Keep your kids active this summer

Oh, the delicious anticipation of that last day of school. At the end of this month, children from Hornby Island, B.C., to Taber Alta., to Gander, Nfld., will be bursting from the confines of the classroom to run and jump into the warm summer sunshine. But how will your kids spend the next 10 weeks of their holidays? Will they push their young bodies to the max in exuberant child's play? Or will they be sitting motionless in front of reruns of “The Simpsons” on the TV or the latest computer game, tuning out your exhortations to “just go and do something!”?

To help set them on the right (walking) foot, we've polled six fitness experts -- including an Olympic athlete, a Scout leader and a camp counsellor -- who all know how to get kids -- their own and others -- moving outdoors and loving it.

Here are their suggestions.

Silken Laumann
• Activity credentials:
Three-time Olympic medallist in rowing; founder of Silken's ActiveKids Movement, a foundation to encourage kids to be physically active at home, school and in their neighbourhood; and author of Child's Play: Rediscovering the Joy of Play in Our Families and Communities

• Kid experience:
Has two kids, aged 10 and seven, and many other kids in communities across the country participate in programs inspired by Silken's movement

• Strategies:
Silken and her neighbours in Victoria organize Play in the Park nights during the summer. Parents supervise the neighbourhood kids, who might organize games of tag or Capture the Flag (a running game in which one team tries to seize a flag from the other) with occasional help from an adult. “We want to create an environment where what naturally should happen can happen,” says Silken.

Parents feel safe letting their kids take part, and as the kids spend more time being active together, their parents get to know each other, too. If one parent is planning to take her kids for a bike ride or a hike on the weekend, she might send out an open invitation by e-mail inviting other kids and parents to come along.

When Silken supervises Play in the Park, she likes to organize scavenger hunts. She presents the kids with a list of things to find; for example, an acorn, a feather or a smooth stone. The kids seem to love it.

“Playing outside and climbing trees, it's what they want to do,” she says.

• Bonus tip:
Be the screen police. On weekends, Silken limits her kids to 30 minutes of computer time per day and one DVD (played once) each.

Darrell Bond
• Activity credentials:
Plans activities for a scout troop of 17 youth aged 11 to 14

• Kid experience:
Has a daughter, 10, and a son, 12. Also leads a scout troop (which includes his son) in Kanata, Ont.

• Strategies:
Darrell adds adventure, challenges, friendly competition and a few technological surprises to keep kids keen on physical activity. An evening hike along a city trail, for example, might end with Darrell firing up a portable camp stove and the kids making popcorn. On one recent evening, he brought along a laptop computer and let the kids watch a movie and enjoy a healthy snack outside under the stars before hiking back to the school where they meet. “The kids really liked that,” he says. He sometimes breaks kids into small groups and challenges them to a friendly race to see who can build a lean-to or tarp shelter the fastest.

He's learned that if his scouts like something they've done on a hike, they'll do it again and again. His own son often builds a tarp shelter in the driveway and has shown other kids how to build a lean-to fort in a wooded area in the neighbourhood.

• Bonus tip:
Always bring along healthy snacks as a treat to break up or end an activity.

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