With the Christmas holidays fast approaching and kids off school for summer, here are a few fun ways that you can keep active with the kids and hopefully have some fun while doing it. Remember if you do any of these in the holidays - take a pick and tag Healthy Habit!
#1 Obstacle courses..
Everyone loves a good obstacle course, and more than that, everyone loves to be timed when doing an obstacle course!
This a fun and very easy activity to do with kids to get them (and you) moving and having some fun and healthy competition while you are at it.
Obstacle courses can be created anywhere - you don’t need any equipment, just your imagination and a bit of space! For example if you are at the playground - choose a start point and create your course.. Run around the slide, up the stairs, down the slide, across the monkey bars, hopping over to the seat, crawling through the tunnel etc etc - possibilities are endless. See if everyone can get faster each time!
** TOP TIP**
Buy a cheap stopwatch - kids love to time things and press the buttons, and you can also use in your favour to time them doing stuff you want them to do.. “How fast can you clean your room” “how fast can you take the rubbish out” make the most of it before the novelty wears off!
#2 Climbing Trees
Possibly more for the kids but depending on the tree also good for grown up kids too! Tree climbing is great - kids are using muscles to climb and it’s also good for the brain, working out how they are going to get to the next branch - where they need to put their feet and hands and then how they are going to get down again! (Might also be a good weights workout when you have to lift them down!)
There are so many parks around Sydney with awesome trees to climb!
#3 Workout Together
Kids love doing what grown ups do - so why not do a workout together, you can get a good session in - the kids will use some energy and it’s helping to set up good exercise habits for life!
You don’t have to go crazy - just choose a few easy exercises that they will be able to do (add some weights for yourself), put some music on and get sweaty!
Choose 6-8 exercises, do 30 seconds of each and see if you can get through 4 rounds. Have a drink break between the rounds. Ask them to choose the exercises they like the best so they are more involved.
Here are some ideas:
Squats
Lunges
Star Jumps
Burpees
Mountain Climbers
High Knees
Shoulder Taps
Inch Worms
Dead bugs
Plank
Push-ups (can do against a wall or a bench for the kids)
Fast feet
Scissor kicks (hands under the bum)
**TOP TIP**
Add the exercises to a free “Spin the Wheel” App on your phone/Ipad. Press the button to spin and see what exercise you have to do!
#4 Nature Walk/Treasure Hunt
Make the most of the great parks that Sydney has to offer- choose one that you haven’t explored yet and make it interesting by turning it into a nature treasure hunt.
Make a list of things that everyone has to find on the walk, you can do it together or everyone can have their own list to make it a bit of a competition.
Some examples of things to find are:
A bird feather
A rock the size of your pinky
A pink flower
A ladybird
Something with a tail
A bird nest
**TOP TIP**
Bring a rubbish bag and pick up any rubbish you find along with way to help keep the park/beach clean for everyone else!
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