Easy and Fun Exercises for Kids
One of the best things you can do for your kids is to get them set up with a healthy lifestyle and exercises for kids from an early age. Setting up these habits now is sure to pay off, as it will hopefully stick with them as they grow up and start to make their own choices in life. Exercising is one such habit that is so important, but that many parents don’t necessarily prioritize!
As with anything, you want to make sure you are making healthy choices for your kids. If your child plays sports they are likely getting all the exercise they need, but if your child doesn’t, they may need more physical activity in their life! Even if your child does play sports, during the off season, it’s a good idea to keep them active so that they will be ready to go when it’s time to return to play.
However, exercising, like eating vegetables, is not always tops on a kid’s priority list. However, both are equally important! Just like you can get creative with feeding your kids healthy food, you also can with exercise! If you are wondering how you can get your kids more active, here are some easy and fun exercises to try out!
Pro tip: If there is anything we have learned, it’s that the key word here is fun! Trying to get your kids to work out and exercise isn’t going to get you very far, but by phrasing it as fun, and making sure the exercises are in fact enjoyable, you are going to have a lot more success. This will also go a long way to associate being active with having fun and that positive association will stick with your children as they grow up. Working out isn’t something to punish your body- it’s something positive and fun to do that is good for the body!
Our List of Fun Exercises for Kids!
1. Crab Walk Obstacle Course
This one is always a lot of fun! Do you remember doing the crab walk as a kid? If you need a refresher, don’t worry. All you need to do is sit down on the ground with your knees bent, place your hands on the floor behind your bottom and push your hips off the floor. From this position, start ‘walking’! This alone is a great exercise that will get your heart rate up and will help improve your child’s mobility, as well as their strength (especially in their arms and shoulders!)
While you can just do a crab walk for fun, we think the best way to turn this into a fun kids workout is to create a simple obstacle course! Place some cones (or really any objects you have at home) that will direct your kids through the course towards the finish line. Line up your kids, get ready, set, go! Whoever makes it to the finish line first wins. Trust us, it’s a lot harder to do than you might think!
If you don’t have a lot of space to set up a full obstacle course, you can always just do a simple race instead- all you need is a start and end point! Either way, make sure you have a prize picked out for whoever wins!
2. Wheelbarrow Race
Another great race option is to do a wheelbarrow race! This is a great option if you have a lot of kids and want to figure out workouts for kids. Everyone needs a partner, so make sure you’ve got an even number of kids. One kid gets down on the floor in a push up position and the other kid stands behind them and picks up their legs. Together, they form the wheelbarrow!
Similar to the crab walk, you can set this up as either a simple race or as an obstacle course. This is another exercise that is great for cardio, as well as developing arm strength. Make sure everyone who is playing trades off and gets to play in both positions of the wheelbarrow! We recommend starting out doing this walking so that no one gets hurt, and as your kids get stronger, you can let them do this while running.
This is a really fun exercise that is sure to result in a lot of laughter as well as a great workout. You can even consider doing a race in two directions- once the kids reach the end in one direction, they have to switch positions, and race back! In addition to being a great physical workout, it’s also great for developing friendships and focusing on teamwork- you have to work together to complete the goal!
3. Balloon Volleyball
Balloons are always a good idea when it comes to having fun, right? This is one of the oldest tricks in the book, and it works every time! All you need is a balloon (and maybe some backups in case it pops). Inflate the balloon, and start hitting it around. You can either play a simplified version of volleyball, or you can do things a bit more freestyle and just keep hitting the balloon around. The key here? The balloon can’t hit the floor!!
This is a really fun fitness activity for a kid that we promise can easily keep your kids entertained for hours. Best of all, it’s a great cardio workout and helps your kids develop hand eye coordination. We recommend clearing an area where they can play safely so that they don’t get so distracted watching the balloon that they trip over something! Try setting a timer while they play and seeing how long they can go without the balloon hitting the floor. Keep track and record their record. Each time they play, the goal is to beat their previous record!
This is also a great, fun exercise that you can play either inside or outside. If you do play outside, we recommend playing on grass and not pavement in case anyone falls down. It’s also best if they are in a fenced in backyard so that they don’t wander too far one way or another!
4. Freeze Dance
Finally, freeze dance is a great, fun exercise game to play with your kids. Best of all, you can easily play this with any number of kids. Whether you are entertaining one child, or 50, freeze dance is a great option! All you need for this is some music. Start the music, and everyone has to start dancing around! This makes for some great cardio exercise, but also allows the kids to be creative, another skill that’s important to work on from an early age.
Whenever you decide to stop the music, everyone has to freeze! This part not only makes the game more fun, it works a lot of different skills. Not only will this help your kids learn to pay attention and follow directions, it will also help them work on their balance as they have to hold themselves in whatever position they are in when the music stops. Whoever moves or falls down is out of the game! The person who makes it the longest is the winner!
Wrapping Up
Encouraging your kids to be more active isn’t as challenging as you think. The key is to make it fun! All of these exercises for kids are easy to set up and your kids are guaranteed to have a blast while doing them. Best of all, they are all great cardio exercises while also focusing on other things like muscle strength, flexibility, balance, and hand eye coordination.
Try these out with your kids and let us know which one they enjoy the most! Have fun!