A study from Spain indicates that an afterschool physical activity program helped lessen the number of overweight and obese fourth- and fifth-grade girls, but not boys, and led to declines in cholesterol levels in girls and boys, report study researchers.

The MOVI program - 90 minutes of after-school games, dance, or sports such as soccer and basketball was held 3 days a week.


Grant Writing Webinar Today PST at 10. Wednesday, March 31, 2010 -��…

by Andrea Bossenmeyer


What a great idea! A way to get kids fit and increase literacy! It's called Read & Ride!

This is a free program for kids, where used bikes were collected from around the community! I love hearing about this because this is the Recycling for the bikes in the community that might otherwise end up in a landfill. Now they are being used to help kids and the community!

Learn more www.KidsReadAndRide.com

Americans may be facing difficult choices at chain restaurants in the future. The health bill President Barack Obama signed into law Tuesday requires that restaurant chains post calorie counts for all the food items they sell. The law covers any chain with at least 20 outlets, amounting to more than 200,000 restaurants nationwide.

Adults may be learning the new lingo that kids have faced in making food choices for some time now as a result of …

Take the bullying quiz.

By Andrea Bossenmeyer

Around the Peaceful Playground offices, I'm known for starting our recycling bins, and insisting on non-toxic cleaning products like Method, as well as teaching co-workers about the hazards of processed foods etc.

I follow the Healthy Child Healthy World Blog and can't say enough good things about it. Their Mission is to igniting a movement that inspires parents to protect young children from harmful chemicals.

They …

by Travis Saunders Obesity Panacea

In most developed nations, kids get far less physical activity than they did just a few generations ago. Given the strong links between physical inactivity and health risk (and given that we're now seeing "adult" diseases like heart disease and type 2 diabetes in children and teenagers), this has become a very real public health concern. Unfortunately, when it comes to increasing childhood physic…

West Virginia University’s Dr. Linda Carson will receive the Margie R. Hanson Elementary Physical Education Distinguished Service Award from the National Association for Sport and Physical Education during the national convention of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance ending today in Indiana.

Carson is also the founder of Choosy Kids, a company that uses the character “Choosy” to promote healthy decision mak…

Mandated PE Policies Ignored in CA


Source: Dick Jones Communications from American Medical Network

Obesity boot camps are not the answer to the nation’s waistline problem, says Deborah J. Wray, associate professor in the department of kinesiology at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth.

“Many programs have developed out of a desire to take advantage of the money that can be made from the obesity epidemic,” she writes in the March 2010 issue…

Reading and math are important, but so are social studies, science, the arts and recess, Duncan said Monday on ABC's ''Good Morning America.''


Expanding on and explaining President Barack Obama's proposal to change NCLB legislation, Duncan said the new focus goes beyond math and reading to ''a well-rounded education,'' Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Thursday in the NYT.

NYT article: Duncan: More …

Great 5 minute trailer on kids and commercials. Important questions.

Did you like the video? Go to Activekidsclub.com for tips and tools to create your own outdoor playgroup where you live. Be inspired to get you and your kids to go out and play!

Follow them on twitter: http://twitter.com/activekidsclub

In what could turn out to be a landmark decision, a court ordered a school district to pay $800,000 in damages as a result of student who was bullied. The decision is unique as it was alleged that a student was bullied and harassed in both junior high school and the name calling continued until it escalated into pushing him into lockers at his high school.

This ruling puts schools and districts on alert that "it isn’t enough to simply stop…

Pepsi announced plans Tuesday to stop selling its sugary drinks in schools around the world by 2012.

Pepsi will sell water, fat-free or low-fat milk, and sugar-free juice.

For secondary students, low-calorie soft drinks like Diet Pepsi will be added to the mix.

Coca Cola announced earlier this month it would stop selling its products in primary schools, unless parents or school authorities requested it sell them.



Previous blog posts:

Nutrition in…

Yesterday the top was Structured vs Unstructured recess. In 1998 I wrote an article called, Eliminate Recess. Let's Skip It! The complete article is available on our webpage. The following is an interview with the principal where the original Peaceful Playgrounds Program was implemented.

