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Instill Fun, Healthy Fitness Habits in Toddlers

By Betsy Bethel

POSTED: January 19, 2010

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Five Fitness Tips For Frosty Weather Fun

1. Don't be afraid of the cold: Bundle up and encourage outside play times. If there is snow on the ground, go sledding or tubing, have a snowball fight, build a snowman, make snow angels or go for a hike.

2. Find indoor activities at your local skating rink, bowling alley, laser tag center or rock climbing gym.

3. Turn up the volume! Download your children's favorite music and just dance.

4. Create an obstacle course in your house. Set up stations in your family room or throughout your house. Tunnels, hula hoops, jump ropes, steps and physio balls are great props for an exciting playtime.

5. Don't forget the game of Twister. This game is an all-time favorite for kids and adults! And other classic games like Duck Duck Goose and Freeze Tag can be played at any time.

- From Cheryl Jones, creator of Sports Clubs for Kids at Town Sports International

While toddlers and preschoolers are usually too young for organized sports, there are a variety of fitness options for them in the Ohio Valley.

Of course, a trip to the local playground, horsing around in the back yard and exercising alongside Mommy or Daddy are great ways for children to burn off some energy and get fit in the process.

"Children mimic their parents. We are the role models. The more we can be active with them, the more we can eat a healthy diet around them, that's what they are going to copy," Barb Lattin, a registered dietitian at Cincinnati Children's Hospital, said in the hospital's winter 2009 newsletter.

But classes offer additional benefits, including socialization, coordination, principles of math and science, and teamwork, as well as providing a regular routine of incorporating fitness into daily life.

"It's never too young to start lifelong exercise habits," said Cheryl Pompeo, director of the Oglebay Institute School of Dance in Wheeling.

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates, 16 percent of children and teens in the United States are overweight. This figure is about three times the percentage recorded 30 years ago. Childhood obesity leads to the same health problems as adult obesity: diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and greater risk for heart disease and several forms of cancer.

One way for parents and children to exercise together in a group setting is through the Heritage Dance Association.

Founders Angela and Don Feenerty of Martins Ferry said dance is "a great way for adults and children to get fit without feeling like they are taking part in a workout."

They offer German Dance Troupe classes for adults once a week, and children can take companion classes taught by folk dance instructor Bob Tomlinson at the Oglebay Institute School of Dance at the Stifel Fine Arts Center in Wheeling. The children and adults then come together for performances throughout the year.

German dance is also a great workout for the brain, involving puzzle solving and memorizing routines, the Feenertys said.

New classes begin in January. To join the adult class, e-mail Angela Feenerty at ang@feenerty.com. To learn more about the children's program, visit www.oionline.com.

Dance classes of various kinds also are available at the Stifel as well as through local schools, such as Toni Zeakes, Dance Dimensions, River City Dance Works and many more.

Chad and Jessica Galbraith of Martins Ferry enrolled their son, Lucan, in dance at Toni Zeakes when he was 3. He takes tumbling and tap dance.

"He's very tall and we wanted him to do this to help develop his gross motor skills and coordination," said Chad Galbraith.

Lucan's mom also likes the social interaction the classes provide, and the non-competitive atmosphere.

"Unlike sports, it's not competitive, which I like, too. ... They have the rest of their life to be in competitive sports. This was a way for him to be around other children and be social more than just being on the floor playing," she said.

Now that he's 4, Lucan is in an all-boys tumbling class.

"It's amazing the different things they have them doing now. ... They do handstands and headstands, somersaults. They do the trampoline, run through tires, back flips. It really helps with his self-esteem," Jessica Galbraith said.

Gymnastics and obstacle courses also are part of the play classes for 1- to 6-year-olds at Tumblin Tots in Bethlehem. Instructor Jessica Adams, who has a degree in exercise physiology, starts out each class with a warm-up activity involving music and singing. The children then take turns doing, for instance, somersaults down the length of a mat. They also do a group activity, such as playing with a parachute, to learn teamwork. The classes are divided into three age groups. The business also offers an eight-week sports sampler class that introduces the basics of different sports.

On the heels of the Zumba fitness craze, a children's Zumba class called Zumbatomic will be offered in Martins Ferry starting in February, led by certified instructor Carrie Laase-Whitehead of Wellsburg.

Zumba is a dance fitness set to Latin and African rhythms. Zumbatomic features moves that can be easily picked up by girls and boys ages 5 to 11. Laase-Whitehead teaches seven Zumba classes six evenings a week at the Martins Ferry Recreation Center and plans to add a Zumbatomic class on the weekends.

Zumba provides a "big cardiovascular workout," involving all parts of the body, Laase-Whitehead said. She added Zumba is a great choice for kids because the music is fun, it's less structured and it teaches about other cultures.

"But the most important thing is just them having fun and getting to meet others, too." For information, call Laase-Whitehead at 740-632-5861 or visit www.zumba.com.

At Oglebay Institute, every kind of dance is available for children, from Mommy and Me movement classes for 18-month-olds to belly dancing to tap to ballet.

Pompeo noted dance is a sport. Studies show that you burn more calories dancing ballet than playing football, she said. Ballet also benefits kids who play other sports, developing coordination and improving their jumping and lateral movements.

Pompeo warned parents that not all dance classes or studios are right for every child. Tap might be too loud; ballet might be too structured; a student may not be suited to a dance class at all.

"Dance is not for everyone, but there's fitness out there for everyone."

Perhaps a DVD done at home is the ticket. There are, for example, countless yoga DVDs geared to kids.

Meggan Pasqualla of Wheeling recently introduced her sons Angelo, 5, and Silas, 3, to "Yoga Playgrounds: Pizza Party."

"I love to watch my boys wind down and get in touch with their bodies while having a giggly fun time with Lisa (Detamore), the instructor. I also think this yoga video would be a great tool for the unfocused child before school."

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