A healthy routine is not only good for you physically, it also helps combat feelings of stress and anxiety. It can give you a sense of normalcy and purpose without really thinking about it. Though everyone’s healthy routine may look a little different, there is no shortage of activities out there to make us all feel good.
Our staff team have compiled (and will continue to add) some tips, tricks and recommendations to help you form your healthy habits. Whether it’s at-home workouts, meditation exercises, activities to do with your family, or just a way to feel engaged with your CGC community, read on and find what works for you!
Physical Fitness
Physical Literacy & Other Activities
Wellness
Physical Fitness
Stay tuned for new content – in the meantime, if you’re looking for fitness classes and drop-in activities to help create your physical fitness routine, please see our Aquatics, Field House & Track, and Drop-in Fitness schedules!
Physical Literacy & Other Activities
When we learn to read, we start with learning our letters before words. Physical literacy starts with learning fundamental movements like jumping, running, throwing, catching and swimming. They are the building blocks towards confident and motivated participation in activity and sports, regardless of age. Below are some great resources to make moving fun for you and your family.
KRC Let’s Move!
The Kids Run Club (KRC) was created in 2004 by Doctors Nova Scotia to inspire healthy active living. In May 2021, the Kids Run Club launched a new initiative called KRC Let’s Move – a fun, simple and effective bilingual program that supports primary to Grade 6 classroom teachers in promoting movement among students, whether in the class or during at-home learning. The toolkit contains ideas for outdoor activities, the Alphabet Activity Challenge and KRC Let’s Move Videos — a series of 12 five-minute movement breaks.
Videos
While designed for students, these videos are great for the young, and the young at heart, whether working or learning from home. Be transported to well-known Nova Scotia locations and cultural landmarks with moves like Halifax hugs, moose march, seaview lunges, lighthouse climb, and many more. Click below to get everyone in your household moving or challenge someone you know to try them all today!
ParticipACTION
Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2021, ParticipACTION continues to be an amazing Canadian resource for physical activity at any age. Feel inspired, get moving, track your progress, and win prizes using their downloadable fitness app: https://www.participaction.com/en-ca/programs/app
They also offer a great selection of Fit Break at-home exercise videos (10-15mins each) to help you fit activity into your day: https://www.participaction.com/en-ca/content/fit-break-videos
Follow them on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ParticipACTION/
Sport For Life
Sport for Life is a movement to improve the quality of sport and physical activity in Canada, and aim to create a future in which absolutely everyone has access to quality sport and physical literacy experiences.
Sport for Life has developed a series of short videos called Physical Literacy at Home that help support parents and kids to develop physical literacy while at home and make moving fun for you and your family. https://sportforlife.ca/facing-covid-19-together/
Active For Life
Active For Life is the place where parents go to learn about activities for kids. Physical education leads to physical literacy, which is critical for child development. Physical literacy also gives active kids the best chance to someday compete in high-performance sport.
The Active For Life website is full of creative and simple ideas for activities you can do using household items. For example, you may be familiar with Sensory Paths – colourful decals placed along floors and walls that indicate an action to be taken. Sensory paths made a big splash in schools across Canada, but with schools on pause, why not get the kids outside and create your own sensory chalkway?
Chalk is an inexpensive toy that can offer hours of creative entertainment! The sky’s the limit on what to incorporate into your own chalkways, but here are some ideas from Active for Life on different games like hopscotch and Alphabet Hop that you can create with chalk. Take a little bit from each game to make an epic chalkway with the added bonus of building physical literacy skills! Don’t have chalk? Grab sticks, pool noodles or other outdoor items and create a backyard obstacle course.
Canadian Olympic Club
The Canadian Olympic Club, presented by Bell, is free to join and full of all kinds of fun challenges, information, stats, and athlete profiles.
It also gives you access to the Canadian Olympic School Program which offers over 100 free resources and activity ideas for teachers (or homeschooling parents), that promote inclusive sport environments, application of the Olympic values, and encourage healthy active living.
https://vimeopro.com/sportforlife/physical-literacy-at-home
How Fast Can You Puzzle?
Flex those mental muscles with a CGC inspired jigsaw puzzle below. You can change the number of pieces and challenge your friends and family by sharing the links.
CGCHalifax Puzzle #1
CGCHalifax Puzzle #2
CGCHalifax Puzzle #3
CGCHalifax Puzzle #4
CGCHalifax Puzzle #5
CGCHalifax Puzzle #6
CGCHalifax Puzzle #7
CGCHalifax Puzzle #8
CGCHalifax Puzzle #9
Halifax Public Libraries
Halifax Public Libraries is providing access to great digital resources. Watch free movies, trace your ancestry, access learning tools, attend a virtual event and search a huge selection of e-books from all your favourite genres. They have also created virtual libraries for kids, teens and adults for at-home activities and ideas. If you’re a resident of Nova Scotia, you can apply to get a Halifax Public Libraries card for free. Follow the link to their website for everything on offer: https://www.halifaxpubliclibraries.ca/
Wellness
Loving-Kindness Meditation
Loving-Kindness practice is a meditation that involves directing love toward yourself, other people and all living beings. It boosts self-compassion and positive emotions, and doesn’t require any equipment. It can also be a part of the beginning or end of your favourite yoga practice.
May you be peaceful and at ease: https://www.viacharacter.org/resources/social-downloads/loving-kindness-meditation
No Right Way to Meditate, but Insight Timer Can Help
“During this time at home I have been continuing my meditation practice. I really love to use Insight Timer https://insighttimer.com. It is a free app for your phone that has guided meditations, a sleep category, even a kids category! My favourite part of this app is the timer. I can really sink into my meditation, knowing that the bell will chime when my time is up. You can even set up two timers, so if you want to know when you are halfway done or flip to the other side if you are in a restorative yoga pose. Please remember the there is no “right” way to meditate, keep practicing and you will create space in your thoughts :)”
Raechelle Masuda teaches Yoga drop-in classes. Her self-described super power is Compassion. See her profile.