Your activity levels are very important to your overall nutrition and growth.
Making your bones work harder will help them build up mass.
Long periods of time with little or no activity have been shown to lead to loss of bone mass,
which puts you at risk for osteoporosis (a bad bone disease) and broken bones.
If you’re spending more time watching TV or playing video games then you're spending less time being active.
In this article, we'll give you an idea of what activities help build strong bones,
some ways you can be more active, as well as a special activity that builds both bone mass and gray matter!
Fun Activities that Help Build Strong Bones:
- Walking fast
- Bicycling
- Jumping rope
- Dancing
- Playing ball
Maybe you can even involve the whole family in activities such as hiking, biking, dancing, basketball or rollerskating.
You'll all walk plenty during trips to the zoo, park or miniature golf course.
Ask your parents if you can take a trip.
Another fun activity is The Treasure Hunt.
DON’T FORGET TO ASK YOUR PARENTS FOR HELP WHEN YOU NEED IT.
The Treasure Hunt
What You Need
- The treasure: choose sports equipment or games geared to the season, such as balls,
sidewalk chalk for hopscotch and water toys
- Bag or box to hide the treasure
- 3" x 5" index cards
- Black marker
How to Do It
- Have your parents write a series of clues on the index cards with the marker.
- Make sure they write the clues so the first clue leads to the second index card,
the second to the third, and so on. The final clue leads to the treasure.
- Ask them to keep the clues short.
- Have them hide about 5-10 clues in your front yard or backyard or local park
- Place the treasure in a bag or box
- Have your parents hide the treasure
Eight Bone-Building Ways to Hunt for Treasure
Make fun rules about getting from one clue to the next.
All of these activities will help build up bone mass.
To add to the fun, pair up with someone else for part of the hunt.
Ways to reach clues alone:
- Running
- Skipping
- Hopping on one leg
- Jumping on two feet
- Elephant walk (on all fours, bending forward)
- Crab walk (on all fours, facing upwards)
Partnered Activities
- Leap-frog from place to place
- Three-legged race, with one leg of each partner wrapped inside an old pillowcase
All of these activities will be fun and help you build strong bones.