Kids spend most of their time plopped in front of the TV these days. Parents are wasting their days away sitting at their at-home workstations, reading comments on social media, and chasing imaginary deadlines. The reason for this new-found sedentary lifestyle is the Corona Virus pandemic that has made everyone stay indoors and social-distance. But you can still squeeze in a few easy exercise ideas that will help keep them moving.
As much as staying indoors is helpful at the moment, your kids still need to practice their emerging motor skills. Everyone needs to work out to strengthen their heart, boost immunity, improve their quality of sleep, keep the lungs healthy, exercise the muscles, and prevent diabetes and obesity.
Kids need at least an hour of physical activity per day. Adults need more than that but one hour isn’t too bad either. That is why you all as a family need to develop a good habit of physical activity not only during the ongoing lock down but make it a tradition that will last a lifetime.
With that in mind, how do you work out together as a family without boring the kids? Well, here are 10 easy exercise ideas for the whole family!
10 Easy Exercise Ideas for the Whole Family
Tug of War:
Create two teams. It could be boys vs. girls or kids vs. the parents or daddy and the girls vs. mommy and the boys. You can have as many team combinations as you want. Now get a rope and get the tug of war underway. Be sure to let the kids win more than the parents in order to keep them interested. Also, do it after lunch; that is the time most kids feel the strongest.
Dance:
Dancing is fun and an unbeatable cardio workout. Gather up the family and throw a small indoor dance party. Play their favorite music and indulge them with some healthy snacks.
Make Chores Fun:
Chores are never fun. Or maybe you can make them fun. For example: Play a game where you are a superhero and your kids are your sidekicks. Your job can be to rescue all toys in the house from imaginary monsters. You can then instruct your sidekicks to collect all their toys and hide them in their drawer or toy chest. Another idea would be to fight germs around the house, so the superhero and his/her sidekicks clean all surfaces in the living areas. The kids will have fun, they will learn, they will help you clean, and they will have worked out.
Biking:
Your kids will be motivated to bike when they see their parents biking. Grab your bikes and go off the beaten path. Explore all the nature trails in your neighborhood. Head for the hills and let your kids compete on ascending hills. If you are a beginner, get yourself a bicycle motor kit to convert your adult bike into a motorized bike. It will be easier for you to ascend the hills.
Yard Work:
Catch leaves as they fall from trees on a windy day. Rake them in piles of different colors and see who gets the biggest pile for each color. Gardening can also be a fun physical activity for older kids.
Hunt:
Hide toys or treats around the house or in the yard if you have one. Let your kids run around “hunting”. You too can join in to make it more interesting.
Blob Tag:
Become the blob and start chasing everyone else around the house. When you catch and tag someone, they join you in chasing the rest. The game continues until everyone has been tagged. Someone else can then become the blob so you start the game all over again.
Tightrope walk:
You don’t need a rope for this. Just draw a line on the floor and make it the rope. Have one person walking on the straight line without falling off or stepping out of the line.
Race:
You can have a normal race or spice things up by racing with three legs, one leg, crawling, skipping rope as you run, and many other ideas. Be creative with this one.
Walk:
Walk the dog as a family. If it is safe to go to the grocery store as a family, walk to the grocery store. Walking actually is a very healthy activity to do.
There are many games for you to choose from, but the success or failure of the exercise will depend on the execution. Bring out all your creativity to make every game as fun as it could get.
