Most kids will say that "walking is boring,"  but when you add incentives like step logs, motivational lessons, a cadence CD and certificates you're sure to get your students attention.  

http://www.peacefulplaygrounds.com/product/catalog/count-student-walking-program/

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We Count Walking Program Meets Federal Criteria as a Promising Practice in After school Programming. Peaceful Playgrounds was a highlighted program in the curriculum category for the Promising Practices in After School Programming List Serve.

Peaceful Playgrounds is a physical activity program that has shown to decrease playground injuries, decrease bullying, and increase children’s physical activity levels.
We Count Pedometer Wellness Progr…
As the weather gets warmer and we all start to spend more time outside it’s a good opportunity for us AND the children we supervise to ensure we are getting a healthy amount of physical activity.

Children need to be active every day to promote their healthy growth and development. We also know that people who establish a healthy lifestyle pattern at a young age will carry those habits with them into adulthood.

A healthy lifestyle is something we …
A new study finds a link between children's performance on standardized tests in reading and math and their fitness performance on the Fitness gram.

According to an article in the Shreveport Times, The Picard Center for Child Development and Lifelong Learning analyzed results of Fitnessgram tests taken by more than 25,000 students in 15 Louisiana school districts in the 2009-10 school year. The tests measure body mass index, body strength, fl…
The Coca-Cola Company and the Coca-Cola Foundation aim to make a greater impact on the communities Coca-Cola serves around the world by being responsive to the citizenship priorities of the communities in which we live and work. The Coca-Cola Company and Foundation are interested in funding organizations in these areas: Water stewardship, Healthy active lifestyles, Community recycling, and Education.
Award amount varies. Eligible applicants mus…
Did I get enough exercise today? How many calories did I burn? Am I getting good quality sleep? How many steps and miles did I walk today? If these questions seem interesting and you want answers check out a new product called Fitbit Tracker.

View calories, steps and distance on the Fitbit Tracker itself. You can login to the Fitbit website to see even more detailed data and also participate in collaborative fitness goals with friends, family and…
Researchers in London were fooled by children taking part in a study to measure how much exercise they do. It seems that when step counts were unusually high they find out that clever children had increased their numbers by attaching their pedometers to their pet dogs.

The pilot study in Whitechapel required 11 and 12-year-olds to clip a pedometer to their waists, with researchers at the center collecting the readings by satellite.

"But after…
Carol M. White Physical Education Program (closes 3/6). This program allows school districts and community-based organizations to initiate, expand, or enhance physical education programs, including after-school programs, for students in grades K-12. Recipients must implement programs that help students "make progress" toward meeting state standards.

It is estimated that approximately 95 awards will be selected for the 2009 competition.…
Peaceful Playgrounds has many resources to assist you with writing your PEP grant.

One of the best resources is our Writing a Successful PEP Grant Webinar. The next PEP webinar will be Wednesday, February 11, 2009 - 10:00 AM PST - Free registration for this date!

Another resource can be found on the Peaceful Playgrounds Grants page of the website where we have a special section entitled: Everything you need to Succeed in applying for a 2009 PEP G…
Virgin Healthmiles, part of British billionaire Richard Branson's Virgin Group empire, is trying to take wellness and weight loss to another level. Insurance company Humana is rolling out the high-tech Virgin Life Care system, which lets employees rack up points for exercise. They can redeem the points for gift cards from Target to Home Depot, Bass Pro Shops to Best Buy.

The program has been slow to take off, though.

"Companies are alread…
On many elementary school campuses in San Diego, California children run for 15 or 20 minutes each morning to fight childhood obesity with before-school running clubs. An additional bonus that has received much attention in the last few months is the theory that running also boosts brain development.

The importance of physical activity was also documented by the California Department of Education study that showed a correlation between the numbe…
The pedometer, a simple and inexpensive step-counting device, significantly increases daily activity levels and even promotes weight loss, according to a recent study directed by Dena Bravata, a senior research scientist at Stanford’s School of Medicine.

Bravata and her team of researchers analyzed study results from 2,767 people, mostly overweight and inactive women, who agreed to keep records of their physical activity while using a pedometer o…
At Washington Woods Elementary, students recently started using pedometers during gym class, and physical education teacher Doreen Spindler keeps track of how many steps they take.

"Once they get 1,200 steps, which equals to half a mile, I punch their cards," she said. "That encourages them. If we play a game where we have to stand in line to wait, they jog in place or do jumping jacks. It's amazing how a lot of them are very a…
One of the cheapest and research supported "effective" exercise and weight loss tools is available for under $20. Yep. The pedometer.

Research has indicated that the pedometer has been shown to motivate, track steps, hold walkers accountable and is generally accepted as one of "man's best tools" in the plague of plenty.

People worry about flu epidemics, cancer and even anthrax attacks, but the "plague of plenty"…
Thursday, October 11, 2007
By David Guo, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

There are maybe 30 of them between the day's first class and second, 48 from the school driveway to the church's parking lot. A good-morning jackpot of 100 lies at the front door, one student reveals, for anyone who walks there from the school bus drop point.

Hmmm. Maybe those 48 steps to Mass every Wednesday should be worth a bonus, these students at SS Simon and Jude School …
Are you implementing Peaceful Playgrounds or WE Count? Have they made a difference in getting your students physically active? If so, you might want to consider working with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the CDC in allowing them to collect data on your school's program/s.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the CDC are seeking nominations for programs or policies that fall into the following 3 areas: 1) comprehensive school physic…
Registration is now open for 2007 International Walk to School events in the USA. This October, communities around the country will join nearly 40 countries to celebrate walking and bicycling to school.

Registration is free and available to all Walk to School event organizers in the USA. By registering, Walk to School organizers have a chance to win prizes for students and gain access to a variety of downloadable items, including certificates, …
Musical Hokey Pokey Skirt (Acting Out, $32): The skirt has a hidden pocket that holds a music box; movement keeps the hokeypokey playing.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The movement started with Dance Dance Revolution, a video game that inspired youngsters to give up their joysticks and boogie with abandon in front of the television. Electronic-toy makers, often denounced for fostering laziness, have discovered that fitness sells.Some are creating produc…
A London doctor whose family practice has been full for a decade is taking on new patients.

But he expects any he accepts now to be motivated to be healthy -- and to stay that way.
As a doctor who has worked closely with athletes -- including the University of Western Ontario's men's soccer team, the national rowing team and "weekend warriors" -- Shin encourages physical activity in his family practice, too. He sometimes gives…
A initiative to tackle childhood obesity will see 45,000 pedometers delivered to 250 deprived schools in the UK.

The Department of Health's 'Schools on the Move' programme gets underway from September 2007 and March 2008, encouraging children to become more active..

Public Health Minister Dawn Primarolo said: "Pedometers have been proven to increase the amount of physical activity undertaken by not only young people but by their f…