Stay Active on a Budget
What do bubbles, building forts, and walking the dog have in common? They are all fun, low cost/no cost ways to stay physically active as a family. Here are some free and inexpensive activities that you and your family can do indoors and outdoors.  Learn more...

Play Activey Every Day

What is physical activity?
Physical activity includes playing actively, family fun such as hiking or swimming, and anything that gets your child moving!

Why is physical activity important?  

• It helps your child stay healthy.
• It helps your child learn good habits early in life. 
• It gives them an outlet for their natural energy.

Your preschooler loves to move!  Encourage your preschooler to play actively several times every day.  Preschoolers' activity may happen in short bursts of time and not be all at once.

Physical activity does not always have to be led by adults.

• Free play is unstructured physical activity that is chosen by the child. For example, preschoolers are engaging in free play when they play on the playground, play tag with friends, or pretend to be wild animals.
• Adult-led activities are structured to have a purpose, such as encouraging flexibility, focusing on strength, or concentrating on endurance.

Do you wonder if your child is getting enough physical activity?

Ask yourself the following questions as a general guide:

• Does your child play outside several times a day or in a room inside where they are free to run around?         
• Does your child watch less than 2 hours of TV daily (including all screen time)?         
• Do you make sure that your child doesn’t sit for more than 60 minutes at one time?    
• When actively playing is your child breathing quickly and/or sweating?           

If you answer yes to most these questions, your child is probably getting enough physical activity.