Now that the weather is finally nice, we pretty much live outside!!  Right now we are loving going to the park and beach as often as we can!  But I think the best place to be is right in our backyard. 

My tween has boundless energy and he LOVES to play!!  Since I have been a home-schooler this year, we get a few lessons done, run around outside for a while, get a few more lessons done and are back outside.  About the time the school bus drops kids off at home, the fun begins.  The kids are on the trampoline, playing tether-ball, basketball, playing in the sand box and  swinging on the hammock. The kids will stay out there until I tell them it is time to go. 

For me, this is a dream come true!!  I love having my kids right where I can see them and having a place that is fun for everyone!!  I think kids belong outside: barefoot, running, yelling, kick and throwing balls and playing with their Barbies in the sand. 

I have lots of fun ideas swimming in my head about more fun things the kids can do in the backyard as they get older to inspire their love of being outside.

- Give them a whole pile of wood, nails, hammer,  paint and trinkets to build something.

- Give them some fabric, long  sticks and rope to build a tent.

- Fill a baby pool with sand and water for a fabulous mud bath.

Those are surely some of the things I will have my tween doing as he gets a little older.

What are some fun activities you do with your tween outdoors?

As we discuss how to improve your tween’s nutritional value, take a recipe from OHealthy for a terrific vegetarian pizzia.

All Red and Ready-to-Go Pizza

Ingredients

• 1 whole-wheat flat bread (pita without the pocket, about 8 inches in diameter)
• 2 tablespoons roasted red pepper (packed in water)
• 2 tablespoons thinly sliced red onion
• 2 tablespoons flavored tomato paste (pesto, roasted garlic, or Italian seasoning)
• 1/4 cup finely shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
• 1 tablespoon chopped sun-dried tomato
• Sprinkle of crushed dried red pepper, basil, garlic, or other seasoning, to taste

Directions

Spread the flat bread with the toppings and place the bread on a toaster oven tray. Use the “top brown” setting. The pizza is ready when the cheese bubbles, in three to five minutes.

Serves one

The serving contains about 367 calories, 16 g protein, 13 g fat, 15 mg cholesterol, 44 g carbohydrates, 2 g fiber, and 905 mg sodium.

Click here for more OHealthy recipes.

Feel free to file this under “Things We Already Knew,” but a recent report from the MRC Epidemiology Unit in the U.K. says kids do not spend enough time running around and, it seems that even when children are at play, they often don’t play hard enough to combat childhood obesity.

“Interventions may therefore need to incorporate higher intensity-based activities to curb the growing obesity epidemic,” they conclude.

And that’s an issue that I’ve had with Mini, lately. She doesn’t enjoy physical education class in school (she apparently can’t play dodgeball well and isn’t that good at basketball- both traits she probably got from me) so she doesn’t put forth the effort necessary to get a good sweat. She doesn’t live in the best neighborhood, so she doesn’t get a lot of outside play time at home, either.

AM and I try to get Mini to the park, but with winter coming, I’m kind of at a loss for ideas on how to keep her active. Maybe we’ll try walking around local parks, but even that may not be a hard-enough effort to ward off winter weight gain. Maybe we’ll try some children’s exercise videos during the “way-too-cold-to-be-outside” days.

Hopefully that and some healthier food choices will keep Mini from packing on pounds that she may never work off. And the healthier food will be good for AM and I, as we’re battling chubbiness from the other side of the age scale.

How do you keep your tweens active and healthy? Ask questions, make suggestions or share your ideas in the comments.

Photo from Flickr user Gainesvegas

A recent BBC article says it’s a little bit healthy for kids to be a little bit dirty.

For most of us, this is not anything new. My parents operated under the theory that “a little dirt never killed anyone” when I was growing up. It seems that now there’s some actual science to back them up.

There’s bacteria in dirt and that bacteria can help control overactive immune responses to small cuts.

In today’s world, all the technological distractions (video games, television, movies, music, the Internet – and probably more stuff I haven’t heard of yet!) keep kids inside more often. This leads to cleaner kids and, apparently, children with weakened immune systems.

It certainly seems logical, doesn’t it? Many parents keep their children in an-almost sterile environment. Schools line children up for hand sanitization before lunch or snack. The days of soap and water have been left behind for cleaner smelling and less messy alcohol solutions that destroy nearly all bacteria on the skin.

The U.K. group Parents Outloud says that this trend has caused an increase in various allergies and illnesses in children.

“Rates of allergy have tripled in the U.K. in the last decade. One in three people now has some kind of allergy.”

It’s important for children to be outside. Not just in the dirt, but in the air and the sunlight. That just might be the key to a healthier generation of kids. And who doesn’t like that idea?

How do you get your kids to play outside when they want to stay in? Share you questions, stories and ideas in the comment section.