Childhood obesity is a national problem, and the White House has an actual task force and separate program to address related issues. The Let's Move! campaign is aimed at all sectors of the community (since all are needed to come together to make a difference for our children).

I am a huge advocate of outdoor play, and even though I do let my children watch some television, I really try to have them be outside for at least two hours each day. Sometimes that's a lot of hard work.

I have been following the Let's Move! website, which has ideas for eating healthy, staying active, and resources for: 

• Healthy Snacks
• Make Physical Activity a Part of Your Family's Routine
• Plan a Healthy Meal
• Reduce Screen Time and Get Active
• Organize a School Health Team
• Plant a Kitchen Garden

The most recent campaign was to celebrate the Olypmics.  There was a national call to host a meet-up to celebrate, honor athletes and of course to do lots of running, jumping, throwing,... 

Somehow I ended up being the Stoneham coordinator. (I'm not sure how these things happen either) and we had a very pleasant, low-key event on the Stoneham Town Common last Saturday. We had a bunch of medal crafts, mostly involving stickers, though I had a lot of fun with glue, paper, cardboard, salt-dough, and glitter paint the night before. I brought along our soccer balls, baseballs, bats, diving sticks to serve as relay batons, face paint and stuff to make competitor bibs. 

There were 15 of us, and I'll let the pictures do the talking. I've been vaguely thinking of turning "this" into regular events to help me get motivated to get outside even more. If you are interested, please contact me at angelika@playgroundhunt.com and in the meantime you can visit the Let's Move! website (http://www.letsmove.gov), the Meetup.com page (http://www.meetup.com/Lets-Move/Stoneham-MA/) or my regular blog at Playground Hunt (http://www.playgroundhunt.com/blog/).

Here's an excerpt from the Let's Move! website about their mission:

Let’s Move! aims to increase opportunities for kids to be physically active, both in and out of school and to create new opportunities for families to move together.

• Active Families: Engage in physical activity each day : a total of 60 minutes for children, 30 minutes for adults.
• Active Schools: A variety of opportunities are available for schools to add more physical activity into the school day, including additional physical education classes, before–and afterschool programs, recess, and opening school facilities for student and family recreation in the late afternoon and evening.
• Active Communities: Mayors and community leaders can promote physical fitness by working to increase safe routes for kids to walk and ride to school; by revitalizing parks, playgrounds, and community centers; and by providing fun and affordable sports and fitness programs.