Shaking the Sillies Out

Encourage your kids to play these high-energy games at home

Getting kids off the couch after a long winter hibernation is not always easy. Spring into spring, get in touch with your inner child and spend time with your little ones while playing these fun games that will keep both you and your kids fit.

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Hopscotch

All you need for this classic is sidewalk chalk and a stray rock that’s good for tossing. Make a chalk hopscotch court – nine squares are traditional, but you can make yours as short or as long as you like. Toss the rock onto each number and start hopping, skipping the square where the rock landed.

Tag

Gather the family and try not to be “it!” Run, hide and create diversions and obstacles to prevent being tagged. Move the game from inside to outside and get the neighborhood kids involved. Keep playing, and before you know it, you and your kids will have run a few miles around the local playground.

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Jump Rope

Put the fun back in the game you learned as a kid by checking out a book of jump rope rhymes from your local library or by writing your own. Enlist a few friends to twirl the big ropes of Double-Dutch. You and your kids will work up a sweat while learning new tricks to teach to friends or impress the family at the next reunion.

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Freeze Dance

For this game, all you need is some music that will get your kids off the couch and excited to dance around. One person is in charge of playing the music and stopping it whenever they choose. The other players have to dance around while the music is playing – the crazier the better. When the music stops, then everybody must freeze. Players caught mid-boogie after the music stops are out.

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Hula Hoop

Grab a hoop from a local shop or buy a weighted hoop online. Hold a contest and award prizes for most revolutions, most hoops twirled at once, fastest twirler or most impressive trick.

The Vegetables We Eat

By Gail Gibbons

Through colorful illustrations and clear explanation, Gail Gibbons gives a wealth of information about vegetables and produce that can greatly benefit both children and parents. Learn how vegetables make it from the ground to your plate, what benefits they add to your diet and how to start your very own vegetable garden. books: sites:

Low vitamin D linked to heart disease, death

For those suffering from low blood levels of vitamin D, taking supplements can more than halve the risk of death from any cause, a study from the University of Kansas showed. The study tested 10,000 patients and found that 70 percent had insufficient vitamin D levels. Of these subjects, those given vitamin D supplements had an almost 60 percent lower risk of bad health than those who did not.

GymPact www.gym-pact.com

Need motivation to get to the gym? Gym-pact.com offers iPhone users monetary incentive to meet their weekly workout goals. Sign up and set a weekly workout goal and the amount of money you’ll pay if you don’t meet your Pact, then check in at the gym with GymPact’s own iPhone app. You’ll be charged for each day of workouts you miss, but paid for every week you meet your goal. Don’t have an iPhone? A Web app is coming soon.

Silent strokes connected to memory loss

A National Institutes of Health study by Dr. Adam Brickman shows that silent strokes – strokes so small they are often unnoticed – can cause memory loss in the elderly. Brickman found that 174 of 658 subjects aged 65 or older suffered silent strokes, and those who had silent strokes scored significantly lower in memory tests than those who had not.