Ad
Children seem to have limtless amounts of energy and as the better weather is on its way, the children are wanting to get outdoors even more. There’s lots of ways you can join your children in keeping active, so I thought I’d share some of the ways we as a family try and keep active.
Walking
Walking is one of the best things you can do. It’s low impact and suitable for all. There are few things in life that can’t be made better with a walk. On days when everyone is fractious or fed up, getting into the fresh air brings so many benefits. We are lucky that we live close to some lovely spaces to walk but even just walking locally in the area you live can be fun. When the children were younger we would play games such as guessing how many houses on a road would have a certain colour car, or how many cats we would see. It helps to keep the interest going for them, as well as distracting them from the walk.
Walking is a great way to keep fit and healthy and be it walking along a canal, around the roads you live or in a National Trust setting, walking is a graet way to stay active as a family.
Take up a Sport Together
Learning alongside your children is a great thing to do. It shows them that learning is a continual process as well as demonstrating that not everyone knows everything! Taking up a new sport with your children is a great thing to do and it will help to motivate you all. You could look at your local sport facilities and find something local that suits you. Consider whether you want it to be an outdoor or indoor activity, or even somethng like tennis which could be both. Staying with the tennis example, if you need some equipment to get started then it might be worth seeing if you can loan some before you make the purchase to check it’s the sport for you, and then, when you’re ready its always worth looking at a specialist site to purchase your equipment.
A sport such a tennis is a good option for families as you can play with just two people or of course play in doubles. Where we live we are close to a large indoor tennis centre as well as parks with access to outdoor courts.
If tennis isn’t your thing then other options might be football, or perhaps regular swimming activities.
Enjoy the Garden
As the better weather is approaching tidying up the garden is a great way to get active as a family. Clearing back old areas and weeding, planting and sorting out new growing areas are superb ways to keep active. You can get children involved with choosing the seeds they want to plant and even have a go at growing some fruit or vegetables. Getting children involved at the start will help to keep them engaged in the upkeep and getting into the garden is a great way to get fresh air and the physical act of gardening is a great way to keep active. If you don’t have your own garden then it’s worth looking for community events to help improve the area you live in. Using Facebook or eventbrite you can often find events for community gardening, or litter picking events. Getting involved in these sorts of activies helps you make connections with other local families as well as helping your children feel connected to the community they live in.
Cycling
Cycling is a good family activity and my older love being out on their bikes. There is a cost of course in terms of having bikes for the whole family, but if you do then it’s worth looking at local cycling routes and getting out and about, perhaps even setting out for longer rides as they build up their stamina. Most areas have cycling routes and there are often events held in cities across the year to encourage cycling. Many cities even have bikes you can hire to help you get around, so that might be an option too.
Dance
And finally, one of the most fun ways to keep active is to dance! Be it a kitchen disco whilst cooking or an after-breakfast boogie, dancing together makes you feel good and helps to raise the heart rate and keep you active. There are also plenty of YouTube dance workouts and tutorials. We like the Grow with Jo channel here and some of her dance-themed workouts are great fun – Em particularly likes the Encanto workout and the boys the World Cup 2022 themed one.
Being active as a family is a great way to spend time together and I’d be interested in hearing about how you manage to stay active together.
