Physical Activity and Physical Education Resources for Distance Learning
Physical Activity vs. Physical Education
The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommend that children and adolescents ages 6 through 17 years do 60 minutes or more of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity daily. Regular physical activity in children and adolescents promotes health and fitness and helps to reduce obesity and the risk of having chronic conditions. To achieve this recommendation children and youth must participate in a quality physical education program and physical activity throughout the day in addition to recreational or competitive sports.
Physical education provides learning opportunities for the students to be able to choose lifelong healthy behaviors trough movement while engaging in emotional and social activities necessary for human development. Physical activity alone cannot offer all these benefits especially when it is delivered from home. We understand that physical activity at home is important during this time but it should not be viewed as a substitute for a quality physical education program. To learn more about physical education vs. physical activity, click here.
Distance Learning at Home
Free Resources for Physical Activity
- DAREBEE: A non-profit free, ad-free and product placement free global fitness resource. Great for exercises with no equipment.
- Content Area: Physical Education
- Target Grades: K-12
- GoNoodle: This program gets kids up and moving to fun, engaging content. Every lesson is designed to get children moving and to engage their minds to be their best.
- Content Area: Physical Education
- Target Grades: K-6
- Open Online Physical Education Network: The tools and resources on the page are designed to help families enjoy physical activity together as a way to enhance physical and emotional health and well-being.
- Content Area: Physical Education
- Target Grades: K-12
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention- Body and Mind: Body and Mind Classroom Resources for Teachers portal. This page contains a variety of information and resources for teachers of grades 4-8 to use in the classroom and help students make healthier lifestyle choices.
- Content Area: Health Education
- Target Grades: 4-8
- NCHPAD: NCHPAD seeks to help people with disability and other chronic health conditions achieve health benefits through increased participation in all types of physical and social activities, including fitness and aquatic activities, recreational and sports programs, adaptive equipment usage, and more. This is a great video resource to get students with disabilities active at home.
- Content Area: Health Education
- Target Grades: K-12
- Kahoot: Is a game-based learning platform that makes it easy to create, share and play learning games or trivia quizzes in minutes. Unleash the fun in classrooms, offices and living rooms. The program is free for use. Kahoot offers access to all features to support distance learning in schools affected by the coronavirus outbreak.
- Content Area: Health and Physical Education
- Target Grades: K-12
- Shape America: SHAPE America and other K-12 health and physical educators to help you continue to provide high quality, standards-based lessons despite the circumstances. Adapt, repurpose or use the resources provided as you see fit to best meet the unique needs of your students.
- Content Area: Health and Physical Education
- Target Grades: K-12
Yoga has become a popular and beneficial activity for all ages and for good reason. For kids with a disability yoga can help them breathe deeper, concentrate longer, and increase their self confidence. In this video, you can see how yoga can be adapted for kids of all abilities. Watch as each move is demonstrated by a single individual and how that move might play out in a class setting. Yoga should always be viewed as an individual practice. The way one child may be able to demonstrate a pose may look completely different from another child. Allow each student to move freely through their own practice.