Simple Daily Personal Health Checks At Home

A daily health check involves conducting a quick evaluation of children’s appearance, mood and behavior on an ongoing basis. Documenting daily health checks becomes especially crucial during an illness outbreak; if your program offers forms that you can download (see the Apply Activities section below for examples), use them – otherwise use your own forms or simply note any variations from day-to-day.

1. Think Simple Observations

Health checks provide a quick assessment of children’s appearance and behavior and serve as an opportunity for parents and caregivers to detect any changes from day-to-day. Preschool programs can take place any time during the day (from before school starts to lunchtime and beyond), and can especially benefit programs where children come from various homes and environments. Ideal school-age staff should conduct health checks on their peers and share the results with families. Watch this video, then spend 10 minutes observing an African watering hole via live feed, paying close attention to animals, plants, movements, and environmental details such as patterns or anomalies (this lesson applies both video and text versions of this lesson). Freewrite about what you observe as you freewrite with freewriting prompts provided below this video lesson.) (Lesson applies both video and text versions).