Between swing sets and play structures in elementary school playgrounds across the region stands equipment with a mission.

The pull-up bars, sit-up benches and pole climbs, interspersed in the area’s playgrounds, help encourage active, healthy lifestyles for the next generation.

The fitness-minded gear comes with the Project Fit America program, a national nonprofit that helps schools promote cardiovascular activity for students.

The project also provides sites with nutritional programs, weighted hula hoops and other activity suggestions to get kids more active. To set up a new site, schools and local health care organizations team up to pay the $17,800 price tag.

Pershing Elementary piloted the program 12 years ago with the help of the Heartland Foundation, and sites grew steadily from there. Northwest Missouri and the border communities in Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa collectively hosted 51 sites and served 13,000 students last year.

Five more area schools will come on board for the 2011-2012 school year, as part of the foundation’s annual commitment to expand the program. They are Barry Elementary in Kansas City, Mo., Platte County Middle School in Platte City, Mo., Livingston County R-III in Chula, Mo., Smithville Upper Elementary in Smithville, Mo., and North Platte Intermediate in Edgerton, Mo.

Elementary schools and middle schools must apply for a grant with the Heartland Foundation, which commits to five new sites each year, said Judith Sabbert, the Heartland Foundation’s chief operating officer.

The program, which works alongside existing physical education curricula, provides incentives for students to set their own goals and meet them through certificates, charts and other prizes. Kathy Crawford, a former teacher at Helena Elementary School in Savannah, Mo., saw how quickly it caught on with students and staff.

“We just ran with it at our school. Everything Project Fit offered we did,” she said.

Project Fit added depth to what she had been doing, she said, and allowed the kids to get creative with some of its team-building exercises.

Students who participated in the program improved in academics as well. The Heartland Foundation did a study several years ago that tracked the students’ physical progress with their grades, and found kids who were more active studied more and were less likely to get into fights on the playground.

“I think it all goes back to healthy futures,” Ms. Sabbert said of the program. “It’s tied to creating connections to the community and the region, and individuals trying to shape the community’s future. It’s tied to taking control of the rest of their lives.”

Jennifer Gordon can be reached at jennifer.gordon@newspressnow.com.