Presidential Fitness
American children have been earning the Presidential Physical Fitness Award since 1966. Each of the five items in the President’s Challenge Physical Fitness Test measures a specific aspect of fitness.
Those who complete the President’s Challenge physical fitness test items and reach or exceed the 85th percentile are eligible to receive the Presidential Award for outstanding achievement (blue).
Those who complete the President’s Challenge physical fitness test items and exceed the 50th percentile on all of the test items, but who do not achieve the 85th percentile on one or more, qualify for the National Award (red).
Those who participate in and complete the President’s Challenge physical fitness test, but do not meet the 50th percentile on all test items, qualify to receive the Participant Award (white).
Earning any of these awards should bring pride to you. We encourage you to try for improvement from year to year. Remember that people who are trying to be fit and active are all winners!
The Physical Fitness Test Items are:
- Curl-ups or partial curl-ups (for abdominal strength and endurance).
- Endurance run/walk (for heart/lung endurance).
- Pull-ups or right-angle push-ups (for upper body strength and endurance).
- Shuttle run (for leg strength, power and agility).
- V-sit reach or sit and reach (for lower back and hamstring flexibility.
Go to www.PresidentsChallenge.org for more information.
Brain Highways
Adventures Trails by Brain Highways is 68 fun physical activities organized in fifteen packages to be used at home or at school. The program includes full color photos and video clips of the activities in action to help demonstrate the correct methods for each activity. With easy instructions and support pages for parents and teachers, this program is easy to follow and understand. Connections and correlations between the activities and brain development are explained in short, easy-to-read articles on neurological organization, sensory processing, the vestibular system, the proprioceptive system, the tactile system, and other related research. Go to www.BrainHighways.com for more details.
For Kids: Adventure Trails offers balance and coordination challenges in fun, non-threatening ways.
For Adults: Adventure Trails offers quick, easy-to-read pages that teach why those specific movements are so important to brain development.
Used in multiple ways -- from birthday parties to family fun to integrating the challenges into your curriculum --Adventure Trails makes it easy and fun to do the movements and exercises that help to improve children's coordination, attention span, and ability to learn.