the website to parents to visit so that they can understand the importance of having their children active throughout the school year.

Why not use this early stage of the new school year to inform both students and parents of the benefits of being healthy? Provide ideas of how families can be physically active. For example:

	Utilize bulletin boards and school, or class weekly newsletters, to help develop the knowledge of the many benefits of regular activity.
	Provide your students, and their parents, with information about local recreation opportunities. Try to remember to also include contact numbers and addresses.
	See if you can add a page to your school website, listing a variety of activities that can be done as a family.
	Promote student-led intramural programs. These programs can serve a dual purpose. Student-led intramural programs not only develop a love of activity in the participants, and provide opportunities to practice skills learned in physical education programs, but also can develop important leadership skills in the students organizing and running the program.

By taking some positive action now, we can all help our children lead a healthier lifestyle!

By the time that you are reading this, several weeks of the new school year have undoubtedly flown by, and the children are now well versed in the routines developed during the first weeks of being in the gymnasium, and anywhere else that you teach your Physical Education program. Much can also be said for us. Establishing a routine enables us to rely on tried and trusted plans and ideas. Routine helps us to feel comfortable, and at ease with what we are doing.

However, maybe it is time for us all to step out of our comfort zones and try something new for this school year. Maybe it is planning a field trip to a location not previously used. Maybe it is teaching that dance unit that always seems to be forgotten and not utilized. Maybe it is taking that extra step and finding the time to sit down with colleagues, and plan that integrated unit that has been spoken about at the staff room table for the last few years, but never made it past the idea stage.

Although change is often accompanied by hard work, unease, and a lack of security, it can also be full of positive outcomes.

So, as we look around and notice the change of season, and see that the leaves are beginning to change on the trees that surround our school buildings, perhaps we can also consider a change in how we teach. Such change might result in new life and energy in our Physical Education programs!

Witch Ride: Establish a straight course and divide contestants into teams, each making a single line. Give a broom to the first person on each team. At the signal, team members with a broom will "ride" the broom down the course and back, then hand it off to the next person in line. The first team to get all of its members down the course and back wins!

Heel-to-Toe Race: Line up contestants side-by-side. At the signal, each contest begins moving forward by placing one foot in front of the other, heel to toe. The first one to the finish line wins.

Feather Blow: Divide participants into teams and line each team up relay style, with the front person placing his/her toe on the start line. The first person on each team is given a feather. The object is to blow the feather down the course and back. The first team to complete this wins. Teams may replace the blowing with a sheet of paper.

Catch the Skeleton: Secure some tennis balls (number depends on size of teams). Take one of the balls, paint it white and mark it with the features of a skeleton. Divide the group into two equal teams and have them stand or sit approximately 20 feet apart, facing each other. Divide the tennis balls equally among the teams. When the facilitator signals the start of the game, participants must toss the balls to the other team, in a way they can easily be caught. This continues until the facilitator calls halt. The team with the skeleton ball will have 10 points counted against it. At the end of the game the low-scoring team wins.

Lots more of these, so check them out!

Lunch Box Builder - This is NOT the same old, same old 'healthy lunch box' ideas. This site offers LOTS of healthy lunches, shows what the lunch looks like, and makes lunch really fun! Check this site out, if no other!

Healthy School Lunch Ideas - Want to pack healthy school lunches for your kids? Packing a healthy school lunch is not as difficult as you may think. Here are some ideas to help you in deciding what healthy foods to pack, menu ideas, tips for picky eaters, and healthy recipes for kids.

8 Healthy Lunch Box Ideas - A healthy lunch doesn't have to mean boring. You can provide a healthy lunch to your child in a way that doesn't turn them off to good food choices. It's time to get creative!