After the program was introduced at E. Hale Curran Elementary School in Murrieta, California, the results produced immediate and significant reductio…

Sunday's New York Times has an article entitled, "Forget goofing around. Recess has a new boss." The article was about Broadway Elementary School in Newark. According to the Times, "there is no more sitting around after lunch. No more goofing off with friends. No more doing nothing." It seems Broadway Elementary has hired a recess coach who organizes daily games and students are expected to participate in the chosen ac…

A playground on steroids. A playground of the future. Active play interactions. The next big idea in playgrounds. Theses descriptions could all describe Icon.

This past week I observed a new playground structure called Icon by Kompan. But really, structure doesn't even begin to describe it. Think of a giant video game that challenges kids to move around a play structure as an active participant. Yes, panting as a result of quick agil…

Great anti- bullying video.

Other blogs and articles on the topic of bullying.

Why Bullying Programs Succeed or Fail.

Bullying Prevention: Life's Lessons in Good and Evil.


Kids Learn How to Play Nice.

With the goal to empower school age children nationwide with the means to achieve and maintain a healthy lifestyle, ING Run For Something Better (ING RFSB), in partnership with the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE), has developed a school-based running program. In addition to fighting childhood obesity, research shows that physical activity improves self esteem, school performance and overall well being.

Deadline: Apri…

Two years ago, as Legislative Chairperson of the CAHPERD I worked with members to advocate for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to sign several bills into law to eliminate sodas and other highly sweetened beverages and restrict the sale of junk foods in all of California's public schools.

He did. And it appears to have worked according to a study by Sanchez-Vaznaugh and co-investigators which was published in the Journal of Health Affairs. The st…

Physical Activity Used as Punishment and/or Behavior Management

Children and youths have many opportunities to be physically active in the school environment, including physical education class, recess, and before- and after- school programs. However, some schools, teachers and coaches withhold participation or exclude students and athletes from physical activity as a punishment.

Core Issue
The core issue is that administering or withdrawing physi…

by Andrea Bossenmeyer



Google, one of my favorite companies, has a contest for K-12 students. They are inviting students to design their logo! Google believes in thinking big and dreaming big, so therefore their contest theme is, "If I Could Do Anything, I Would …"

The deadline to register is March 17th and the deadline for entries is March 31. Don't delay! The winning doodle will be featured on our Google.com homepage on May 27, 201…

First Lady Michelle Obama suggested that taking small steps like exercising a little more or skipping a cookie ("little things") added up over time and make a big difference in weight gain. However, Tara Parker Pope journalist for the NYT suggests otherwise in her article "In the obesity epidemic, What's one cookie." Numerous scientific studies show that small caloric changes have almost no long-term effect on weight.…

Study author Lesley Cottrell, an associate professor of pediatrics at West Virginia University, in Morgantown stated that, "Children's physical fitness is associated with their academic performance," according to a two year study completed recently.

In general, the fitter the student, the better the test scores, Cottrell's team found. The researchers evaluated almost 1,200 students, assessing their fitness in the fifth grade and…

TV food personality and healthy food advocate, Jamie Oliver, gives a TED Talk after winning this year's TED Prize which allows him to communicate a wish.

Jamie’s one wish to change the world is to teach every kid about food. View the 20 minute video and watch his passionate TED Prize talk about how we are slowly killing ourselves and our children with the foods we (don’t) eat.




Check out our other blogs on school nutrition:
Schools role in the …

By Andrea Bossenmeyer



Recently I watched the movie “Food Inc.” which is a movie about food production in the United States and its impact on our health. I was enlightened to learn about how the meat industry feeds our animals. According to the movie, the way the meat industry feeds cattle has a direct effect on our health.

Today, let’s just talk about beef. Cattle naturally graze on grass. However, that is not what most of the cattle farms are fe…

A few brave principals across the nation are bringing a long standing school tradition to an end. They are advocating Recess Before Lunch. Recent research shows the number of schools implementing Recess before Lunch is rapidly growing.

Kids eat more, waste less food, return to class calmer, behave better and as a result, instruction time is increased. Sounds great but implementing Recess Before Lunch can be tricky.

Attend this free webinar where w…

A recent gallop poll shows that principals support recess and feel it improves learning, concentration, and childrens' ability to focus on academics. The study conducted by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Playworks comes at a time that many districts are cutting recess and physical education programs due to wide spread school financial budget deficits.

The poll indicated:
1. 80 percent of school principals said they've seen proof …