Keeping Kids Active

Whilst you are stuck at home, you might be struggling for ideas about how to keep the kids active during the day. Being active doesn’t necessarily mean that they have to go for a run or a swim and definitely doesn’t mean they have to do any sort of weight related exercise. However there are several ways to get your kids moving, with minimal equipment that can be done from your own home. 

If you looking to get a little bit of fun and enjoyment out of it, dancing is a great form of exercise that can keep the kids busy. That’s right, getting your groove on is a great way to get your heart rate up with minimal space and equipment required. Find an appropriate Spotify playlist (there’s 1000’s) and get dancing. Dancing can also be a great mental boost and confidence builder, just make sure the music isn’t so loud that the neighbours complain. 

If you are looking for something a little more serious, have a backyard or even just a space with a high ceiling, skipping can be a great way to get the kids active, plus it can be done on your own or as a group. The only equipment required is of course a skipping rope however if you don’t have a skipping rope, even regular rope with a knot at each end can do the trick. Skipping not only works the entire body, but it also helps improve coordination and timing skills. Another benefit is that it doesn’t matter how much exercise experience you have, skipping will make you sweat so it’s useful for all levels of experience. 

Both of those sound too intense? Not to worry, there’s still plenty of options out there for you, one being yoga. Yoga is a terrific way to help strengthen your core, improve flexibility and balance. Yoga is also great because again, it doesn’t matter how many participants there are you have, everyone can join in. As well as all of this, yoga can help improve your child’s concentration skills and can be used as a great calming down activity. If you are familiar with yoga, you can design your own session, if not, there is a plethora of online YouTube videos that walk you through all the exercises as if you were at an actual studio. You can find videos for all experience and difficulty levels, even live sessions if you can find a live streaming channel. 

A final exercise for those little kiddies who really need to burn some energy is a bodyweight circuit, however this one is definitely more suitable for the older kids. Bodyweight circuits involve completing a range of exercises, all for certain times or rep amounts, quickly moving onto the next exercise without a break and once completing all the exercises, taking a break then starting again. Again, there is a huge selection of circuits for kids of all ages and experience on YouTube. So find a space in the backyard or living room, put a towel or mat down to look after your elbows and knees and get sweating. If you’ve got older kids, it can also be helpful to set goals or challenges or inspire competition to motivate them to work harder.