It’s time to get active! Fall into the season and spend some time with the girls in your life. With the holidays just around the corner GoGirlGo! is here to give you helpful tips on how to reach out to the girls in your community and keep them active and healthy.
By GoGirlGo! San Antonio
Published: October 23, 2008
GoGirlGo! has come up with several ways to get girls physically active, including taking a walk in the park, bicycling or just playing games like four square with friends and family. Most of all we give you
tips on how to keep it FUN! Check out this article for more great ways to spend some time being active with your youth.
GoGirlGo! has found that the key to keeping girls active is making it FUN! This holiday season, make 60 minutes of exercise feel effortless by breaking it down into smaller segments. Every 20 minutes let them choose what to do for a five-minute break, such as social mingling, water breaks or some of their favorite activities like jumping rope, jumping on a trampoline, or coloring with chalk on the sidewalk. Give girls praise for their efforts!
Over the holiday break motivating young girls to stay healthy isn’t the only thing GoGirlGo! has in mind; we also want to educate girls on ways to stay physically fit. You can do this by helping these girls write down their goals during break. Let them know that being active will make them feel good about themselves, give them more energy and keep them flexible and strong. Provide a good example of this by modeling it yourself, or perhaps you could take girls to a women’s basketball game to inspire and educate them on how physical fitness can be a daily part of their lives.
Lastly GoGirlGo! would like to leave you with several activities to try this holiday with your girls. Mix it up; for younger girls you don’t always need a structured activity to keep them active. Many times you can give them one piece of equipment—a hula hoop, a jump rope, a broom—and ask them to come up with an imaginary game, and they’ll be running around in no time. Another idea for all age levels is playing “party games” like potato sack races, capture the flag, ultimate Frisbee, tag, hide and seek, hopscotch, jump ropes with rhythms and songs. Refer to
www.gameskidsplay.net for more ideas on party games.
With cooler weather during the holiday season GoGirlGo! also suggests that you get out of the house and try something recreational with your girls. For instance play Frisbee-golf, take a hike in a nearby park, walk your dog or a neighbor’s, ride your bike, go Rollerblading, play catch, dance to some fun music or take a jog. If you still can’t figure out how to keep the girls in your community active, check out our calendar of events at
http://www.womenssportsfoundation.org/GoGirlGo/San-Antonio/Events.aspx where you can find holiday camps among other activities.