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Living > Public Health, Safety

'Pause to Play' - Family Challenge Resources

Pause to Play some Basketball All elementary schools within Niagara are encouraged to promote the 'Pause to Play' Family Challenge to their students and families throughout the school year. The goal of this campaign is to challenge children and their families to spend less time in front of their screens (ex. TV, video games and the Internet) and more time being physically active together as a family! The challenge is designed to be run in one-week intervals. You can choose to run it as many times as you want!

PAUSE to PLAY Resources

  • Student Tracker Guide      English · French
    This guide helps students keep track of their screen time and physical activity levels for one-week. After the one-week challenge is completed, students can bring their tracker guides to school and teachers can hold a classroom discussion on their progress. Print one tracker guide for each student.

  • How to Help your Child Get Active      English · French
    This resource offers tips for parents to help their child build physical activity into their daily routine.

  • Tips for Parents to Promote Healthy Screen Habits      English · French
    This resource offers parents basic guidelines for ensuring their child develops healthy screen habits. It can be used as a parent handout or to incorporate key messages into your school newsletter.

  • Parents, Are your Kids Physically Active Enough?      English · French
    This resource informs parents and students about how physically active Canadian children really are, and how much time they are spending in front of screens.

Questions? Please contact your school nurse or call 905-688-8248 ext. 7298.

How much physical activity does Health Canada recommend that children and youth need for good health?

Health Canada recommends that inactive children and youth increase the amount of time they currently spend being physically active by at least 30 minutes more per day and decrease the time they spend on TV, playing computer games and surfing the internet by at least 30 minutes less per day. To learn more about specific physical activity recommendations, please visit the Health Canada links listed below.

How can I promote good television habits to children?

The Canadian Paediatric Society recommends limiting daily television watching to one hour or less for preschoolers and two hours or less for early school aged children. Older children should be given the opportunity to plan their weekly viewing schedule in advance, but parents should still supervise their choices. Visit the link below to learn about what the Canadian Paediatric Society recommends regarding the development of good television habits in children.

What is the impact of media use on children and youth?

The Canadian Paediatric Society has developed a position statement on the impact of television, music videos, internet and video games on children and youth. To learn more about this issue, please visit the website listed below.

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