Celebrate National Child Health Day With These 4 Activities

October has just begun, and parents, teachers, and tutors all around America are getting ready to celebrate this National Child Health Day that falls on the first Monday of October. The observance of this day is an amazing opportunity for raising awareness and support for the practices and people that protect children’s health. 

Beyond that, National Child Health Day is an opportunity for you, as a teacher, to empower students to make better choices that will have a positive impact on their health. After all, they are our future, and helping them build healthy habits during this critical period of their life will have life-long effects. 

Keep reading to find out how you can celebrate this National Child Health Day with 4 awesome activities. 

Celebrate National Child Health Day With These 4 Activities

Health doesn’t have to be a tedious and boring subject that children perceive as a chore. It’s all about how you present it to them and the resources you use to make it relatable and important for young children. Here are four activities to help you achieve this.

Bring Healthy Foods and Raise Awareness About Children’s Eating Habits

Telling children that McDonald’s is not healthy is not at all effective, for two reasons mostly. 

First, you’re bringing up junk food, which will remind children about the last time they ate a happy meal – chances are they’ll only want to go back there after school. Second, they love going back and eating in McDonald’s because this food chain has invested millions of dollars in making kids feel good and happy while they eat. So, how do you fight this? 

On this National Child Health Day, show children how tasty and fun healthy food can be. Bring several baskets filled with seasonal fruits, vegetables, and nuts, especially fruits that children love – apples, bananas, watermelons, berries (especially strawberries), peaches, and oranges, are incredibly popular among children. 

First, ask children to describe what they see, focus on the color of the fruits and vegetables, and explain to them how each color contributes to our health in very simple terms. 

Second, let children touch and inspect the raw fruit. Associate the texture with health benefits. For example, tell them that fruits and vegetables are firm, shiny, or juicy because they hold vitamins inside them that help us beat diseases. You can even use relatable analogies. For example, compare the need for fresh food with video games. Children know that to beat others they need to gain points, gather powerful resources, and become stronger than their opponents. Your next point would be that real-life is just like that – we need the vitamins and minerals from fruits and vegetables to become stranger, gain superpowers (antibodies) that will help us beat the enemies that come into our body (diseases). 

Finally, seat them in a circle and let them eat fresh fruit while discussing all the good things they’ve heard about healthy food. 

Hold an Outdoor Class to Raise Awareness About the Importance of Physical Activities

There are two things that underline a healthy individual – eating habits and physical activity. After eating a delicious fruit salad, children will be pumped with energy, which means it’s the perfect time to go outside and get engaged in fun physical activities.

Ask children what they want to do the most – football, basketball, handball, tennis, running, fitness activities, jumping rope, playing catch, dancing, spinning a hula hoop, or anything else. After this, let the children play anything they want until they’re tired. Before the bell rings, call the children into a circle and explain to them the physiological changes they’re experiencing at that moment (sweating, faster heartbeat, muscle twitch, etc) and how those processes make them healthier.  

Spend the Day in Nature and Raise Awareness About the Importance of Fresh Air

Having fresh air, clean water, and the opportunity to spend time in nature are all crucial factors in children’s health. Considering the rise of technology, smartphones, tablets, and other gadgets, children are spending their childhood behind closed doors more than ever. 

So, to raise awareness about the importance of nature, its preservation, and the health benefits associated with nature walks, jogging, or climbing, you can take children to a field trip. Visit local forests, lakes, rivers, and national parks. Discuss biodiversity, the chain of life, our role and responsibility in keeping nature a part of us, and how preserving the planet Earth’s resources will make us healthier. 

Do a Group Health Checkup and Promote Healthy Habits  

Children should be aware of the importance of regular medical checkups in preventing or stopping serious diseases. Since a lot of kids don’t like doctors and dentists, you can approach this topic gently. 

Organize a group discussion and divide printed self-checkups. Encourage children to share whether they do regular physical checkups, as well as eye and dentist appointments. In simple terms, explain why that is important. 

Sharing experiences between classmates is also an opportunity for children to see how often other children take care of their health, and become more aware or even motivated to do the same. Social pressure is really high during puberty, and creating a health-aware atmosphere is one of the most effective ways to promote healthy habits in all children. 

Before You Leave

The health of our children should always be of primary importance to us, which is why this public holiday deserves our attention and the most sincere efforts to raise awareness. One amazing way to contribute to that goal is to involve the children and celebrate this year’s National Child Health Day together, through the four activities we recommended. The activities represent a great unity of the most important aspects this holiday stands for – healthy eating habits, physical activity, a clean living environment, and regular trips to the doctor’s office.

If you liked this article, you should also check out our blog, where we regularly share insightful articles for teachers, homeschool tutors, and parents. Plus, we can support your hard work even further by providing some of the most amazing educational worksheets for all the subjects in your curriculum.