Raising Active Kids: Encouraging Physical Activity at Home and Beyond
Look around your house and find your kids. What are they doing right now? Are they watching TV, playing on an iPad, playing with toys, or are they running around? Clinical guidelines for general activity from the CDC state that children should get 60 mins of moderate to vigorous exercise a day. Now ask yourself, how much exercise have they gotten today?
We want to ask these questions because if your children are not getting close to the recommendation for physical activity, they could end up with developmental delays, weakness, and not be able to keep up with their peers in the short term as well as a lifetime of chronic conditions. Starting daily exercise early is an excellent way to encourage lifelong patterns and good decisions.
If you are starting to realize that maybe your children aren’t getting the recommended amount of exercise, it may be time to find some different ways to get their exercise in throughout the day. Do you know where to start on raising active kids?
Physical Activities to Do with Your Children at Home
- Have kids help build obstacle courses and then run through the obstacle course. You can build tunnels with blankets, take couch cushions off to build steps, use toys as cones to run around. There really are so many things in your house that you can use to crawl under, climb up, run around that can be a fun and easy way to get exercise inside, especially with little ones.
- Not feeling creative? Try exercise videos, YouTube exercises, or dance battles!
Physical Activities to Do with Your Children Outside
- Playing sports with your children is a great way to exercise. Most of the time, you can simply use any ball and adapt it to any sport. Kickball, basketball, soccer, volleyball, and football are all things that can be done with just a ball. It won’t be perfect but you can play so many different sports with just a ball and a creative imagination
- There are also games like tag, Duck Duck Goose, and imagination play with just a patch of grass. Children love to be creative, so let them come up with their own games and just follow along.
- You can always just take long walks around the block, go for hikes, or ride a bike.
How Can My Children Be Physically Active Without Me?
- Find a sport in the community through local community centers, city recreation or clubs. Look for a sport that your child likes and fits your schedule. Giving a child a goal can be an amazing way to encourage self sufficiency.
- Summer camps don’t have to be stay away camps. There are plenty of local camps that encourage physical activity.
While these are just a few suggestions, you can do so many things with your family to encourage physical activity with your children!
If there are any concerns with how your child moves or if they have difficulty with meeting the 60 minutes a day recommendation, please consult your child’s pediatrician for suggestions or for a physical therapy referral. We’re here to help here at Kids Place Pediatric Therapy in Arizona!
