Ideas To Increase Children’s Physical Activity At Home
Never before has it been so important to have tools and strategies to encourage children’s physical activity at home. Because, although exercising outdoors and playing outdoors is always the best option, if we have learned anything from the exceptional situation that is being experienced all over the planet, it is that indoors you can also exercise.
In any case, having formulas to promote children’s physical activity at home is always a good idea. This will make it easier to compensate for a lack of exercise when you have no choice but to stay indoors.
Keep in mind that regular physical activity is an important part of overall health, especially for children. And it is not only about improving the physical health of the little ones, but it is also fundamental in cognitive and emotional terms.
How to increase children’s physical activity at home?
Josh Adams, Performance Director for Children’s Health℠ Andrews Institute Sports Performance , proposes the following ideas to help children move around the house :
- Set a goal. Achieving small, gradually increasing goals can help motivate your child to move.
- Be creative. For the exercise to be fun for the little ones, it is very important that it be varied.
- Search online resources. There is a wide variety of proposals for physical activities designed for children on the internet, both free and paid.
- Make exercise a family priority. To inspire kids to exercise, the best way is to set an example yourself.
Physical activities to do at home with children
Resorting to activities on the internet is fine to increase children’s physical activity for a while. But it is also interesting to put aside the screens for a while and do things free of technology. We are going to see some ideas for games and activities for children to be more active without leaving home.
Animal walk
This game is perfect for children to move around, change positions, explore their physical possibilities, and develop creativity. It is as simple as walking around the house as if they were different animals.
This can be done in a guided way or independently, creating a story and leaving the children to develop the game freely. It can also be posed as a guessing game. You can even organize races.
Home circuit to increase the physical activity of children at home
Using anything you have at home, you can design an exercise circuit with travel areas and stations where you can do a certain exercise. The circuit can include obstacles, varied movements and exercises of all kinds in the stations. For the design of the same, you can involve the boys so that they also develop their imagination and creativity.
Dance games
Playing music and dancing is a good form of physical activity. Even with the resources that exist today, guided dance is a great ally.
But you can go much further. For example, you can play statue dance, so that the children have to stand still when the music stops.
You can also propose creative dances in which you have to dance as something. For example, how would a frog dance? And a penguin? What if you were a motorcycle? How about a croquette?
Flying balloons to increase children’s physical activity at home
Few things amuse children more than balloons. Maybe a ball, although as this is not the best object to play with in case, we are not going to take it into account.
The flying balloons game allows you to explore many possibilities. It consists of keeping the balloon in the air. It can be done by hitting them with any part of the body (hands, feet, elbows, knees …) or by blowing.
To exploit this game to the fullest, you can go proposing with what to keep the balloon in the air at all times. You can even play with laterality, indicating whether to hit the balloon with the right or the left. In this way, the children will move and, at the same time, will work on balance, breathing, coordination and will develop their body scheme.
Cleaning career
That the children do not collaborate in the housework? With the cleaning race, you have a 2-for-1 strategy. The race consists of seeing who takes the least time to do some type of housework ; make the bed, pick up toys, mop… There are many things children can do to play this game.
As for the prize, so that no one is discouraged, you can propose two: one for all those who finish and another for those who finish first. If you only have one child, you can play this game by timing the time it takes to do the indicated task and recording the results in a visible table. When he exceeds his record you can give him an extra prize.
In short, being at home cannot be an excuse to sit all day. A sedentary lifestyle is as problematic in children as it is in adults. Take this as a way to move yourself and spend some quality with the little ones. They will appreciate it.
