How Kids Can Recharge

The lessons in this unit teach kids that recharge is all about energy—and that your energy is a key influencer of healthy choices. You recharge your energy two ways:

1. Sleep 9–12 hours each night to restore energy. 
2. Relax and do a quiet activity without screen time (e.g., draw, write, read, do puzzles, etc.). 
   
    

Ask students, “What does a car need to go? What happens if it uses all the gas in its tank?” Talk about how we have to care for things and recharge them by filling them with what they need. Let them brainstorm ways things recharge; write their ideas on a poster for reference.

To use this with your students click here.

Learn About Recharging Your Body

Ask students to guess how they are like a handheld game, remote-control toy car, or a computer. (They too must recharge to get energy!)

What Does Having Energy Mean?

Lead a class discussion about how students look and feel when their energy is low. Follow with a discussion about how students look and feel when they have all the energy they need. Tell students they need to recharge by sleeping and relaxing, which gives them the energy they need to be active!

Check for understanding:  _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _  to get energy.

Help Kids Study Their Energy Levels

Students observe others to see who has energy. Next, they turn their attention to themselves and show how much energy they have at different times during the day by coloring in batteries on the My Energy printable.

Review the poster about ways things recharge that you created together as a class. Is there anything you or the kids might add to this poster? Ask the kids to fold a piece of paper in half. On one side, they will draw a picture showing what one thing looks like when it is low on energy. On the other side, they will draw a picture showing the same thing when it is fully recharged.