Health Week

This week your child will learn about good health . We tend to take our health for granted, until we don’t have it any more. However, there are five basic steps you and your child can do right now, to help you maintain and respect your health. They are:

1. Get plenty of sleep
2. Eat right
3. Exercise every day
4. drink 6 – 8 glasses of water daily
5. Wash hands often, and use soap.

If your child has problems sleeping, staying asleep, or sleeping in his own bed, then you may wish to read Health Sleep Habits, Happy Child, or The No-Cry Sleep Solution. Preschool age children need 12- 14 hours of sleep daily. Lack of sleep can cause many problems besides drowsiness. It can cause depression, clumsiness, anxiety, irritability, ADHD, memory loss, tantrums, and problems getting along with others. Also, if your child isn’t getting enough sleep, there’s a good chance you aren’t, either.

The rules for eating right haven’t changed much in years. We now have a “food pyramid” instead of the “Square Meal” that I learned in school, to show that we should eat less meats and dairy products, and more fresh fruits, vegetables, and wholesome grains. When you shop, it’s best to shop the periphery of the store, and skip the middle aisles as much as possible. Buy raw fruits and vegetables, meats, seeds, nuts, whole grain bread, and milk. Avoid pre-packaged foods, sugary foods, processed foods, artificial flavors and artificial colorings. Sugar can contribute to sleep disorders, hyperactivity, and there is almost an epidemic of juvenile diabetes today.

Exercise is very important, but most little children don’t have a problem getting enough activity in their day. They are naturally busy. If your child seems too active inside, then make sure he or she gets plenty of time outside to run, jump, hop, climb, crawl, swing, slide, dig, scream, and wiggle. You can teach him the difference between “inside voice” and “outside voice”. Outside it is okay to be loud. Inside, we need to be quieter. If you are looking for something new for your child’s outdoor play, think “bounce”. You can get either a small trampoline for under $150, or a hopper ball for under $20.

Doctors always tell us to get enough sleep, eat right, and drink plenty of water, but few of us do. Did you know that healthy urine isn’t supposed to be yellow? It should be very pale yellow, almost clear. That’s when you are consuming enough water. The darker it is in color, the more dehydrated you are. Get yourself and your child a water bottle, and fill it often. Start a chart for how much each of you are drinking. You can make a simple graph with your child, introducing him to this math concept.

Have you ever heard the expression “Cleanliness is next to Godliness”? A recent study has concluded that clean smells actually promote moral behavior! On a smaller scale, if your child bathes regularly, washes his hair, brushes teeth, washes hands, and wears clean clothes, he will be healthier than if he were allowed to live in filth. Most little children love bathtime. If your preschooler has entered a stage where he hates his bath, or fears it, you may want to read Bath Time Blues.

Finally, I have included a new section in the lesson plans for pencil and paper type preschool activities. If your child is not yet ready for this, then just ignore it. Otherwise, I will include links to specific worksheets you can print off, or else most grocery stores sell preschool workbooks near the checkout. These worksheets were taken from www.sproutonline.com, www.first-school.ws, and www.kidzone.ws .

All of the recommended books can be found here, if you do not find them, or a suitable substitute, at your public library.

Enjoy this week! And take pictures. I’d love to post some of them here.

Worksheet 1, worksheet 2, worksheet 3, worksheet 4, worksheet 5.

Health Week Lesson Plans

Photo Credits:
Sleep:http://www.flickr.com/photos/iandeth/ / CC BY 2.0
Exercise:http://www.flickr.com/photos/mobikefed/ / CC BY 2.0

Tags: activities, children, children's books, Early Childhood Education, encouraging creativity, five steps to better health, GORP, Health, home school, homeschool, nutrition, Preschool, toddlers