elementary students

Young children know the benefits of regular physical activity and they enjoy it. Surveys routinely show over 3/4 of elementary students do not want to be driven to school – with results as high as 91%!

Strategies to promote physical activity for this age group will focus on parent's busy schedules, as well as traffic and personal safety concerns. Fortunately, even young children recognize that solutions to these concerns within most urban environments can be solved by walking to school with an adult.

Urbanthinkers has worked with many elementary schools and has helped develop strategies and activities to promote physical activity. Our strategies and resources respond to the conditions and concerns of the community:

time commitments:	organizational tactics: students prepare their lunch the night before school community tactics: neighbourhood walking groups such as a Walking School Bus
traffic safety:	walkability assessments, route selection and planning, bike and pedestrian safety instruction, road rules, walking field trips
personal safety:	walking groups, stranger danger instructions, community involvement

Also, athletic projects such as a Running Club or Jogger’s Log can build on daily physical activity tactics by tallying each walk to school within the scoring system.

All of these ideas will help to motivate young children to become more physically active.