Fourth-grade students from Adams, Clay, Nuckolls and Webster counties learned about health and wellness at the 17th Annual Nebraska Kids Fitness & Nutrition Day (NKFND), Tuesday, at the YMCA of Hastings. The day’s activities took place from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Approximately 300 students attended.

Lauren Shackelford, coordinator for the South Heartland District Health Department, said “fourth-graders are a good age to work with because they are beginning to develop lifelong habits that will inevitably affect their behavior in the future. Helping children learn to eat right and be active every day means they have a better shot at being successful both in school and in life.”

When the students arrived, they were divided into two groups, with one group on the basketball courts for physical activities and the second group congregating on the tennis courts to participate in nutrition education activities. The students traded places after a nutritious sack lunch.

The 14 physical activity stations included step aerobics, jump rope games and stability ball exercises. Nutrition stations taught the youth about energy balance, understanding food labels, how to make healthy snacks and the importance of food safety and hand-washing.

Shackelford said the overall purpose of the event was to demonstrate to both students and educators how physical activity and nutrition work together to maintain health. “We know obesity is not only a national epidemic but also an enormous problem right here in central Nebraska. Our goal is to give the students the tools to enable them to make healthy decisions for themselves - which will hopefully lead to a healthier generation.”

Participating schools included St. Michaels, Adams Central, Sandy Creek, Zion Classical Academy, Hawthorne, Silver Lake, Watson, Lawrence Nelson, Blue Hill and Red Cloud.