Creative Ways to Get Your Kids Active

Some parents are lucky enough to have children who just love being active; they’re whirlwinds of activity who never seem to sit still for a moment, while other parents have trouble getting their kids to move off the couch. If you happen to have the latter, you may well be concerned about the effect their inactivity is having on their health, and if that is the case, you need to get creative…

Plan a Treasure Hunt

Okay, so this isn’t something that you could do every day, but there is no reason why you couldn’t plan a weekly treasure/scavenger hunt, and what better way to motivate the kids to get up and around than hunting for a prize? You don’t have to make the prize anything expensive – a small toy, a book or even just a homemade medal might be enough to suffice, especially if the kids are young, and they’ll have lots of fun deciphering the clues you’ve so cunningly created anyway! 

Borrow a Dog

If your kids love dogs, but you don’t happen to have one of your own, you could ask to borrow a neighbour’s or use a site like Borrow My Doggy, to borrow one for the day. The kids are far more likely to be enthusiastic about a daily walk if they get to pet a precious puppy along the way, Just make sure the dog is safe to be around children and that you teach your child how to behave around dogs.

Have an Impromptu Dance Party

Something that you could easily do for a few minutes each day is to turn n the family’s favourite upbeat tunes and get dancing to the beat. Yes, the kids might well make fun of your mum and dad dancing, but if you get into it, encourage them to get involved and don’t take things too seriously, you will all have a great time, and you shouldn’t underestimate how many calories you can burn when you get your boogie on. There are tons of benefits to dancing.

Organise a Fun Run

Even young kids like to get involved with good causes, so what better way to encourage them to move around more than by arranging a fun run to raise money for a local cause. You could raise money for kids sportswear for disadvantaged children, collect for a food bank or raise money for the local school to buy gym equipment. Make it extra fun by encouraging the children to dress up and you may do enough to persuade them that running can be fun so that they’ll get active more often.

Do Some Gardening

Most children love spending time in the garden. They enjoy smelling the flowers, digging for worms and making mud pies, and all of these things can help to burn off calories. Invest in some child-friendly gardening equipment and get them digging, planting and sowing and they’ll be more active in no time. As a bonus, they’ll learn a lot more about the natural world, and get plenty of healthy fresh air.

Try as many ideas as you can and see what sticks!