School Health Week: Exercise Ideas for kids.Observed from 10 to 14 October, School Health Week is all about teaching children healthy lifestyle habits. And what better way to accomplish that than by encouraging them to exercise?
Regular exercise is a crucial part of a child’s life, even from a young age. It not only lays the foundation for future health, but also decreases their risk of becoming overweight or developing type 2 diabetes in adulthood.
Teachers and parents can incorporate these fun exercises into children’s routines:
Running not only helps kids develop healthy hearts, lungs and coordination, but it can also improve cognitive performance, mental health and academic performance. Young kids typically enjoy games like tag or freeze that encourage running by chasing each other, while older kids might enjoy games that require more strategy like capture the flag.
Jumping also helps develop balance and coordination while strengthening leg and core muscles. Engage in pretend activities at home or outside that involve jumping like a frog or kangaroo with your child. For older kids, try incorporating jumping into relay races, like a potato sack race.
Skipping improves balance and coordination as well as timing and proprioception skills. Have your children race skipping across a field or your backyard.
Bear crawls are full-body movements that help increase strength and coordination. Have your children pretend to be bears, moving around in a forest looking for food or trying to catch another animal.
Squats help improve strength and stability while targeting several lower body muscle groups, including glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings, calves and hip flexors. For young kids or toddlers, put a toy on the ground in front of them while they are standing. This may encourage them to squat to look at it. Older kids can be challenged to squat with a backpack full of books on their back.
A Superman is a muscle-strengthening exercise that works your abdominal and back muscles. You can encourage your child to do a superman by pretending to be superheroes flying through the sky.
In the end, encouraging free play, outdoor exploration and involvement in activities, games or sports is the best way to get kids physically active.
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