Title search: ✖
Show All (119)
Event Planning (12) Fundraising (47) Healthy Kids (21) Just For Fun (22) Moms & Dads (43) Parent Group Guides (30) Teachers (14) TGMC News & Updates (19) |
It’s summertime and the livin’ is easy. Perhaps a bit too easy. If you’re kids like to spend the summer playing video games and sleeping in until dinnertime, getting them to exercise for an hour a day can seem like a daunting task. But, getting in the recommended 60 minutes is not just a good idea; it’s imperative for healthy, well-adjusted kids (who, in turn, become healthy, well-adjusted adults!):
Getting your kids off the couch and onto their feet comes down to 2 things: make it fun & make it relational. Kids will do almost anything if you turn it into a game, including exercise. And, kids are much more likely to break a sweat if they have some company. Whether that means you round up the neighborhood and go for a group bike ride, or gather the family to play a game of capture the flag, or challenge your kid to a race around the block. When it’s fun and relational, those 60 minutes of exercise suddenly don’t seem so impossible. Mix It UpTo make sure that your kids have a balanced, active lifestyle, make sure to mix it up when it comes to Moderate AerobicsThese are the kinds of exercises that are hidden within games and regular activities, like walking the dog, playing Frisbee, jumping on a trampoline, or going for a swim. How You Know It’s Working: You can hold a conversation, but are too out of breath to sing a song. How to Add in the Fun:
Vigorous AerobicsVigorous exercises are the kind where you know you are burning some calories. Your heart rate is boosted, your sweat glands are working overtime, and there’s a pretty good chance you’re going to be sore the next day. The CDC recommends that your child does vigorous aerobics at least 3 days a week. How You Know It’s Working: You are able to pant out a few words, but that’s about it before needing to stop and catch your breath. How to Add in the Fun:
Muscle StrengtheningStrengthening muscles in kids isn’t just a matter of getting them to lift weights or try to bench press the bar. How You Know It’s Working: The area you are working will feel fatigued and slightly weakened (this is because muscle must breakdown in order to be repaired by cells in the body, these “satellite cells” then increase in size and thickness to build muscle). How to Add in the Fun:
Bone StrengtheningThis is one area of exercise often overlooked. Healthy bones come from drinking lots of milk, right? Yes, but How You Know It’s Working: this one is not so easy to tell, but one quick & simple indicator is if you are on your feet. If you are up and moving around, putting weight on your body just by being vertical, then you are, to some degree, building bone strength. How to Add in the Fun:
Getting your kids to exercise for 60 minutes a day should be simple, fun and, most of all, something you do together!Let us know what you think of these fun exercise suggestions in the comments or on Facebook. If you work for a school or volunteer on a PTA/PTO and are interested in teaming up with us to plan a 60-minute Fun Run fundraising event, we’d love to hear from you!
Sources: NHS Physical Activity Guidelines for Children & Young People | University of Illinois Wellness Center | My New Heights Fitness: 10 Reasons Children Exercise |