WELL PARENT: Fun Ideas To Get The Kids Moving Inside
By Rebecca A.
I’m not going to lie - I'm enjoying this time of staying inside the house and do all those lazy day activities I feel like I never have enough time for. If ever we needed an excuse to snuggle up in front of the TV with the kids or on the sofa reading books, the coronavirus outbreak sure has given us the perfect one!
There’s a flipside to this though, and that’s ensuring that we all get enough physical activity on a daily basis. According to reports released by the World Health Organization in 2019, over 23% of adults and 80% of adolescents are not sufficiently physically active.
More than 5 million deaths globally each year across all age groups can be attribute to a failure to meet current physical activity recommendations.
That means physical activity is an ESSENTIAL part of preventative health care as we age. If healthy physical activity is established early in life, it will help shape habits through childhood, adolescence and into adulthood.
The WHO guidelines spell out for us the recommendations across the age groups, and it’s quite eye-opening to see just how much physical activity our kids should be doing.
Following the guidelines will improve their physical, mental health and wellbeing, and help prevent childhood obesity and associated diseases later in life.
To get the kids moving at home, try these indoor family physical activities to get everyone’s hearts pumping.
1. Have a dance party – turn up the volume and dance like crazy! Play ‘freeze dance’ where you all dance, when you stop the music everyone freezes, start the music again and keep dancing. Alternative: play musical chairs where you run around a small circle with one less cushion or chair than people, and when the music stops sit down. The person who doesn't have a chair is out of the round.
You don't need this many kids to play this game - it's great for adults too!
2. Play Simon Says – one person is designated Simon, the others are the players. Standing in front of the group, Simon tells players what they must do. However, the players must only obey commands that begin with the words “Simon Says.” If Simon says, “Simon says touch your nose,” then players must touch their nose. But, if Simon simply says, “jump,” without first saying “Simon says,” players must not jump. Those that do jump are out. Some physical moves to include could be: Simon says pretend to climb a ladder, be a beautiful butterfly princess, be scissors, do 10 star jumps, jump 30 times, walk on your knees, crab walk, and other physical moves.
3. Gross motor shape game – cut out some different shapes out of paper and put them on the floor. Give your child instructions to move from one shape to another – “crab walk to the diamond”, “bear crawl to the circle”, “hop to the square”, “slither to the rectangle”.
4. Balloon games – hit a balloon up into the air and see how long you can hit it back and forth before it hits the ground; kick balloons to each other.
5. Pillow case sack race from one end of the living room to the other and back.
6. Create a cushion path for kids to jump and run across or play Lava Floor (full details of this game have been shared in our Well Parent group for Fun-ruary with Shelby).
7. Play on an indoor small trampoline, small indoor slide or a tumbling mat.
8. Use jump ropes & hula hoops and see how many you can do in a row or how long you can do it for.
9. Get that blood pumping by streaming kids exercise shows online (or try Beachbody on Demand workouts which our Well Women fitness community love!) - push the coffee table aside to create more room, and join your kid in some fun exercises.
10. Give them chores that get them moving –sweeping, vacuuming, wash windows.
11. Skate on paper plates across the floors.
We hope that this list will give you a few creative ideas to help break up the monotony of being at home. Message us to join our Well Parent community for more suggestions, advice and practical parenting tips and to share your own.
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