Walk to School Events- encourages children to get more physical activity

Walk to School in October is an energizing event, reminding parents and children alike of the simple joy of walking to school.

It also serves as an opportunity to focus on the importance of physical activity, safety, air quality and walkable communities. A community can choose whether a day, week, month or even a year of Walk to School activities works best.  Get event ideas at www.walktoschool.org!

Here are just some of the benefits of regular physical activity for children:

• Builds and maintains healthy bones, muscles, and joints.
• Helps control weight, build lean muscle and reduce fat.
• Improves sense of self-image and autonomy.
• Promotes healthy social and emotional development.

In addition, preliminary data show that physical activity may improve academic performance and alertness in youth. Source:  CDC

Safety tips PDF keeping your kids safe coming to and from school (Spanish)

Print our Walking Steps Tracker Page pdf (Spanish)

Or our Move it Minutes Tracking Printable Page- kids fill it out for each 15 minutes of physical activity to total 60 minutes a day!  (Spanish)

Walk to School Resources:

From the Alliance for a Healthier Generation "It is not too late to work on your safe routes to school plan. The Healthy Schools Program promotes walking and bicycling to school as a means to increase the amount of students’ daily physical activity. In the Healthy Schools Program Framework, there is a criterion directly related to active transportation:

Currently, only 16% of students (ages 5-18) walk or bicycle to school. This could be an untapped resource for increasing daily physical activity.

If creating and implementing a safe routes program seems daunting, do not despair. The Alliance for a Healthier Generation has an Physical Activity Toolkit with resources to lead you step by step in starting your own program. Source: Alliance for a Healthier Generation.

'Safe Routes to School' Organization

Everybody Walk - an online educational site aimed at getting Americans up and moving, a walking hub, containing news and resources on walking, with health information, walking maps and how to find walking groups. You can also take their pledge

Letter to Editor: Make Walking Safe to School

Benefits of Walking

EverybodyWalk Facebook

A Guide to Promoting Walking to School PDF by CDC.GOV