Sometimes we look at fitness as being rigid, boring and a lot of work. It doesn’t have to be, especially if you’re a kid! One of the things that we teach at our weight loss camps is that exercise can be fun. There are a ton of things to do that will help you lose weight or grow into your weight and the best part of all is that you won’t even notice that it’s exercise. It’s just fun!
1. Turn on your favorite song and see how many times you can perform a certain activity while the song is still playing. This activity might be jumping rope, doing jumping jacks, shooting hoops, going up and down the stairs, running around the house… anything. Try it a second time and see if you can beat your first score. Keep doing this every day and soon you’ll be amazing at whatever activity you chose.
2. Create your own obstacle course. You can do this indoors or outdoors, but make sure you allow for time to pick up afterwards. Use garden hoses, ropes, buckets to jump over, sticks, stations for situps/pushups, chairs or picnic tables to go around or crawl under, bean bags to toss into a bucket, jump rope to jump down a path…. anything goes! For added fun, time yourself and try to beat your time on a second, third, or even a fourth go!
3. Animal races. Pick an animal, any animal. Okay, not a three-toed sloth! Try mimicking an animal all the way across the yard or across a large room: Kangaroo hop, cheetah dash, angry ostrich run, warthog charge, deer leaps, Tasmanian devil spin, jackrabbit sprongs, duck waddle (imagine a duck that’s forgotten how to fly being chased by a golden retriever). Get creative. If you have someone to play this with, you can race each other. Make the choosing easy. Try grabbing an animal encyclopedia and with your eyes closed, flip open the book and point to something on the page. Whatever you get is what you have to mimic! Pray you don’t pick a snake!
4. Volley time! Grab a volleyball, beach ball or even a balloon. In a large space, use your forearms or finger tips to bump the ball in the air. See how long you can keep the ball from touching the ground. You probably need to do this outside so you don’t end up breaking Mom’s favorite figurine, but if you can’t, a simple air-filled balloon comes in handy for indoor play.
5. Pretend gym equipment. This can be done while you’re watching your favorite show on television. Take your pretend jump rope and mimick the movement you’d make if you had a real jump rope. The best part? You can be really, really awesome with this pretend jump rope because you can’t trip over the rope. You can even do those fancy moves that you’ve seen professional athletes do with the jump rope like alternating sides or using one foot. If jumping’s not your thing, try out your pretend treadmill! Turn it on and start running!
For more fun fitness ideas, attend one of our fitness camps! Ask your mom or dad to check one out today! They are loads of fun and you’ll meet tons of kids that just might become your fitness buddies.
