Physical Fitness

Email to a friend with a personal message

Barbara J. Feldman

Attention! The Internet is closing in twenty minutes. Push yourself away from the computer, and go outside to play. If you run out of ideas or motivation, the following physical fitness sites will help. But remember, you only have twenty minutes to browse them. And then, you simply must get up from your seat and move!

BAM! Body and Mind

5 stars

Boldly-colored BAM! Body and Mind is designed for kids nine to thirteen by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). With quizzes and games, BAM! encourages pre-teens to make healthy lifestyle choices, and also serves teachers with classroom activities linked to national science education standards. Highlights of the Physical Activity section are a quiz to determine which fitness activities best suit your style, and an interactive activity calendar to help plan your fitness week.

PE Central: Log It

5 stars

Log It, an activity mileage log, is my fitness pick of the day. Designed to motivate kids to become physically active, Log It records up to 25,000 physical activity steps per day, the equivalent of twelve and a half miles. "In addition to recording their steps or miles, they can participate in a virtual hike across the USA with their class, be involved in class competitions vs. other classes, set daily goals, view their own personal step log, and compare their steps with other kids of the same age and gender."

Kidnetic

4 stars

An educational program of the International Food Information Council (IFIC), Kidnetic.com is built for kids nine to twelve and their parents. The site is divided into four sections. Move is the one that focuses on physical activity or what they call "wet head games," the kind that require you to leave your computer chair and actually run around and sweat. Kore is a game center (games such as timed jumping jacks and Chinese jump rope) and Betchacant is an email challenge to dare friends to beat you at an activity such as hopping on one foot.

KidsHealth

5 stars

Whether you are a parent, a teen or a kid, KidsHealth has "doctor-approved health information" just for you. For kids, the fitness articles can be found under Staying Healthy. For teens, it is filed under Food & Fitness. Best clicks include the Body Mass Index calculator (look in Teens / Food & Fitness / Dieting), and the Related Articles and Related Resources tabs found on all articles. Although KidsHealth lacks the eye-candy found on many of the other fitness sites, the information here is well-written and easy to read.

VERBNow

5 stars

"VERB, it's what you do!" is a national, marketing campaign coordinated by the CDC to encourage tweens to be physically active every day. My favorite clicks are Game Generator and the Verb Yellowball. Tired of the same old playground games? With the Game Generator you choose three games (and whether you want to winterize) and the generator will create a mash up, a totally new outdoor game. Verb Yellowball tells the story (in blogs, photos and videos) of 500,000 balls that were dropped across the country. "Remember, yellowball is the revolution of play, and you are the messenger."