Fit Kids through Play

I am one of those daycare providers who is a bit fanatical about healthy food and old fashioned outdoor playtime. Here, we go out for playtime (exercise for the children) in most any weather, except lightening and -20 Celsius or colder. The children who come here are fit kids, co-ordinated kids who learn to walk on uneven surfaces, active kids who learn to jump off a dock and climb up onto and swing on a big, old tire hung from a pine tree.

Today, we awoke to find that spring was just teasing us and winter had returned. There was just enough snow to hinder the operation of push toys for the one-year-olds and make the tricycles impossible to peddle for the older kids.

What was a great puddle to play in yesterday was filled with wet snow this morning. Needless to say there wasn't a lot of running around or tag or hide and seek today. It was perhaps their last day to create anything out of wet snow and their favourite creation seemed to be "cooking up tasty snow meals" and using the old tree stump for a work surface. This is conveniently located beside yesterday's puddle. The depression that was a puddle yesterday became the serving platter for today's "healthy snack". Between the puddle that became a serving platter, the stump that was a work surface and the two tricycles stuck in the snow they had a very efficient kitchen work triangle.

The creek which is running in places was like a magnet for all but the youngest. She has yet to discover it. The 15- month- old is drawn to it like a moth to light. That ought to be "fun" in the coming weeks.

By the afternoon the snow was all gone and it looked a lot more like spring again. Tomorrow will be a new and different day outside, no doubt, and we will be back out there getting fit through play…and they won't even know it.