School Fitness Workouts for Kids: Stretching, breathing and Yoga for kids

Schools often put the cart before the horse trying to educate a child's mind while ignoring bodily needs. Tired, hungry, uncomfortable children don't learn well. Here are school fitness workouts for kids to improve mental functioning. Use yoga stretches and breathing exercises for classroom phys ed. Yoga makes perfect winter school fitness workouts for kids because they can do yoga in the classroom--no need to go to the gym or outdoors. Yoga stretches and breathing exercises foster learning. 

Lest any parent object to the use of yoga in schools, for religious reasons or otherwise, this isn't meditative yoga, it's just basic asanas or postures. Call it Brain Gym or just phys ed if that makes parents feel better. 

Why use yoga in the classroom? For 6-8 hours a day, students sit in uncomfortable desks, breathing stale, recycled air. When she's not sitting, she's lugging around an achingly heavy backpack. She gets very little healthy exercise but a lot a stress and strain. Many schools have phys ed, but generally only one to three times per week. High school students get none unless it's an elective. School fitness workouts for kids are essential, even if they're just short ones. 

Do short periods of yoga for kids or other stretching and breathing exercises throughout the school day serves several purposes. Yoga strengthens lungs by teaching students to breathe deeply and use oxygen more efficiently. Yoga breathing calms the mind, body and spirit. It puts students in a tranquil, receptive frame of mind for learning. Yoga stretches and breathing exercises, even without meditation, purges the body of negative energy. Yoga is particularly useful for special needs students who can't do certain exercises or who suffer anxiety. 

The benefits of stretching periodically are many. Students experience fewer cramped muscles, stomachaches, headaches and discomfort. They are more attentive when given a chance to limber up. Students are happier and more willing to cooperate when they know that teacher cares about their whole self, not just the thinking part. Yoga requires no special equipment. It's perfect for school fitness workouts for kids and in-class phys ed. 

Try doing whole group yoga for kids stretches and breathing exercises twice a day. Start first thing in the morning and immediately after lunch. Utilize "waiting in line" time and walking halls for mini phys ed breaks. School fitness workouts for kids help keep them focused. Do whole body stretches and deep breathing exercises. If kids are concentrating on yoga stretches, there will be less need for obligatory teacher shushing in the hallway. Once students get the hang of yoga stretches, fitness workouts and breathing exercises while walking, they will do it automatically whenever they are waiting somewhere. Here are yoga for kids videos. 

Healthy School Snacks Ideas for Lunch

I'm on a mission to root out unhealthy school snacks that claim to be healthy and expose their true lack of nutritional value. I've had it with school snacks that proclaim to be healthy but are in fact full of junk. 

Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Bars and Eggo Nutri-Grain Waffles and most cereal and granola bars. Loaded with high fructose corn syrup, artificial color and hydrogenated fat, low protein and junk carbs. These are just cookies with a fancy "nutritional" name added. Look for snack bars with no HFCS and protein.

Sun Maid yogurt covered raisins: We are supposed to assume that because these raisins are coated in yogurt and not chocolate, that they have the health goodness of yogurt and are better for us. Wrong. Yogurt covered raisins are basically candy covered raisins. But they don't taste as good as Raisinets.

General Mills and Post Cereal Bars: Initially Post and GM had the audacity to market these as milk and cereal bars. Pulleez- they are basically Coco Puffs and Fruit Loops mixed with marshmallow and pasted together with more marshmallow. In short they are candy bars. Make Rice Krispie Treats at home and you'll be farther ahead. Or give your kids Coco-Puffs with milk. Or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks: Betty Crocker isn't the only one selling us a crock with her packaged 'fruit snacks'. Fruit snacks are a misnomer for highly sugared gelatin tidbits, similar to Juji Fruits and Dots, that come luridly colored , in bizarre flavors and are shaped like cartoon characters. Just the names Fruit Gushers, Fruit by the Foot (a sort of high fructose tape) make me ill. In my day, we called these fruit snacks candy. Welches and Sunkist Fruit Snacks are one step up. They at least do not have artificial color and do contain some fruit juice and 100% RDA of Vitamin C. You could just send the child to school with an orange or a banana.

Healthy School Lunches, Snacks, Treats

Healthy Foods for Kids Nutrition and food is the core of learning. Here's a perfect food and snack guide for students in your classroom. Print out this healthy guide for parents. Nutritious snacks, party food, lunch foods. This is not a list of 'healthy' snacks based on advertising and marketing, but real healthy foods researched by a conscientious mom and teacher. Feed your kids great foods that will give them all they need for busy days! 

Apple and Eve juice boxes-100% fruit and vegetable juice, 100% vitamin C, 30% Vitamin A, no high fructose corn syrup, no additives. 

Peppridge Farm goldfish crackers- no transfat, MSG, hydrogenated fats, made with unbleached flour.

rice cakes: low sodium, no transfat.

Aldi fruit leather; organic, full of vitamins, no sulfites.

Spaghettios: low fat, full serving of vegetables

vegetable egg rolls: lowfat, high protein, full serving of vegetables. Look for MSG (monosodium glutamate) free egg rolls.

Healthy Choice and Annie's soups chicken and vegetarian varieties: no MSG, full serving of vegetables, high in protein, low in fat. Avoid varieties with ham, bacon or sausage as these are cured with nitrites.

tuna packets: low fat, no transfats, rich in Omega-3 oils

bagels: lowfat and high protein and fiber. Look for varieties which do not contain high fructose corn syrup or bleached flour.

Hormel Natural Choice lunchmeats and cold cuts: naturally cured, nitrate and nitrite free.

baby carrots, cucumber slices, green pepper slices, broccoli florets, fresh pea pods, cauliflower florets:

Mann's pre-cut vegetable blend</b></i>

Newman's Own Salad Dressing: no transfat. use for vegetable dip and salad dressing. Made with olive oil.

pretzels: fat free. Look for oat bran varieties. good source of fiber

Lay's Baked Chips and baked tortilla chips: no transfats, hydrogenated fat, baked with sunflower oil.

Newman's Own salsa: no fat or high fructose corn syrup. Perfect dip for chips, pretzels, rice cakes and 

raisins and any dried fruits

Jif Natural peanut butter: no hydrogenated fat or high fructose corn syrup

Chex, Life, Cheerios, Kashi cereals: Dry cereal with almonds and raisins makes a delicious healthy DIY trail mix.

Kraft cheese sticks with no added growth hormones

Kraft cheese singles with no added growth hormones

Pepperidge Farm Chessmen cookies: all natural ingredients

popcorn with sea salt

Terra sweet potato chips: vitamin A, beta-carotene, no transfat

Silk protein milk drink boxes

Mott's Healthy Harvest applesauce pouches or cups (no added sugar)

hardboiled eggs (keep cold with ice pack in lunch bag)

shelled almonds

Luna Bars organic, made with evaporated cane juice, soy isolate protein. Chocolate Raspberry is my favorite

Clif Bars: made by same company as Luna.

Garden of Eatin' organic Red Hot Blues nacho chips

Give your children the best brain fuel available for their busy days with these healthy brown bag lunch foods. And remember to pack lunches in an insulated lunch container.