Toolkit Introduction » Active Living » Table of Contents
Active Living
Active Living
Being active, like eating healthy, is essential for healthy growth and development. Regular physical activity in childhood develops cardiovascular fitness, strength, flexibility and bone density.
Key Points
Active living stresses the importance of doing activities that feel good and that are moderate and fun
There are a variety of health benefits of being active
Some activities can build strength, while others develop skill, flexibility, or endurance. See list of activities.
Learn how you can promote active living at your school
Where to find more information about active living
What is "Active Living"?
Active living is more than just physical fitness or exercise. It means making physical activity a part of daily living, whether it's gardening or taking the dog for a walk. Active living encourages everyone, not just people who are young and fit, to get up and get moving.
Active living stresses the importance of doing activities that feel good and that are fun. This approach reflects Canada's Physical Activity Guide to Healthy Active Living.
How Much Physical Activity Should Children Get?
Canada's Physical Activity Guides for Children and Youth provide a set of national guidelines designed to help children and youth improve their health through regular physical activity.
The Guides recommend children and youth:
- Increase the time currently spent on physical activity by 30 minutes per day in periods of 5- 10 minutes. Over several months, children should try to accumulate over 90 minutes of physical activity per day.
- Reduce non-active time spent on sedentary activities like TV, video, computer games and surfing the Internet, starting with at least 30 minutes less per day.
Endurance, Flexibility and Strength All Contribute to a Healthy Body.
Combine these three types of physical activity for best results:
- Endurance: activities that make you breathe deeper, your heart beat faster, and make you feel warm. For example: walking, jogging, taking the stairs, rollerblading, skating, etc.
- Flexibility: activities like bending and stretching and reaching that keep your joints moving. For example: bowling, gardening, yoga, curling, etc.
- Strength: activities that build your muscles and bones. For example: doing weights, carrying books or groceries, push-ups, etc.
Statistics - Did you know....?
- PEI is the most inactive and obese province in Canada.
- Over half of Canadians aged 5-17 are not active enough for optimal growth and development.
- Girls are less likely than boys to be physically active
- As children age, there is a decline in levels of activity
Source: Health Canada, 2005
Benefits of Being Active
There are many ways children (and adults) benefit from active living. Here are a few reason’s to get moving:
- Build strong bones and strengthen muscles
- Strengthen the heart
- Maintain/Improve flexibility
- Maintain/Achieve a healthy weight
- Promote good posture and balance
- Improve fitness
- Improve self-esteem
- Improve academic and cognitive performance
- Prevent chronic diseases such as coronary heart disease and type 2 diabetes
- Increase relaxation
- Reduces stress
- Meet new friends
- Feel better, have more energy
- Promote healthy growth and development
Source: Health Canada, 2005
List of Activities
The following activities are all different ways of living actively. Some activities can build strength, while others develop skill, flexibility or endurance. All are worthwhile - and fun.
- Badminton
- Ballet
- Basketball
- Boxing
- Canoeing
- Chasing the dog
- Cleaning your room
- Climbing trees
- Cross-country running
- Cross-country skiing
- Cycling
- Dancing
- Delivering papers
- Exercising in water
- Fencing
- Field hockey
- Fitness classes
- Figure skating
- Floor hockey
- Flying a kite
- Football
- Gardening
- Gymnastics
- Handball
- Hide n’ seek
- Hiking
- Hockey
- Hop scotch
- Jazz dance
- Jogging
- Jumping
- Lacrosse
- Marbles
- Modern dance
- Mountain climbing
- Mowing the lawn
- Playing catch
- Playing at the playground
- Playing tag
- Pushing a swing
- Push-Ups
- Racquetball
- Raking leaves
- Ride a scooter
- Rhythmics
- Roller blading
- Roller skating
- Rowing
- Rugby
- Running
- Scuba diving
- Shooting baskets
- Short distance races
- Shoveling snow
- Sit-ups
- Skateboarding
- Skating
- Skiing
- Skipping
- Sliding
- Snow boarding
- Soccer
- Softball
- Stretch your muscles
- Square dancing
- Surfing
- Swimming
- Synchronized swimming
- Tennis
- Toboggan
- Throwing a ball or frisbee
- Track and field
- Trampoline
- Vacuuming
- Volleyball
- Walking
- Walking the stairs
- Water polo
- Wrestling
- Wind surfing
- Yoga
Activities For Promoting Active Living At School
Posters and Display (classroom or school)
- have students develop posters about being active
- have students write active living messages and post them
- display physical activity guides
- display existing physical activity posters
Wellness Days/Health Fairs
- displays/booths can be developed by students and/or health professionals
Active Living Announcements
- during morning announcements have a student broadcast a tip about active living
Active Living Goals and Competitions
- class or whole school can set a goal for the number of minutes of activity to do daily - Have different classes within the school estimate how much physical activity is done by the class on a daily basis and challenge another class to see which group can make the biggest improvement.
