7 Easy and Fun Fitness Activities For Kids That’s Also Enjoyable To Do As A Family

It’s getting warm finally. There are a lot of activities we can now do that winter has stopped us from doing (but winter has a lot of activities too). Also, now that we’ve got our vaccines, and the restrictions are slowly being lifted, it’s a summer that we can enjoy better than the last two years. We still take precaution of course. Putting masks on public transportation, washing hands and cleaning with alcohol often are now part of our everyday lives. At least now, we’re finally able to buy  Wimbledon Debenture Tickets at www.wimbledon-debenture-tickets.co.uk, also tickets for the Spanish Riding School (horse show) and even Holiday on Ice tickets, and we’ve also reserved some for our favorite museums.

We’ll definitely be out to enjoy many things. For the meantime, waiting for those dates, we enjoy doing fun stuff. While these aren’t exactly exercises, these are fun fitness activities for kids that would make you sweat. What are our favorite things to do? Here’s some:

Trampoline

This is not the usual garden trampoline, but the ones with large safety end-decks with foam pads at each end.

Outdoor trampoline can become a fun competition with friends too, you simply have to be the highest jumper.

There are many benefits to trampolining, including but not limited to increasing blood circulation, improving one’s balance and coordination, helps to better core strength, increasing cardiovascular fitness and increasing muscle strength.

Compared to running, it’s also easier on the joints. And of course, having the fleeting feeling of being up in the air even for some seconds is a bonus.

For smaller kids, we recommend the bounce castle.

Walking

One of the most underestimated fitness activity is walking. Well, it’s understandable, you just walk which you probably do almost everyday. Perhaps it being a low impact exercise, doesn’t require a lot, or is not as physically demanding as other exercises that many think it’s not as good. For those who have mobility difficulties and pain, walking is the best form of exercise.

When combined with nature, walking becomes a form of relaxation. The Japanese practice of shinrin yoku or forest bathing is the best example to this. Walking in an area of full of trees, breathing in the fresh smell of leaves and barks, and enjoying the flowers simply thriving has good effects to our body. In summer, when it gets really warm, the trees also helps us cool down.

Being out and close to nature is proven to reduce the production of stress hormones thereby improving feelings of happiness. It also gives one the feeling of connecting with the one who created such beauty, that also causes inspiration and creativity.  Walking out may also lower heart rate and blood pressure, boost the immune system and probably accelerate recovery from illness, all thanks to good hormones. So yeah, walking shouldn’t be underestimated, while on it bring your dog or cat and for them to enjoy the outdoors too. Being out on a walk is an inexpensive way to bond with the kids.

Parkour

Well, sort of. Moving about some balance beams, obstacle courses, and a game of “the floor is lava” can be considered as parkour by the kids. Many parks around the city has installed such and even smaller walls for climbing, complete with climbing holds and ropes.

You can join in on the fun hopping about the courses and perhaps including some other race and obstacles in between.

Jumping Rope

Another fun way to keep active is to jump rope. Use the rope to play by taking turns jump roping solo and the one with the most skips win. It can also be a team effort. Using a longer rope, two players would hold each end to swing simultaneously to one side and players can enter in it to jump in harmony. The player who gets caught on the rope gets a punishment. ^_^

Jumping rope is a good aerobic exercise. It helps improves one’s coordination, agility, and improves heart health. It is a full workout in itself and your body benefits a lot even when only done for a few minutes. One needs great effort from head to toe, to stay stabilized when jump roping and thus, one also needs good concentration and mental strength.

Bike Rides

Whether a normal bike or a dirt bike, riding bikes is fun. Of course, you need to be properly geared to minimize injury in case of accidents.

A friendly bike race in a spacious area is a safe practice to enjoy a little competition. Although the bikes may be different, it factors to who will win too.

Stretching

If the weather isn’t as nice for an outdoor activity, there are still activities you can do at home to keep the the kids and yourself active. Like walking, stretching is an underestimated activity but it helps our body a lot. It keeps our muscles flexible, strong, and healthy. We need that flexibility to maintain a range of motion in the joints, especially if we’re getting older.

Before you start stretching, warm up with some jumping jacks or skip some rope to wake the muscles up. Then stretch for 10 to 30 seconds and repeat one to three times. You and the kids can take turns counting from 1-8 and then 8-1 for extra fun. This is an additional mind game as they have to be focused on the numbers and whose turn it is next.

Some stretching also improves our balance. For example, the quad stretch requires that you grab the top of your left foot, bending your knee and bringing the foot towards the glutes, knee pointing straight at the floor. You can use a chair to balance yourself, it will take time, but eventually, you’ll notice your balance gets better after having done this everyday.

To add some resistance, you can use bands for deeper stretches. I’ve made use of these bands along with gymnastic balls, tennis balls, and foam rollers during Pilates classes and really felt the difference to when just doing simple stretching.

Dancing

Back when I was playing volleyball, I was also attending Zumba classes and I really enjoyed it. While the boys probably weren’t into dancing, our daughter was in a Jazz dance class and she could cartwheel! Dance Revolution is an arcade game that we enjoy whenever we get the chance to be at a video game center.

At home, dance pads or mats can be bought and played with Playstation’s version of Dance revolution. Other consoles have their own versions of the dance game.

What other fun fitness activities for kids can you think of or do you with the family? Let us know in the comments.