How to Find Fun Exercises For Kids
There are many fun exercises to get kids off the couch and away from the video games. According to the American Heart Association, over 30 percent of U.S. kids are now overweight compared to 4 percent from 1971-1974. This should be alarming for most parents, that they need to find some ways to get their kids more exercise. This article has some tips to get your kids to have fun exercising.
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Instructions
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Make an obstacle course. Put running, jumping, crawling, and climbing into the course. Kids will go through the obstacle course and want to do it over and over to improve their time. They will be getting a great workout in the process.
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Get a Wii Fit. As of October 2009 a new Wii fit is available that offers improvements to the very popular original Wii fit. As the device says kids will have so much fun they will not realize that they are exercising. There are balancing games, exercises, and snow skiing to enjoy as they get some exercise.
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Get your kids to dance more. Most kids love to dance. Find some music they enjoy and set up a dance party where they put on a show or compete against a sibling or a friend. Some of the video game makers even have the dance game mats that may interest kids to play a game while they dance.
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Make a fitness challenge for them. Offer them rewards for meeting certain goals like prizes, special trips, or special time with their parents. Put in challenges like long jump, 40 yard dash, throwing a ball the longest, kicking a football the longest, most sit ups, most push ups, etc. Keep track of their progress on a chart. Set goals with them and when they reach their goals give them their reward.
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Make a walking or running challenge. Find a track, around the yard, or other circular course they can walk or jog. Keep track of their laps. Measure the course to calculate the distance. Find out how many laps are needed to reach 1 mile (there are 5280 feet in 1 mile). Make something like a necklace or a chart for them. Each mile they walk or run give them a bead or a sticker as a reward. When they reach larger milestones give them larger rewards to encourage more exercise.
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Take them swimming or get them on a swim team. Swimming is one of the best exercises kids can get because of the natural resistance and kindness to their growing joints. Even overweight kids can do well competing on a swim team. They will enjoy the new friends they can make on a team and ribbons and trophies are giving out if they can place in an event. Even if they are not on a team just passing a ball with them in the water or playing tag in the water is great exercise for any kid.
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