For children in grades one and two, physical exercise typically involves little or no equipment. Many schools participate in the President's Challenge program, which encourages healthy living habits for children as well as adults by combining regular exercise with proper nutrition. A regular physical activity routine established early in children's lives helps to fight childhood obesity and breaks children away from the ever-increasing, sedentary television-and-video-game habit.
Teachers and parents can move physical activities for children indoors on cold, wet or otherwise unfavorable days. Traditional exercises like jumping and running can turn into fun, interactive exercises. For example, students can jump like frogs across a gymnasium floor, and, at the teacher's command, only yellow-shirted students continue jumping. Then students with black pants start jumping, and so on. Similar games like passing a ball, jumping rope or running relay races can serve as beneficial indoor physical activities.
On temperate days, physical activities can move outdoors. Beyond ordinary recess time, some simple outdoor exercises include footraces, jumping rope, kicking and tossing a ball, and playing "tag." Teachers may also integrate an outdoor "treasure hunt" in which a class goes for a walk and looks for various items around their school, such as red leaves, clover, rocks, twigs, blue cars or a stop sign. Furthermore, art class may move outdoors, where children can walk to an outdoor area to color and paint.
The benefits of general physical activity for children in grades one and two include establishing healthy living habits and preparing children for many years of continued exercise. In addition to the health benefits of exercise, organized activities help children learn important social skills such as playing on teams and playing fairly. Children also develop important motor skills that give them agility and coordination and lend an ease of movement in everyday life.