Exercising to decorate

Crabwalk

Elementary students jumped into the holiday spirit by decorating paper Christmas trees in the afterschool physical education program in December. To “shop” for ornaments to put on their tree didn’t take money though, it required exercise.

Working in pairs, the students took ownership of their Christmas tree by choosing which “stores” they wanted to visit, said Teri Lund, elementary PEP coordinator. The more stores, the more they exercised to get ornaments for their tree.

Each “store” required the pair to complete a different kind of physical activity, from jumping jacks, to ball toss, curls, pushups, leap frog, basketball shoot, supported handstand, bear crawl and crab walk.

“Instead of purchasing an ornament with money, the students did a fitness activity to cover the cost,” Lund said.

“The goal for this activity was to do some fun holiday activities, but to still focus on fitness, social, and cooperative objectives,” Lund said.    

The elementary PE teacher said she picked up this idea and many others at a professional workshop for physical education teachers. 

“These workshops are a time where teachers can share their ideas with other teachers across Kansas,” Lund said. “It is great to learn new ideas and be able to come back and implement them into your classroom.”

Once their tree was decorated, Lund took a picture of each pair standing next to their tree. The next day, each child received a copy of the picture.

“Each one decorated a frame with glitter and created an ornament to take home,” Lund said. “I did this at Murray Hill for several years. The students always get excited and talk about how they still have their pictures from previous years. It’s fun to look back and see how they have changed over the years.” 

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