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Fitness and Physical Activity

Fitness and Physical Activity

Children running through a course of climbing and crawling activities increases their cardiovascular fitness, and overall strength, flexibility and balance.
Courtesy of the Children's Museum of Houston\Melissa Denman.

Exercise, physical activities and fitness, strength, endurance, flexibility, balance, cardiovascular health, center of gravity, human body ratios, BMI, calories and energy, nutrition

  • Activity and Exercise

    Activity and ExerciseLesson

    Students jump over a rope in different ways and measure their performance over time. They also predict their levels of “perceived exertion” during physical exercise. 

  • Body Strength

    Body StrengthLesson

    Students learn that muscles need exercise to stay strong, repetition of exercises builds strength and endurance, and that different activities improve cardiovascular health, strength, flexibility and balance.

  • Heart Rate and Exercise

    Heart Rate and ExerciseLesson

    Students measure their prior to conducting a variety of physical activities. After conducting the activities, they measure and compare their post-exercise heart rates to their resting heart rates.

  • Gravity and Muscles

    Gravity and MusclesLesson

    Students learn about the body’s center of gravity, and how the body adjusts to the force of gravity to remain balanced.

  • Walk the Talk

    Walk the TalkLesson

    Students learn that physical and mental activities can be improved with practice by repeatedly walking while reciting a poem.

  • Human Body Ratios

    Human Body RatiosLesson

    Students practice estimating and measuring in metric units, and investigate the concepts of ratio and proportion as they relate to features of the human body. 

  • Body Mass Index (BMI)

    Body Mass Index (BMI)Lesson

    Students investigate how Body Mass Index (BMI) values are calculated, and how the information can be used in research.

  • Water in Your Body

    Water in Your BodyLesson

    Students learn how much water our bodies need each day, how it is lost, and that the water we lose must be replaced.

  • Food: What Is a Calorie?

    Food: What Is a Calorie?Lesson

    Students learn that people derive their energy from the food that they eat; that this energy is measured in a unit called a calorie; and that different foods provide different amounts of energy.

  • Serving Sizes

    Serving SizesLesson

    Students estimate serving sizes of different foods and compare their estimates to serving size information provided on food package nutrition labels.