Extension Family and Community Health
Physical Activity for Life
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Physical Activity Information for Nutrition Educators

Active Play in the classroom:
Click here for a new activity!

 

The content provided on these pages is consistent with the most current Dietary Guidelines for Americans and MyPlate. Find resources to increase your knowledge of physical activity promotion and education. This site will include statistics and background information on physical activity as well as audience-specific information. While these resources focus specifically on extension, they may also be useful to other educational programs.

For more information about the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines and to download fact sheets for youth, adults and older adults: CLICK HERE.

Latest News
Health Benefits of Small Amounts of Activity

New research at Oregon State University highlights the health benefits of small amounts of activity – even as small as one- and two-minute increments that add up to 30 minutes per day!   Incidental exercise, such as taking the stairs rather than the elevator, walking to the mailbox, rather than stopping in your car on the way home can provide some of the health benefits that can be obtained from longer bouts of physical exercise achieved by a trip to the gym.  For more information click here!  To download a color, printable infographic for use in your program activities, click here.

Read more about this story in Synergies 
Resources for Preschool Populations!!

The Healthy Home Child Care project engaged Extension educators as trainers whose role was to deliver the Journey to a Healthy Child Care Home intervention program to family child care providers.  The program is currently being evaluated for effectiveness in changing family child care providers’ practices.  The resource manuals used in the program; Let’s Go Play!, Let’s Go Eat Healthy!, and Let’s Go Cook! contain age-appropriate physical activities, nutrition education activities, and healthy recipes with strategies to support young children’s inclusion in the meal preparation process. 

The resource manuals are available for download by Extension professionals to be used in programming directed toward pre-school age children or families with pre-school age children.
Band Together for Health

Click here to download a PDF file that includes a brief 10-15 minute muscle strengthening program.  This program uses resistance bands and all the exercises can be done while seated.  This makes it an excellent option for older adults and for kids.  This program can be done in classrooms or other limited spaces.