Friends taking a walk on the Crooked Mile

May is quite a month! It’s National Bike Month, National Fitness Month and it also boasts National Screen Free Week.  Below are a few suggestions for celebrating the month.

Take the kids out for a bike ride.  According to the League of American Bicyclists, as soon as a child can hold their head up and fit into a helmet, they can be a passenger on a bike. Until they are age 5 or so they should ride in a child’s seat or trailer.  Children need to have basic motor skills before they can operate a bike on their own.

Take a walk.  Taking under 5,000 steps a day is considered a sedentary lifestyle. It is recommended that we take 10,000 steps. So get out and walk! With a friend, the kids, the dog – or enjoy a 500-step getaway by yourself.  If you don’t want to use the time to chat or reflect, count the number of trees you see, the number of cars you pass, or find shapes in the clouds or the stars.

Play Hopscotch. This simple game can be played with several players or alone, by a wide range of ages and needs little or no equipment. Many playgrounds have painted hopscotch courses, you can make your own with chalk on the pavement, or with a stick in the dirt.

No matter what you do this May, make a point to get out and play!