Exercise Ideas and Strategies for Kids
Obesity in children is on the rise. Although it may not seem natural to stick a child on a treadmill or stair stepper, there are several things you can do to get your little ones up and moving without shelling out the dough for a gym membership!
Get up and dance!
Kids love to move and seem like little experts in choreography! Put on some fun music and let your little dancer show you a thing or two!
Check out Movin’ & Groovin’ Fitness For Kids
This is a great resource for parents that want to get their kids up from under the hypnosis of the television! Their CDs, DVDs, and videos are a great way to motivate movement in your child and (from my personal experience) will get them nice and ready when bed time comes around!
A Walk In The Park
Grab some bread, a hat, and your keys! Walk or drive your kids to the park. Walk around an area that they haven’t been yet, feed the ducks, play catch, or just watch them as they go up and down the slide a million times! If you take them outside, you’ll quickly see that they’ll take it from there!
Check The Mail
Don’t check the mail from your car door! Park the car in the garage and walk your little one to the mail box, or watch them as they do it all by themselves! It’s only a few steps and only takes a minute, but who knows…you may just find that it’s a nice day and stay outside with them!
Walk The Dog
If you don’t have a dog and don’t want to get one, take the neighbor’s dog for a walk. Make sure that you get a feel for how the dog walks so they don’t drag your little one down the street! You’ll notice that your child can walk farther than you think when they are focused on something else!
Challenge Them To A Little Friendly Competition
You’re local sports store or superstore should have a pretty good selection of pedometers. They don’t usually cost anymore than a few bucks and you don’t really need anything too fancy. Buy one for you and each child. See who can take more steps during the day! Who ever wins that day gets a sticker on the exercise chart! They’ll love the challenge and to see how many steps they take every day!
Bring On The Water
Turning on the sprinklers or filling up the pool is a great way to get kids outside. Adding some water guns, a couple of beach balls, and a ring toss station will give you extra mommy points and give them some much needed fun in the sun! This is a good time to break out the orange sherbet (it has very few calories in comparison to ice cream and it comes in fun colors, they’ll be none the wiser of your little plan) ** Be sure to pile on the sunscreen or your little sun bunny will be burned and on the couch for the next couple of days.
Break Out The Sidewalk Chalk
Sidewalk chalk has made a big come back! You can find it just about anywhere and your little one will be exercising their bodies and their creative minds! If you don’t think that writing on concrete is exercise, try squatting down like a kid and writing on the ground…trust me…it’s exercise!
