Exercises for Children to Help Monitor Heartbeats

Exercises for children to help monitor their heartbeats can improve awareness of healthy heart fitness. Teaching pulse location and techniques for counting heartbeats helps children learn how exercise affects their heart rate. Play increases heart rate and monitoring heartbeats after lengthy play periods help children understand the importance of activity. This understanding will pave the way for a healthy lifestyle.

Pulse

• Elevate the heart rate by marching in place. Have an adult do this with the child. March for five minutes. Show the child how to lay index and middle finger on their carotid artery, located in the neck. Question the child and ask if they can feel their own heartbeat. Question them about how fast it is beating and how strong it feels. Have them feel the adult's neck. Count with the child while monitoring the adult beat. It should be slower than the child's making it easier to count.

  Repeat the exercise, marching for one minute. Let the child locate the pulse on the wrist of the adult. Have the child try to locate their pulse on their wrist. This will be a bit more difficult, as the pulse tends to be fainter on children.

Resting Rate

• Sit and rest for 15 minutes, until the pulse rate is at its normal resting rate. For a child, this will depend on age. Children under 10 will likely have a resting pulse of 100 to 130 beats per minute. An adult should be between 65 and 90 beats per minute. While resting explain what is happening to the heart rate.

  Have the child practice taking the pulse while resting. Use a watch with a second hand and show the child how to monitor for one minute. Count the pulse with fingers on the carotid artery for one minute. This will determine the resting pulse rate.

Elevate Heartbeat

• Jump a rope for 15 minutes. Take pulse immediately after finishing. Help the child locate the pulse and help them monitor the watch, counting for one minute. Take pulse every five minutes to see how long it takes for the heartbeat to return to the resting rate.

  Jump on a trampoline for 15 minutes. Take pulse immediately after jumping. Count for one minute. Rest for 10 minutes and take the pulse again. In a healthy heart the heartbeat should return to the resting rate at the end of 10 minutes. Individuals vary, so don't be concerned if the rate is slower to return.

  Ride a bicycle for 15 minutes without stopping. Take the pulse immediately after stopping. Count for one minute. Have the child compare their pulse rate to the adult rate. Discuss the difference.

Children's Groups

• Teach the previous steps of pulse taking methods to the group of children. Have the children play a game of tag for 15 minutes. Have all of the children find their pulse and count for one minute. Have them take their pulse every five minutes to see how long it takes to return to the resting rate. Many will lose track in their count, but encourage them to count during the next five minutes. For younger children, shorten the length of time for the count to 15 or 30 second periods.

  Play a game of "Duck, Duck, Goose." Form a circle of children. Have one player "it." Have "it" run around the circle and tap one of the children in the circle. The tapped child will then chase "it" around the circle until they catch them and tag them. After the race around the circle of the duck and goose, have those two children take their pulse for 15 seconds, comparing pulse rates. Continue with the game, taking the pulse after each "it." This will work with older children as well, but make the circle very large.

  Playing games and doing physical activities with children will make them aware of the importance of exercise and how it relates to heart fitness. Playing with the children can also help adults get those needed elevated heart rates for cardiovascular fitness.