By

Stephanie Swanson,   Oakdale Elementary School

Play:

Community Playtime – It’s Good for Everyone

Topics:

Physical Activity Participation

This fall, our student council sponsored an after school "Family Fitness Night" during which parents and students were invited to our gym and spent 30 minutes exercising. One of the students on our student leadership team brought a spinner with different exercises on it. Students spun to choose an exercise and then drew a card to decide how many reps of that exercise we would do. We had a great time and a great turnout!

How do you plan to make this Play last during the school year and beyond?

We are planning another Family Wellness night after school next week. We've invited our local Miss Omaha to come lead us in yoga.

How did students and adults work together as a team?

Our student leadership team helped us brainstorm ideas for exercises that we could do as a large group.

What challenges did you face and how did you overcome them?

Last year, we didn't have very many students attend our fitness night because the time seemed to conflict with lots of other extra-curricular activities. We've seen more students join our after school fitness nights this year by holding them right after school, when most students are available, instead of later in the evening.