Community Action Head Start gets outdoor play grant

[September 01, 2009]  RESTON, Va. -- Head Start Body Start National Center for Physical Development and Outdoor Play announced Monday that Community Action Partnership of Central Illinois is one of 351 recipients of a $5,000 grant. The grant will be used to improve outdoor play space at the Community Action Head Start center in Logan County, located at 2018 N. Kickapoo St. in Lincoln.

The national center was created through a federal grant to the National Association for Sport and Physical Education and the American Association for Physical Activity and Recreation from Head Start.

"We appreciate Head Start Body Start for helping us evaluate our play spaces and educate our children and their families about the value of physical activity and playing outdoors, in particular," said Beth Fleshman, Head Start director for Community Action. "This grant will enable us to provide quality and meaningful outdoor play to the children we serve."

"Outdoor play is associated with greater amounts of physical activity in children, and research has shown that opportunities for whole-body exercise has a long-lasting influence, as preschool physical activity tracks throughout childhood," said Karin H. Spencer, Ed.D., Head Start Body Start director. "Unfortunately children today spend less time playing outdoors than any previous generation. We want to help the Head Start staff discover the benefits of outdoor play across developmental domains and learn about the features of high-quality outdoor play spaces that promote movement opportunities for children of all ability levels."

In addition to the play space improvement, each grant-winning Head Start center will have targeted training, technical assistance and the expertise of a physical activity consultant as well as access to online courses, webinars and resource materials. One of their first initiatives will be celebrating the inaugural "Take it Outside! Week," Oct. 19-23. To learn about Take it Outside! Week, visit www.headstartbodystart.org.

Head Start Body Start National Center for Physical Development and Outdoor Play is a project of the National Association for Sport and Physical Education and the American Association for Physical Activity and Recreation, which are associations of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. Funding for Head Start Body Start is provided by the Office of Head Start, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The purpose of Head Start Body Start is to increase physical activity that leads to physical, cognitive, social and emotional development of young children and reduces obesity and its associated costs. Head Start Body Start has three main objectives: (1) to inform and assist Head Start in setting national priorities and developing policies; (2) to provide resources, training and technical assistance to Head Start and Early Head Start centers; and (3) to administer and support grants for construction or improvement of outdoor play spaces at Head Start centers.

[Text from file received from Community Action Partnership of Central Illinois]