- hold school walks/runs (e.g. Annual Terry Fox Run)
- participate in the Stepping Out Program that is offered by the PEI Active Living Alliance
Physical Education at Your School
- offer a quality physical education class
- encourage students to participate in physical education class
- offer intramurals at your school (before school, at lunch, or after school)
- encourage the school to offer a “late bus” for children who would like to stay after school for intramurals.
- encourage school gyms to be available to kids and families after school, on weekends, and holidays to provide more opportunities for activities
- encourage students to get out and be active at recess time
- classroom “motion” breaks - take 5-10 minutes to do an active activity during class time
- form a walking club for students
- organize a walking school bus
- invite a guest speaker to talk to students about Active Living
- involve youth in planning, developing, and implementing healthy living programs that are designed for them
Parent Education Seminars
- invite a guest speaker to provide information to parents about active living
Where to Find More Activities: Useful Active Living Websites For Educators
Health Canada’s Physical Activity Guide
Canadian Intramural Recreation Association of Ontario
CAHPERD - The Canadian Association For Health, Physical Education, Recreation & Dance
Canadian Society For Exercise and Physiology
Active Kids: Any Time, Any Place Active
Contact Information
Active Living Alliance
PO Box 1352, 40 Enman Crescent
Charlottetown, PE
C1A 7N1
Tel: (902) 569-7688
Fax (902) 569-7640
E-mail: info@peiactiveliving.com
Website: www.peiactiveliving.com
Sport PEI
PO Box 302, 40 Enman Crescent
Charlottetown, PE
C1A 7K7
Tel: (902) 368-4110
Toll Free: 1-800-247-6412
Fax: (902) 368-4548
E-mail: sports@sportpei.pe.ca
Website: www.sportpei.pe.ca
Regional Recreation/Sport Coordinator - Western
Joanne Wallace
PO Box 8 O’Leary, PE
C0B 1V0
Tel: (902) 859-8861
Fax: (902) 859-8709
E-mail: jpwallacwe@gov.pe.ca
Regional Recreation/Sport Coordinator - Central
Francois Caron
Access PEI
Box 2063 Summerside, PE
C1N 5L2
Tel: (902) 432-2706
Fax: (902) 888-8023
Email: frcaron@gov.pe.ca
Regional Recreation/Sport Coordinator -Eastern
Sport & Recreation Section
Community & Cultural Affairs
P.O. Box 2000
Charlottetown, PE
C1A 7N8
Tel: (902) 368-5509
Fax: (902) 368-4663
E-mail: jwmorris@gov.pe.ca
Top of Page
Canada’s Physical Activity Guide and Accompanying Documents
Canada’s Physical Activity Guide can be found online at:
http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/pau-uap/fitness/pdf/guideEng.pdf
Physical Activity Guide for Children can be found online at:
http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/pau-uap/paguide/child_youth/pdf/guide_k_en.pdf
Physical Activity Guide for Youth can be found online at:
http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/pau-uap/paguide/child_youth/pdf/guide_y_en.pdf