Calcium

Eating in Season

Eating Right After Exercise

Energy Balance

Exercise

Fruits and Vegetables

Get Your Body Moving

How to Read Food Labels

Limit Screen Time

Limiting Sugars

Mealtimes Matter

Micronutrients for Health

MyPlate

Quick Tips for Picky Eaters

Rainy Day Physical Activities

Sleep

Vitamin D

Water

Whole Grains

       

 

 

 

      

 

 

 

Background Information about Brain Breaks

Clinicians and public health officials recommend that children engage daily in 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity, such as brisk walking, running, cycling, or playing outdoors. However, opportunities for children to be physically active during school days have decreased in most schools across the United States. Additionally, time spent on sedentary activities like watching TV or playing computer and other video games is increasing. More than 95 percent of America's school-aged children are enrolled in school. Aside from the time spent at home, schools are the places where children spend most of their time. Most experts—supported by many research studies—agree that physical activity improves children's health. Yet, most children don't get enough physical activity during the course of their days. Due to shrinking budgets and pressures to improve academic test scores, formal physical education (PE) has been substantially reduced in most of Oregon’s Elementary Schools. We surveyed 384 elementary schools in Oregon to assess the average number of PE classes per week and the length of these PE classes.

Most of the elementary schools offer 2 PE classes of 30 minutes per week, in addition to morning and lunch-time recess. Combined recess times vary from 15 minutes to 60 minutes per day with the majority of recess times between 20 and 45 minutes. The evidence of several controlled trials showed that substituting PE with additional instructional classroom time did not improve academic performance. In contrast, many studies found that regular participation in physical activity is associated with improved academic performance. A study conducted among 243 students from kindergarten through grade four found that students' on-task behavior increased significantly on the days with physical activity breaks. Other studies also showed that regular physical activity breaks enhanced academic performance, academic focus, and classroom behavior.*

To provide children with more activity breaks during their school day, we recruited sports exercise and media students from Oregon State University to produce an exercise DVD called Brain Breaks: Classroom Fitness for Children. The short segments of physical activity breaks in the DVD are demonstrated by OSU sports exercise students, OSU student athletes, and local school children. They can all be done in a classroom setting. All the segments were filmed in the KVBR Studio, a student-run television station on the Oregon State University campus. They include include stretching and flexibility, strengthening and aerobic moves such as jumping in place.

*Active Education. Physical Education, Physical Activity and Academic Performance. Active Living Research. Building Evidence to Prevent Childhood Obesity and Support Active Communities. Research Brief Summer 2009. Retrieved from www.activelivingresearch.org.

 

 

Kid-tested recipes for the whole family.

Let's Cook cookbooks are now available!

To order your copy, please send $9.95 (price includes shipping and handling) to:

LPI Healthy Youth Program
Oregon State University
307 Linus Pauling Science Center
Corvallis OR 97331

Please include your name and address. We will ship your cookbook within a week!

Breakfast
5 Minute Muesli	Easy Peasy Berry Syrup	Vegan Veggie Pancakes
Better Berry Syrup	French Toast	Veggie Egg Scramble
Blueberry Muffins	Fruity Buttermilk Pancakes	Whole Grain Banana Bread
Brilliant Beet Pancakes	Homemade Pancake Mix	Wondrous Waffles
Carrot Pancakes	Power Packed Pumpkin Bars	Zucchini Muffins
Cranberry Orange Bread	Pumpkin Muffins

Main Eats
Autumn Enchilada Casserole	Mighty Meaty Chili	Sneaky Lasagna Rolls
Bold Black Bean Burgers	Nutty Noodle Salad	Spaghetti with Summer Squash
Build your own Taco	Pita Pizza	Taco Salad
Chilly Day Veggie Chili	Pizza Smiles	Terrific Turkey Meatloaf
Chopped Chicken Salad	Pizzadillas	Veggie Enchiladas
Crispy Baked Chicken Strips	Potato Crusted Quiche	Veggie Patties
Curry Hash	Pumpkin Mac 'n' Cheese	Veggie Tostadas
Enticing Enchiladas	Quinoa Chili	Whole Wheat Pizza
Fancy Fall Flavors Wrap	Roasted Vegetable Lasagna	Zesty Summer Rice Bowl
Garden Marinara and Pasta	Rock 'n' Spring Rolls	Zucchini Quesadillas
Greek Chicken Salad Pita	Simple Stir Fry and Steamed Rice
Lentil Dahl	Simple Winter Squash Soup

Sides and Salads
Broccoli Potato Mash	Fabulously Fast Flatbread	Shredded Brussels Sprouts with Apples
Broccoli Salad	Fancy Fruit Salad	Somewhere Over the Rainbow Salad
Brown Rice Citrus Salad	Fantastic Fruity Soup	Super Kale Salad
Caprese Salad	Kale Caesar	Triple Bean Pasta Salad
Carrot Jicama Salad	Layered Pea Salad	Very Vegan Quinoa Salad
Chard and Quinoa Salad	Quinoa Herb Salad	Vitamin C Tropical Fruit Salad
Cool as a Cucumber Chickpea Salad	Quinoa Tabbouleh	Whole Grain Cornbread
Cucumber Watermelon Salad	Rainbow Roasted Potatoes	Whole Wheat Bread
Delicata Squash Apple Bake	Sauteed Root Vegetables	Whole Wheat Naan Bread

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sauces and Salsas
Breezy Blender Salsa
Flavorful Salsa Fresca
Healthier Homemade Ranch
Homemade Honey Mustard
Homemade Ketchup
Nova's Salsa Verde
Presto Pesto

Snacks
Apple Pie Popcorn	Heavenly Hummus	Power Spheres
Apple Salsa and Cinnamon Chips	Holy Guacamole	Pumpkin Fruit Dip
Asparagus Dippers	Kale Chips	Roasted Beet Hummus
Cauliflower Popcorn	Mean Green Cheese Wheels	Roasted Chickpeas
Fresh Farmer Cheese	Mixed-up Trail Mix	Spiced Fruit and Nut Mix
Fruit Skewers with Yogurt Sauce	Oatmeal Raisin Power Bars	White Bean Hummus
Green Goddess Hummus	P is for Pretzel
Groovy Granola Bars	Peanut Butter Fruit Dip

Desserts
Berry Coconut Popsicles	Crunchy Cookies	Pumpkin Chip Cookies
Black Bean Brownies	Crunchy Pumpkin Pie	Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp
Chocolate Banana Iced Cream	Gingerbread People	Whole Grain Gingerbread
Chocolate Beet Cake	Lemony Sorbet	Winter Fruit Crisp
Choose Your Own Adventure Cookies	Orange Cream Popsicles

Drinks and Smoothies
Chunky Monkey Smoothies
Fizzy Fruity Soda
Honey Lemonade
It's Easy Being Green Smoothie
Pumpkin Pie Smoothie
Sneaky Blueberry Smoothie
Tropical Twist Smoothie