The school holidays is upon us – and it can be hard to know how to keep your kids active, entertained and away from their beloved screens.
The summer holidays means six empty weeks are stretching out before you – it’s the perfect opportunity to get your children moving – if you can convince them. Exercise doesn’t come as naturally to children as it used to.
Rather than playing outside after school or spending the weekends tearing around the streets on their bikes, kids are more likely to be found indoors playing video games, scrolling Instagram or watching YouTube clips.
While this isn’t exactly a new phenomenon, childhood obesity is certainly on the rise globally and it is more important than ever to get children moving. But how do we tear them away from the many technological temptations at their fingertips? It has to start with us. The adults. It’s up to us to show them how it’s done.
1. Walking:Â This could include dog walks, exploring parks, or heading to the beach. Make things interesting, explore and collect things.
2. Throwing things around: Whether it’s a ball, a Frisbee, or chucking stones in a river – there are plenty of ways to make throwing and catching part of your routine. Make it into even more of a game by throwing objects at targets and offering prizes.
3. Bikes: If you’ve got bikes in the shed it’s time to dust them off and get the kids involved. You can find safe, traffic-free routes online, or encourage kids to make a trip to the shops more fun with some added pedal power.
4. Set an obstacle course: Find a safe environment and set up little challenges – chairs to crawl under, cushions to jump over, platforms to balance on – and the kids will be working up a sweat and trying to beat each other in no time.
5. Trampolining: So much fun (for kids and adults) but also an incredible cardio workout. You can buy one for the garden or if you’re lacking in space (or funds) take the family to a trampoline activity centre.
6. Street games: Come on, you’ve got to remember some of these – tag, capture the flag, bulldog? Bring back your playground classics – they might not be high-tech, but they are unequivocally fun.
7. Races: A brilliant, heart-pumping activity to try in the park. Get all the family involved and set up your own course in a patch of grass – add a relay element if there’s lots of kids. They could even make their own batons.
8. Dancing: Who doesn’t love a good hip wiggle? Blast your kids’ favourite tunes as loud as your neighbours will allow. You could even turn out the lights, close the curtains and provide glow sticks for a full-on rave.
9. Swimming: Hitting a lido in the sunshine will make it feel like you’re all on holiday. And you don’t have to do length after length, have fun, use inflatables and make up water-based games.
10. Digging: No doubt you will spend some time at the beach this summer – digging holes or building huge sand castles can be a great way to keep kids moving.
11. Gardening: Helping in the garden can create brilliant games – like who can make the biggest pile of leaves, or the fastest to clear away the weeds wins.
Children look to their parents and to the other adults in their lives to teach them how to live – so a healthy lifestyle has to start with us. Showing kids that exercise is fun and beneficial will help them to make positive, healthy decisions about how they want to live their lives. So let’s get moving.
Photo Credit: Getty
