The following is a blog post I wrote for Ophea Canada on how educators and parents can get kids active using the Ophea’s 50 Fitness Activity Cards. These easy to use cards are available for order here, or can easily be made by writing your own favourite physical activities on index cards or theme card cut outs.

With warm weather here to stay, it’s the perfect opportunity to add some fun and play into your everyday activities. Here are three new ways you can use your favourite Ophea 50 Fitness Activity Cards.

Beanbag Balance

Adapted from Ophea’s workshop DPA: Getting Active in Any Space

1. Participants move around the classroom with a bean bag balanced on their shoulder.  Leader periodically calls out a change in locomotor movement.
2. If the bean bag falls off, they must perform a 50 fitness activity on the spot until one of their classmates comes over to them.
3. Their classmate must bend down and pick up the bean bag and put it back on the shoulder of the participant who dropped it.
4. They must balance their own bean bag at the same time.
5. If one participant’s bean bag falls off while trying to replace the beanbag, they must both perform an on the spot 50 fitness activity until someone comes and replaces their beanbag.

Tail Chase

Adapted from Ophea’s PlaySport.net

1. Participants place a  streamer/bandana/ribbon in the side of their shorts.
2. Pairs attempt to grab each other’s “tail” without having their tail grabbed by their partner.
3. If a tail is grabbed the participant who lost their tail selects one 50 fitness activity for both participants to perform. They both start off performing one repetition of the activity. Each time a tail is grabbed they add one repetition on (e.g., the first time they perform one chicken jack, the second time they perform two chicken jacks, the third time three and so on). The tail is then returned and the game continues.

Fire 5/10

Adapted from Ophea Ambassador Cindy Merritt.

1. In pairs participants face each other with 1 or 2 hands behind their back.
2. On the signal “1, 2, show” participants reveal their hands with any number of fingers showing.
3. Participants add up the fingers of both/all hands as soon as possible, with the goal to shout out the correct answer first.
4. Participants perform a 50 fitness activity based on whether they shouted out the correct response first. Shout out first: “Chicken jacks”, Shout out second: “Squat kicks”, Tie: Coffee grinders

View the original post here.