BIG CYPRESS — Flexibility, agility, endurance and strength are necessary for physical competition – and for healthy growing for the littlest warriors at the Big Cypress Preschool.

“We want to instill the love of fitness, and we want to give the children a different environment for learning it other than school,” said Tribal member Cathy Cypress, specialist for the Big Cypress Fitness Department.

For the children, two hours of fun and games monthly during Get Fit Days at the Herman L. Osceola Gymnasium is just extra playtime.

Dressed in yellow and orange Get Fit T-shirts, and some still in diapers, about 30 preschoolers toddled into the gym turned indoor playground then rushed to exercise stations on Dec. 21.

A triad of basketball hoops almost low enough for pint-size dunking, a massive beach ball perfect for pushing, coasters for scooting, a blue tunnel for crawling and a foam-soft obstacle course provided plenty of physical fun.

Cypress and Fitness specialists Alvin Buster, Mike Iglesias and Neil Prager assisted activities, but the children were free to stop, start and go again where they chose. Preschool teachers could not tell who had more of a blast – the children or the grown-ups.

“It’s about moving, playing, being active and being a kid,” Cypress said.