Classroom Physical Activity

Overview

Classroom physical activity is any physical activity done in the classroom. It can take place at any time and occur in one or several brief periods during the school day. It includes integrating physical activity into academic instruction as well as providing breaks from instruction for physical activity.

Classroom physical activity can benefit students by:

• Improving their concentration and ability to stay on-task in the classroom.
• Reducing disruptive behavior, such as fidgeting, in the classroom.
• Improving their motivation and engagement in learning.
• Helping improve their academic performance (higher grades and test scores).
• Increasing their amount of daily physical activity.

Facts

The data brief Integrate Classroom Physical Activity in Schools can help by:

• Providing a snapshot of current classroom physical activity practices in the United States.
• Highlighting ways to improve classroom physical activity through national guidance, strategies, and resources.

Recommendations

Classroom physical activity strategies

• Strategies for Classroom Physical Activity in Schools—This document describes 10 evidence-based strategies to promote and plan classroom physical activity.
• Integrate Classroom Physical Activity in Schools: A Guide for Putting Strategies Into Practice —This guide provides key questions and activities. The guide also has templates that teachers and other champions can use to adopt, promote, enhance, or sustain the strategies identified in Strategies for Classroom Physical Activity in Schools.
• Online Platform: Integrate Classroom Physical Activity in Schools—This online platform offers ways to integrate the strategies identified in Strategies for Classroom Physical Activity in Schools. The platform includes:
  • Key questions and activities.
  • Templates and tools.
  • Stories from the field showing how the strategies are being used in different states.
  • Resources for each of the recommended strategies.

Active transportation to school

To foster active transportation, schools can encourage the use of:

• Trails, crosswalks, and programs like Safe Routes to Schools.
• Walking school buses.

Get more information about the Community Guide's recommended interventions to support travel to school. These suggestions can increase walking among students and reduce traffic-related injury.

Resources

• Ideas for Parents: Classroom Physical Activity
• Integrate Classroom Physical Activity: Getting Students Active During School
• Active Academics (2013)
• GoNoodle
• North Carolina's Energizers for Schools (Classroom-Based Physical Activities) (2015)
• Springboard to Active Schools | Classroom Physical Activity Ideas and Tips
• Youth Compendium of Physical Activities for Classroom Teachers (2019)