Top 10 Ways to Stay Active With Your Children
Ok, let me rephrase that. These are OUR top 10 ways to stay active, and I am sure that most children would probably agree!
Staying active is important to our family for several reasons.
1. I like to "try" to stay in shape. I say try, because I don't work out every day, but I like activities that keep me (and all of us) up and moving.
2. It is fun for the entire family.
3. To set a good example for our children, and
4. Maybe the most important reason of all.... We need to find ways to use up all the energy that these little ones have. I mean, if we don't, bedtime could take hours, instead of minutes. I think that reason alone is enough to move "staying active" up on our list of things to do!
My 4 1/2 year old daughter is especially active. There have been days that she has gone running with me, and I was ready to take a break before she was! I really don't know where all the energy comes from. However, because of this, I am always looking for ways to keep our family active.
Here are our favorite ways to stay active.... Our "Top 10"!
1. Go for walks/runs together. Never underestimate the fun and great conversations that you can have while walking around the neighborhood or other areas in your community. We like to walk/run and I let my daughter say when it's time to run, and then when it's time to walk again. She likes calling the shots, so this is a lot of fun for her.
2. Wagon rides! Want to change up your typical walk? My daughter will pick out a few of her baby dolls and strap them into her wagon, and off we will go around the neighborhood. You could also substitute the baby dolls for stuffed animals or super heroes as well.
3. Bike rides!! Who doesn't love to ride their bike? It is an activity that is requested quite often in our household. Thankfully, we live close enough to a big playground, that we can take our bikes and be there in about 15 to 20 minutes (depending on how fast they feel like riding). With my youngest still only 8 months, I will push her in the stroller and walk/jog along with them. Bike rides never get old, whether it's around the neighborhood, or down our local bike trail to the playground or downtown area.
4. Playgrounds are always a great time for every age, am I right? Monkey bars, slides and jungle gyms? I'm in! And so are our older 2! We live in an area where there is a different park or playground at least every few miles. It is pretty easy to find a new one to try out, or rotate between our favorite ones. It is always fun to pack a picnic and make a half-day trip out of it too.
5. Scavenger hunts outside. Get creative and make up a list of items they have to search for and give them the list and something to write with and off you go! (You can even draw a picture of the items for your little ones that cannot read yet). A few ideas of items we like to put on our "Outdoor scavenger hunt" list: water, flower (or specify a certain color flower) , bird, spider web, tall tree, small tree, car, truck, clouds, dirt, brown leaf, green leaf, ants, a rock, mulch etc.
6. Yoga/ work out videos for children. It's always fun to pull out the yoga mats and throw on a fun workout video or find one on youtube. We typically will do "yoga for kids", "mommy and me" workout videos or even a Pilates video and she will follow along and do the workout "her way". Either way, it is always a lot of fun and good for some laughs as well.
My daughter is actually one of my favorite people to work out with for many reasons: She never judges, is up for any challenge, never runs out of energy and is very encouraging. What more could I ask for out of a workout partner?!
7. Backyard ball is fun for everyone. Pull out a wiffle ball or t-ball set and break up into teams (teams of 2, or even 1 are fun too!). We will play this and see how many home runs each person can get with only 1 person on the opposing team (playing pitcher and every other outfield position). It's a lot of fun!
8. Other favorite outdoor activities include hula hoops and jump ropes, although we are still practicing using the jump ropes with our little ones. Hula hoops are fun to play with, even if you aren't great at actually hula hooping. Our children love to toss them and chase them around the yard, or see how high they can throw them up in the air.
9. I cannot leave out SWIMMING, because that is one of our absolute favorites!! Last summer both of our then 3 year olds learned to swim, and now I can say that they love swimming more than almost anything. However, since we do not have a pool of our own, they also enjoy the blow up pool that we set up in the backyard, and will jump in, slide in, and splash around all afternoon in that as well!
10. Hide & Seek and Tag, you're it! Remember these games from your childhood? I feel like these are classic games, that will always be around and can be pretty enjoyable too! Anything to keep our little ones active and smiling!
These are just our top favorites, but there are many more that I could list if I wanted to keep going. I hope you are finding fun ways to keep your little ones active too!