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Activities To Help Get Children Fit
A recent survey has shown that 1 in 3 children get less than 1 hour of exercise each week. Children now spend far more time on Facebook, Twitter or playing video games than doing any physical activities. A combination of technology and parents fear of allowing their children to explore by themselves is keeping kids indoors all year, rain or shine.
If current trends continue half of all children will be obese by 2050, and this will mark the first generation in written history where children will have a lower life expectancy than their parents. Lack of exercise is one of the key factors to developing heart disease, which is still the biggest killer.
So, how can we encourage children to exercise more? The answer is really to do more family activities, and get the whole family enjoying outdoor and healthy activities together. Here are our top fitness tips for kids.
Like adults children need to ensure that their fitness includes elements of strength training, endurance and flexibility.
There really are a lot of activities that families can do together. Here is our top 10:
- Cycling – Cycling is a fun family activity. If you have some parkland near you, then spending an afternoon just exploring is a great way to get fit. Some parks will hire bikes, and young children can ride with stabilizers.
- Playing in the Park – climbing etc. Many parks have children play areas, and climbing on the monkey bars is an excellent way for a child to build strength. Stronger bones are essential for good health and will mean that they remain stronger in later life.
- Baseball / cricket – Playing by adult rules is not the best idea, it can work better to modify the rules for the family. This is a great team sport that gets the whole family active. Rounders or softballs are other good options.
- Inline Skating. Another fun park activity. Take the kids out to a park with some good quality and smooth paths (ideally asphalt) and you can spend hours just cruising around.
- Basketball. If you have the space to put a hoop up in your backyard, then some fun family challenges are a great way to get fit. Jumping, stretching, turning – all great exercises.
- Soccer – as soccer is a non-contact sport the whole family can play together. Chasing the ball for half an hour is an excellent endurance training.
- Swimming – one of the healthiest forms of exercise, and it could prove to be a life saver one day. Although some reports recently have theorized a connection between swimming in chlorinated water and asthma.
- Tennis / badminton – you need a court, but very easy to play a family game of doubles and good fun too. Excellent all round strength, flexibility and endurance exercise.
- Walking – Simple but effective. Take the family out to the countryside, do some hill walking or coastal trekking and build stronger legs and boost cardiovascular endurance.
- Running and jogging – Running is a natural and great exercise. It is hard to do normal running as a family unit, but you could try orienteering activities to make the event fun for all.
The key to getting kids active again is to lead by example. Also, children must feel like they are playing. If you make the games too competitive this will put children off. They must be fun so that everyone can enjoy, win or lose!
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