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It’s hard enough for us grown-ups to maintain a lifestyle of consistent exercise, let alone to make sure our kids do too! We know how important it is to establish healthy habits from a very young age. But how we you approach exercise with our young children? Especially when life is so busy and tiring that we barely have the energy to squeeze in that 30-minute workout every day ourselves. Let’s talk about active play.
Children thrive off of doing what they enjoy (fun fact, so do grown-ups!), so it’s important to find ways for your child to exercise in a way that doesn’t seem forced.
As a means of helping people to crack the code to exercise, I teach people how to adopt a lifestyle of exercise by simply committing to moving their bodies a little more. It’s that simple. You don’t have to do exercise you hate, or spend hours in the gym, or suffer through a run around the block. If you plan to head out the door only to do what you dread, you’re not going to find the gumption to do it consistently.
On the flip side, if you learn to approach exercise simply as body movement, you release yourself from the pressure of forcing yourself into your workouts. You learn to find unconventional ways of doing this, like working-in your exercise by doing squats while you’re cooking dinner, or going for a walk instead of watching an episode on Netflix.
This way you eventually find what you enjoy doing and become much more likely to do it regularly.
The same is true with our kiddos. We have to use an approach that is fun and enjoyable if we want to foster in them a healthy relationship with exercise.
Active Play
We can instill an active lifestyle for our children by providing frequent opportunities for active play.
Active play is vigorous, physical activity in which children use their bodies and move their bodies. It’s not forced exercise, but rather an environment in which children are free to jump, kick, run, bounce, roll around on the ground, and so on.
Cbc.ca explains its importance, ” Active play strengthens bones, muscles and the brain and establishes connections between all of them.”
You guessed it! It’s just as important for kids, as it is for adults.
As opposed to sitting and doing a puzzle, or reading, or coloring, or building a castle with small blocks (which are all important activities as well), large motor activities are different. They include full range of motion and body movement.
Ways To Provide Active Play
The best way to approach this is to simply provide your child with the time and space they need to move more. Here are some ways to encourage active play for the young child.
1. Go for a nature walk
2. Have a dance party
3. Decorate cardboard boxes as train cars or an airplane and travel around the house
4. Go for a walk on a nice afternoon
5. Head to the park
6. Take a ball outside
7. Do a children’s’ exercise video on YouTube
8. Join a team (gymnastics, hockey, soccer, dance, football)
9. Take your favorite toys outside
10. Use sidewalk chalk on the driveway
11. Use roller skates in the house
12. Turn your backyard into a water park
13. Make an obstacle course out of pillows, blankets, and couch cushions
14. Turn all screens off and just see what happens
15. Blow bubbles and try to pop them
16. Use buckets of soapy water and some plastic dishes to “wash the dishes” like mom and dad do
17. Visit the local pool
18. Go for a family bike ride
19. Head to a local indoor play gym, tumble room, or bounce-house place
20. Play red-light-green-light in the living room
21. Play hide-and-seek
How Much Active Play Time Each Day
There is so much incredible development that takes place during active play, so it’s beneficial to incorporate it as much as possible. In fact, children learn better when they move their bodies and use their five senses.
Start by giving your child chunks of time to really engage in unstructured, active play.
Cbc.ca recommends that:
“Children under the age of six should be physically active for a short time during every hour that they’re awake.
- Infants (up to one year): Daily activity is important. Provide toys and simple objects that encourage them to move.
- Toddlers (1-3 years): At least 30 minutes of adult-organized activity daily. At least 60 minutes of unstructured physical activity—especially outdoors.
- Preschoolers (3-5 years): At least 60 minutes of structured physical activity every day. At least 60 minutes of daily unstructured physical activity is recommended—especially outdoors.”
Just have fun!
Remember, it’s not about doing what your kiddo does not want to do. It’s about providing unstructured activities in which they can move, dance, explore, discover, and have a blast being as active as possible!
Need to lead by example but can’t seem to get into your groove? Grab my 5-Day Exercise Challenge and take baby steps toward success!
