When it comes to the health and wellbeing of your children, you as a parent want to ensure they have a good environment, wholesome food, and proper training activities. No parent wants their kid to lag in the real world, where everything is moving super fast. But do you know what is the best way to make your kid’s health better out of all the good things you provide them? Yes, you guessed it right, physical activities. You can keep your kid in good shape by helping them do a variety of exercises.
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Why is Exercise for Kids Important?
Most people think children don’t need exercise, as they are young and active. But, exercising at a young age is equally important as exercising at any other age. Kids’ cognitive and mental abilities will be influenced, ultimately leading to better attentive capabilities. Both in the classroom and in extracurricular activities, they are likely to do well. Even if your kids are not into exercise, you can involve them in a 20-minute fun activity. If done regularly, this could do wonders for their health. You just need to figure out what your kid really wants to do.
What do Researchers Say?
Researchers conducted an experiment on 9 to 10 years old kids to know whether physical activities are associated with good academic performance. Those studies suggested that children who performed physical fitness exercises had thinner cerebral cortices (the outer layer of the brain).
Cortical thinning leads to brain development and maturation. The kids were divided into two groups: ‘Low fit’ and ‘High fit’. After the kids went through the exercise assigned by the researchers, many tests like spelling, reading and arithmetic abilities were conducted. The experiment gave a positive result in the relationship between academic performance and physical exercises.
Introducing Exercise to Your Kids
Every kid is different. Some are hyperactive while some are always in books, some are good at one thing while some are all-rounder, some like to stay outdoors while some prefer staying inside. As a parent, it’s important to know what is going to work out for your kids. We have listed out some tips for parents to help their child incorporate physical activity into their daily routine.
Tips for Parents
#1. Starting Easy
Start with easy exercise for kids at home. Directly getting into an intense workout would be a bad idea. Starting easy will gradually help them move towards performing more intense exercises which require an understanding of form and posture.
Don’t have ideas about fun and easy exercises for kids? Don’t worry. We have covered different types of exercises for kids at home. Keep reading till the end, and you will eventually figure out what would work best for your kids.
Also read: Best Online Learning Apps for Toddlers: Does Your Phone have these Best Educational Apps?
#2. An Exercise Partner
When you start something new, having a buddy makes it more fun and easy to do. So why not find an exercise buddy for your kid? It can be anyone; their friends, cousins, or even you. You can also discuss with other parents to involve their kids in these activities. We bet they won’t disagree.
#3. Act as a Role Model
Let’s face the truth; kids follow what they see around them. If you tell them to exercise and you sit on a couch for hours watching TV, it would not encourage them to exercise. They will not listen to you. So, make sure you show them how fun exercising at home can be. It’s more likely that they will be actively participating then.
#4. Don’t Get too Serious
Seriousness can kill your kids with boredom. Keeping everything light and fun is the best way to keep that boredom away. So make sure you add fun to the routine.
#5. Go on Vacations
Holidays are the best, aren’t they? To keep your kids active during the school holidays, consider taking them on a family vacation. You can go to places which involve trekking, skiing, hiking, cycling etc. If you are not sure whether your kids would like it or not then just go with their hobbies.
#6. Give Small Rewards
Rewarding them is one of the most effective ways to keep them on track. You can give them either a weekly or monthly reward. Make sure you give them what they want to have. It can be cooking their favourite meal, going to parks or even a book.
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Different Types of Warm up Exercises for Kids at Home
#1. Butterflies Stretching
This involves sitting on a flat surface, with the legs folded. The kids need to flutter their thighs, just like how a butterfly flutters its wings. Exercises such as this tone the inner thighs.
#2. Mirroring
In this exercise, two children are involved and the kids each take turns mirroring one another’s actions.
#3. The bear-crawl
Crawl from one designated spot to another on your hands and feet, like a bear. Once warmed up, rest and repeat.
#4. Flap the Wings
Here the wings are your kids’ arms. Spend 30 seconds flapping the arms like birds. Then jog in place for 30 seconds while flapping the arms. Continue until warm.
#5. Slow running at One Position
As the name suggests, here the kids need to run while standing at one place only. This should be performed for at least 1 minute. Three rounds of this exercise can be done.
Easy Physical Exercise for Kids at Home
#1. Walking
You may be wondering how walking can be considered exercise. But do you know only 20 minutes of walking before an exam can increase their score? It is the easiest of all the exercises and you can make your kids walk without even making them know they are doing an exercise. Walk with them on the balcony or roof talking about what happened at their school or any event. Time will pass and they won’t even realize.
#2. Stretching
Stretching is a great morning exercise for kids at home. It increases flexibility and lowers muscle soreness. Stretching is also great if you want your kids to improve their posture. Having a good posture is directly related to good physical and mental health. It also improves blood circulation.
#3. Jumping
It can improve the strength, endurance, and health of your kid’s heart and muscles.
Jumping can be of different types, jumping with criss-cross feet, one foot jumping while switching the foot, side jumps etc. Having a trampoline at home could double your kid’s excitement. This way you don’t even have to bother yourself by telling them to jump!
#4. Yoga
When it comes to easy exercises, yoga always makes the list. As far as the body is concerned, yoga does not include any rigorous physical activities. Yoga mats and calm surroundings are all you need for kids to practice it.
Stretching, breathing exercises, and posture training are some of the elements of yoga. This relaxes the body to sleep better and gives more energy while improving mood.
#5. Dancing
The joy of dancing is one of the best ways to get your kids involved in physical activity. Despite sweating a great deal, they do not feel the need to stop.
Turn on some fun music and you’ll have every one of your kids dancing in no time! If you participate too, they will love it even more.
#6. Hula-Hoops
In addition to strengthening your child’s core muscles, hula-hooping is an excellent indoor activity for children. Ultimately, it will help them achieve better control over their bodies’ movements by improving their balance. They can also do other exercises with correct form after doing this because it improves posture.
#7. An Obstacle Course
It is a thrilling exercise for kids at home!
Make a drawing that extends from inside your house to a corridor or garden outside using some furniture and some chalk. Make the course more challenging. If you wish, you can add a puzzle to solve, a vast expanse to cross without touching the ground, etc.
#8. Hopscotch
Games like hopscotch allow kids to engage in physical activity while having a lot of fun. You can use floor tiles and mark them with chalk. Make it bigger so that all the jumping will keep your kids active and engaged.
#9. Find the Thing
Hide different things around your home. Now, ask your kids to find them in a limited time. Say you want to hide ten items; giving them five minutes would be sufficient to get them around corners and floors of the house. And ta-da! Without realizing it, they are exercising.
#10. Hide and Seek
No matter how many generations it has been, hide and seek cannot be forgotten.
There is another way to play hide and seek i.e, reverse hide and seek. In this one, one child is hiding, while all the others are looking for him. As the others count with closed eyes, he hides. Then all the children instantly began scattering, searching for the one in hiding.
They will hide in the same place if one of the children finds the person hiding. Once the second person finds the hiding people together, he or she also joins them. And it keeps going in the same manner.
Wrapping Up
We hope that you loved all the ideas of easy exercise for kids at home. But with physical exercises, exercising their brain is equally important.
Having doubts on how to find good brain activities? Not a problem, The Real School Of Montessorihas all the solutions for you in one place. We have tons of learning activities, fun rewarding games and a mentor to look after your kids. So what are you waiting for? Book a masterclass now!
Also Read: Best Online Coding Classes for Kids: A Complete Guide to Get the Best
