As the digital age advances, the current generation is more and more advanced in the technical aspect of things but they lack physical fitness.
Due to the pandemic everything from schools to pre-schools are online meaning the children that ran across the school ground playing games at recess are now stuck at home watching their teacher through a screen like a YouTube video.
The digital era stopped a lot of kids from exercising and going out to play, but the pandemic made it worse causing everyone to stay at home.
Unable to exercise or run around with their friends. This has caused not only physical but mental health issues as well. According to a study, children who spent less than 0.5 hours exercising had increased odds of self-reported psychological distress compared with students who spent more than 1 hour exercising.
So, It has become increaingly important for us to create mental health awareness amongst kids, here is an article we regarding the same.. It becomes important to exercise and stay fit and even arrange exercises even for kids. So, we came up with 6 Fun exercises for kids: –
1. Non- Contact Sports
Sports are some of the best ways to stay in shape exercise and have fun at the same time. With the pandemic causing all havoc around the world, non-contact sports like Badminton, Tennis and Squash are a good and fun way to stay in shape while bonding with loved ones or reconnecting with friends after a long lockdown.
For extra exercise, try and play an extra round after you’re done, it becomes fun to see who can play for longer before they give up. You could also make a friendly bet about the same, whoever goes out first has to perform a certain chore.
2. Regular Sports
This is one of the most physically demanding exercises for kids. If you belong to some of the lucky countries where you can actually play all sports, you should totally take advantage and go play football, basketball or cricket with your friends and family. Kids admire the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Michael Jordan and Virat Kohli.
All you have to do is convince them to try and train to be better like their role models, next thing you know they are practicing all across the house with their football or basketball or bat, trying to perfect their shot for them to make it when it actually matters. Rewarding their efforts with a reward system would be a plus if you could implement it correctly.
3. HIIT
High Intensive Interval Training might sound like a lot, but it is just a set of exercises with a set number of repetitions and intervals in between, there are designed to make you sweat and that too in a short amount of time.
This one is especially great for the kids without a lot of time on their hands or that just don’t want to exercise for too long. There are a lot of HIIT tutorials and routines on YouTube, all you have to do is choose what routine you think is best and stick to it because physical fitness is a 10-mile marathon, not a 100m sprint.
4. Yoga
Yoga has been seen as a lot of things over the years but exercises were not one of those things. But recently, there have been studies that have proved that yoga does indeed also help with weight loss. Yoga might be one of the best overall exercises as it doesn’t require a lot of space or equipment or even an instructor for that matter, all you need is a little bit of time and a YouTube video and you are good to go, Yoga can even teach your kids how to handle difficult situations in life so it is a life skill worth spending money on.
If you want to learn more about it here’s an article we recommend- How Focus On Study Improves Through Yoga.
5. Swimming
If you are lucky enough to own a swimming pool or have an open community pool nearby. It would be a great idea to head there. Swimming is a fun and calming exercise for most kids. Because they have fun in an environment they haven’t been to yet or aren’t often in. Swimming becomes more fun with other people be it friends or family, the more the merrier.
While you’re in the pool with a bunch of friends a game of water polo wouldn’t hurt anybody, maybe you have a water polo champion amongst you that is going to win the Olympics on day.
6. Dancing
Dance is one of the most exciting exercises for kids. Kids love to dance, to everything and at every chance they get. Be it somebody birthday or just a moment to celebrate, they love to dance and there’s no denying that. So, why not embrace it and encourage them to dance more often and practice dancing.
There are various types and styles of dances like Hip-Hop, Bollywood, Ballet, and Jazz to name a few. If your kid actually likes to dance then the practice will be enough exercise for them for the day.
If you enjoyed this article about exercises for kids. Here’s another article we recommend you read- Importance Of Extra-Curricular Activities for Kids.
