Pedometers for Kids Make Exercise Fun

May 28, 2009

We all know exercise is important. And walking is a great exercise. If we can, we should walk 10,000 steps every day. How do we know how far we walked? Wear a pedometer - an instrument that counts our steps and shows the number on a screen. Pedometers have been available for adults for some time. But a Wall Street Journal article today (Willa Plank, D2 , May 28, 2009) listed all the ones that are available for kids and some books that go with them. Here they are:

Walk the Walk: The Kid's Book of Pedometer Challenges. This is a book for 8 to 12 year olds that combines using the pedometer with important and fun facts. Sometimes it accidentally turned off. It's available at cidermillpress.com for $12.95

Pedz pedometers can be bought from mypedz.com for $15.99 for a frog model and $12.99 for a tadpole model. There is an online place to enter the steps you walk for points that unlock online games.

First Fitness Multi-Function pedometer was tested on a 4 year old and the testers thought it didn't measure all the steps. It is available from aqualeisure.com for $12.99.

ME2 handheld toy measured walking and also movement that wasn't walking and gave points for each. It also had an online part gave points for movement and used the points to open an online game. It was available at toysrus.com and target.com for $34.99.

These are all great ideas to help make it fun for kids to exercise. You can also enjoy the HealthRock song 10,000 Steps that explains the importance of walking every day.