 The following is a production of New Mexico State University. Hi, I'm Mary Meyer with the New Mexico Department of Health WIC Nutrition Program. I'm excited and proud to be here today to introduce our Family Health television series. The WIC Nutrition Program provides nutrition education, supplemental food and health referrals for pregnant, breastfeeding, postpartum women, infants and children up to the age of five for moderate to low income families. Our Family Health series is a collaboration between the WIC Nutrition Program and New Mexico State University. These television programs provide support for families to develop lifelong healthy habits. If you're participating in the WIC program currently, let your local WIC office know if you have watched this episode today. Welcome. My name is Stephanie. Thank you for joining me today. Kids love to move, and a great way they can be physically active is moving like animals. I'm sure you know that WIC promotes healthy eating, but did you know they promote physical activity too? And as a parent, you can be an important role model. By being physically active with your child, you can help build healthy physical activity habits. Even small children can benefit from physical activity. They build motor skills, learn balance, coordination, teamwork, increase self-esteem and reduce their risk of chronic disease. And physically active kids have better appetites too. So what is being physically active? Essentially just moving. It doesn't have to be hard or take hours out of your day. It's as simple as taking the stairs instead of the elevator, taking short walking breaks, doing housework, or just putting in your favorite song and dancing. And you and your child can still get benefits from as little as 5 to 15 minutes of activity spread out in different intervals several times a day. Remember, being physically active with your child should be fun, and it's a great bonding opportunity. In today's show, you'll meet Julie and her son, Adam. I'm going to show them how they can be physically active in their home by moving like animals. Clear off some room in your family room, put on some comfortable clothing and some supportive shoes, and let's get moving. Are you guys ready to have some fun? Have you ever noticed how animals move? Each animal moves different. Today we're going to be physically active by moving like animals. Does that sound good? All right, we got to stretch out a little bit, all right? Let's take a deep breath right here. Take a deep breath, good, and blow it out. Take another deep breath, good, and blow it out, good. Now can you take your arms up above your head? Good, we're going to pretend we're squirrels, all right? Let's reach up nice and tall like we're reaching for an acorn on the top of a tree. Reach, reach, reach, and let's pick that acorn and let's take it to the ground. Good, take it to the ground. Let's reach up nice and tall, grab that acorn, and let's put it back on the ground. Good, one more time. Reach up for that acorn and put it back on the ground. Good, let's pretend we're birds now. Let's take our arms out and flap our wings, good. Flap your wings, good, good. Now let's take those wings and roll them forward, good. It's always important to stretch out and warm up a little bit when you're being physically active. And let's move them backwards, very good, good, good. All right, you can put your hands down now. Let's be penguins, all right? First we're going to move our head. So we're going to look to the side, to the front, and to the side, head to the front. Now penguins walk kind of funny, don't they? So let's waddle like penguins, right here. Put your feet out wide, point your toes out wide, and bring your arms up to your hips. Can you try it? Put your feet out wide, good. A little circle here. Let's go ahead and move around in a little circle. Waddling like penguins is do monkeys make. And let's reach for those trees, reach, reach, good. We're in the corner over there. We have a big, and as a trunk, good. Trunk, good. Good, and switch arms. And let's just stand in place, right here. Pretend like we're an elephant. Together, bring them back in, good. Right, and bring them back to your chest, good. Out, separate, and bring them back to your chest, good. You can try it with us at home too, good. Now we're going to move our arms, move your arms, and then bring them back to your chest. And look, let's kick out our legs, one to the side, and one to the side. And use your arms, good. Kick out your legs to the side, and move those arms again. And kick out into the side. What else lives in the ocean? Tend to be dolphins. We're going to pretend like we're at the bottom of the ocean, alright? We're going to be crabs. So come up and let's walk around like crabs. Even this way. Walk around on the ocean bottom, he's due. Round like tortoises. Here was a rabbit. And he moved really... Tortoise again, slow. All right, let's go back to our places. What do kangaroos do? We're going to push and push to the side, back to our paw, to the front, we're going to push to the front, to the side, crash that paw, crash to the front, water break, and we'll come back and move like animals in a few minutes. Remember, it's okay to take breaks while you're being physically active. And water is important. Remember to drink it before, during, and after being physically active so that you stay properly hydrated. Also have healthy snacks available for your child in case they become hungry. Things like fresh fruits and vegetables, low-fat milk cheese and yogurt, and whole grain crackers and cereal are excellent healthy snacks. Besides moving like animals, think of other ideas you and your child can do to be active. Playing with the balls, going for walks, or playing at the playground. When being physically active with your child, don't worry about technique or form. The most important thing is that your child and you are moving. If your child doesn't get something, that's alright. Start simple. When your child feels comfortable with something, then introduce more advanced movements. Be patient. And remember, being physically active should be fun for you and your child. Not in pleasant or punishment. Let's get back to our mother and son. We're going to be physically active and move just like the animals do. Did you guys drink some water? Are you ready to start moving again? Yeah. Alright, we're going to be animals again. We're going to be start by being a big crocodile. Now what do crocodiles have? Big teeth, user arms. We're going to have big crocodiles. They eat hippos. Alright, make big switch arms. Other way, other one on top. This thing is like a big monkey. Alright, and he lives in a tree. So we're going to move our arms like an orangutan. Good. Excellent. And you know what kind of noise? In a circle. Go and follow me like following the reader. Zebra. And where does Zebra's live? In the jungle. A chicken or a rooster. Let's be roosters. Let's put our arms up like moving a circle like a rooster position. Back over here. Let's pretend we're birds again. Let's flap our wings. Good. Let's move them a little bit. Acorn. And we're going to put that acorn and go back down. Good. And let's go back. Favorite animal movement that we did. Let's be zebras again. Let's go ahead and move. Remember how zebras move? Be a lazy zebra. A tired zebra, right? Tired lazy zebra. Alright. Let's go through again. So we're going to push to the front. Push to the side. Push to the other side. And we're going to scratch on it. And we're going to push to the front. Push to the side. Push to the other side. And we're going to push to the front. Push to the side. Push to the other side. Scratch that paw. And we're going to push to the front. Push to the side, push to the- Adam, let's go ahead and walk. We're going to walk slowly in a circle. Walk in this little, walk in slow, good, walk very slowly. Right there. Do a deep breath. Can you take a deep breath? And another one. We're going to finish stretching. And let's stretch up. Mom, you guys did great. Did you have fun? As you can see, being physically active with your child can be fun. And try to be physically active every day together. One way you can do this is think of all the physical activities you like to do together. Make a list. Put it on your fridge at home. And as you do those activities, check them off. Try to do all the activities on your list in one week. Also set goals for yourself. 15 minutes of dancing. Once you've mastered that, then try to boost up the time. Dance a little bit longer the next day. If you need some ideas, check with your local WIC office. They can give you ideas or even have classes. Proud to be physically active with your child. If all else fails, remember you can always turn on the music and dance. What we eat and how much we move impact our health. Start today to build lifelong healthy habits for you and your family. Hello again. I hope you've enjoyed the show today. If you have any questions regarding information you've heard today or would like information about the WIC nutrition program, please call 1-800-280-1618 and do join us for other family health episodes in the future. The preceding was a production of New Mexico State University. The views and opinions in this program are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of the NMSU Board of Regents.