CAPITAL REGION — Heavy kids are worrying school and health officials, so area districts are pushing to trade sugar for sweat.

One way is to make exercise more fun with better recreation — and watch those snacks.

In Waterford-Halfmoon, Superintendent Timothy Lange said the district has been monitoring and changing the food that the cafeteria offers to more healthful foods and less fatty and high-sugar foods.

In addition, the school just revamped its playground equipment to add items like rock climbing walls.

“It is now a playground that can be used for not just recess but physical education,” he said.

The district is exploring overhauling its fitness room for grades seven through 12 to add more cardiovascular and weight training equipment.

Local school districts have been trying to combat the obesity problem since a 2004 health survey found that 21 percent of the state’s third-graders were considered obese.

The state wants reports. Districts must collect and report a summary of students’ weights and body mass indexes. A sample of about half of the public schools is collecting data for this school year, and the rest will submit next year.

In Waterford, Lange said some families are reluctant to turn over that information.

“It’s kind of a difficult subject for some families,” he said.

Some districts are using technology to help them. Becky Carman, Shenendehowa academic administrator for health and physical education, said the district used a program called FitnessGram in its elementary schools. The program generates a report after school officials input information on students’ flexibility, cardiovascular health, endurance, weight and height.

“It automatically calculates the [body mass index] for us,” she said.

Carman said there is a mix of reactions when schools send the reports home to parents. She said some say “how dare” the school say their son or daughter is unhealthy. “Other parents are like, ‘thank you so much for sharing that information. These are things that we can work on at home,’ ” she said. “It’s a sensitive area, so we’re trying to attack it gently.”

Like Waterford-Halfmoon, Carman said Shenendehowa has improved its physical education offerings. It now does more frequent assessment of students’ physical fitness and offer more elective classes like tennis, badminton, football and archery. The district has also established a health and wellness committee that will hold its first meeting later this month. It will look at having healthier snacks in the school and evaluate the food being sold at fundraisers. Carman said they have already tried to make changes by offering more items that are baked instead of fried and offering more salads and fat-free milk. However, she said one issue is that the school lunch program provider has to make money on selling food since it is separate from the school budget.

Other schools are also taking a serious look at what students are eating. Mayfield Central School District is considering reviewing food at concession stands and evaluating food served on field trips.

Superintendent Paul Williamsen said the school switched to a new food vendor this year, but he said it was not because of health concerns.

“I was very pleased to see that our first meal from them was a salad. That’s a good thing. Our kids need to be educated on how to eat well, treat their bodies well,” he said.