Lynn Staley and Penelope A. Portman in their article in Young Children “Red Rover, Red Rover, It’s Time to Move Over!” stated that “The research is clear. Children will not develop active, healthy habits without our help.  So as we teach children how to use their minds, we must teach them how to use their bodies.”

Infants: By doing finger and toe games with babies, adults can begin to develop a warm loving relationship.  Infants enjoy interactions especially when their diapers are being changed.  This old time favorite where you pull on the babies’ toes while repeating the “This Little Pig” nursery rhyme and then running your fingers up their leg to tickle their tummy – crying wee, wee, wee all the way home, is full of joy and laugher for both the baby who is getting tickled and the adult who is doing the tickling.

Toddlers: In this activity the children have to act out the story of “This Little Pig.”  Have the children help to designate a spot in the room for each of the places in the nursery rhyme.  There are only three places, but five directions (1-market, 2-home, 3-roast beef-stand up and pretend to eat, 4-none – sit down in the same place and look sad, 5-home again – crying wee, wee, wee.   Have the toddlers go to each place while you repeat the rhyme.  This activity may be difficult at first because they may not be able to understand and follow directions, but it gets easier the more it is done.  The secret of getting them to do it is not to say anything when they go to the wrong place, but to point out the toddler who gets it right (Yeah Jessica, you found Home on the sofa!)

Preschoolers: In my book Teaching with Heart… I suggest a counting game which helps with number order and sequencing.  Have five children form a line as the pigs in the nursery rhyme “This Little Pig.”  Select another child as the counter who repeats the rhyme and taps the pigs on the shoulder as they act out whatever the rhyme says.  The counter tells the little pigs to do one of the following: walking on their tiptoes, taking giant steps, skipping, galloping, marching, jumping or hopping around the line of other pigs.  When the counter gets to the last pig who cries wee-wee-wee all the way home, the counter now becomes the last pig and the first pig becomes the new counter.  This gets repeated until all of the pigs have a chance to be the counter.  This physical activity game helps to instill leadership (as the counter tells everyone what to do and how to do it) and cooperation in children.

Stephen Sanders says in his book Active for Life “…physical inactivity has contributed to the unprecedented epidemic of childhood obesity currently plaguing the United States.  The percentage of children considered overweight has more than doubled in the past 30 years.”  He feels that, “Participation in physical activities promotes social well-being as well as physical and mental health.”