Children who are unaccustomed to regular exercise may not know what a healthy fitness regimen looks or feels like. Teach kids to self-assess and monitor the effectiveness of their exercise by taking their own pulse and calculating resting and target heart rates. Discuss the importance of heart health and the kinds of activities that give the heart healthy exercise. Let them choose a few activities that they would like to try, and set up several cardio exercise training days where they can try the activities. Remind them to take their pulse before starting and every few minutes during the exercise to track whether they are exercising within their target heart rate.
Common wisdom tells us that people support what they help create. Introduce the skill types: locomotor movement, non-locomotor movement, eye-hand coordination, eye-foot coordination, spatial awareness and rhythm. Then, challenge kids individually or in small groups to create a game or dance that requires movements from at least three of these categories. Assign each individual or team a presentation day when they get to teach their activity to the class.
An obstacle course inspires the competitive nature of many kids. The variety of challenges can motivate movement without seeming like work. Depending on space and time constraints, set up a series of five to ten fitness tasks and demonstrate the requirements and sequence. Stress that you are looking for effort not perfection then let the games begin. Cheer for all and encourage those who are having trouble. Some kids may enjoy creating their own obstacle course to challenge their classmates.