VALLEY CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – The following is a news release by Andrea Winter of ON THE MOVE.
“ON THE MOVE at City County Health District recently held trainings for local childcare centers to offer new ideas for physical activity and social distancing in childcare. Angie Williams, Associate Professor at VCSU, Dept. of Kinesiology and Human Performance led the trainings.
Staff members from Just Kidding Childcare, TL Childcare and the Valley City Children’s Center all attended the trainings and had the opportunity to try out a variety of indoor/outdoor activities for children of all ages.
The trainings focused on fun ways to keep children active and how to modify activities to support CDC Guidelines during Covid-19. Angie Williams emphasized the importance of not sharing equipment and proper sanitizing of equipment during and after activities. She recommends the use of foam noodles (that are typically used for swimming) to keep children from touching each other, i.e. children carry noodles and tap each other with a noodle rather than tagging someone and touching them with their hand. Plus, the noodle offers a safe distance between bodies.
“Adults who care for children, including childcare providers, teachers, parents, family members and neighbors play a crucial role in helping children grow up to be healthy, active adults,” states Andrea Winter, licensed registered dietitian and ON THE MOVE Coordinator at City County Health District. “We were so excited to share this information with local childcare staff along with how to be COVID safe while playing.”
Being active helps kids be healthy! Healthy lifestyle habits, including healthy eating and getting physical activity, can lower the risk of becoming overweight and developing chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, cancer, heart disease, stroke and diabetes.
Additional information that Williams shared included building/assembling activity bags for each little one at the childcare center, so they do not have to share equipment/supplies and designate an area for used equipment to be sanitized after use.”
