Sample Workout Routine for Kids
Kid Friendly Exercises
It’s important to get kids moving and keep them active, but how do you make them exercise without it feeling like a workout? Keep the activities fun and imaginative. Try this simple routine to get your kids moving.
First things first: To keep the workout fun, make it seem like a game. Try playing jump or dive. When doing an exercise, anyone can call out either jump or dive at any point during the activity. If someone says jump, then everyone must stop what they’re doing and leap off the ground as high and as hard as they can. If someone says dive, everyone has to dive down into a plank, which is when you get in a push up position but with elbows bent so that your forearms are flat against the floor and straighten out your back, held for 20 seconds. Afterwards, you get right back into the exercise.
Now that we know the rules, we can get started. The first exercise is to set up an obstacle course in your backyard. Use, cones, ropes, balls, hula hoops; anything and everything you can find in your garage to create a fun adventure. Make it challenging but not too tough. Each station presents a new task and should work a different part of the body. Kids should run through the obstacle course as fast as they can. You can time it if you want, but don’t put any weight on the scores. It should be fun, not a competition.
Next, it’s time for yoga poses. One that you can try is to have the kids sit on their heels with their hands on their thighs and straighten their bodies as tall as possible. Another is to have the kids lie on their stomachs, then simultaneously, they should lift their upper bodies so their resting on the palms of their hands by the sides of their waists and bending their knees so that their knees touch the backs of their heads. Yoga is great because it will also stretch out those muscles the kids are working during their other exercises.
It’s time for a dance party. Turn on some music. Get up and get moving. This part of the routine should be very freestyle. It doesn’t have to be perfect form, your kids just need to move.
Finish it off with a game of hopscotch.
This routine will keep your kids active, and it will also get them outdoors.
Image by MiraVena Yoga on Flickr Creative Commons.
