5 Tips To Make Indoor Exercise Exciting For Kids

Physical activity helps improve children’s health physically and emotionally, however, ‘exercise’ doesn’t have to just be physical and it’s important to encourage activities that aid brain development too! Children who do regular exercise can often perform better in school because their mind remains active all day. Conscious parenting is more about the actions we take as parents to our children than the benefits the children receive because of our actions. Due to the fact that we’re all cooped up inside a lot more than usual, here are tips to get your children moving whilst stuck indoors. 

Arrange for exercises that help in brain development 

Every part of the child’s body needs to be stimulated for different functions and growth, but some exercises help your child’s mind develop fast so that they become resilient and creative. To help your child in beating school stress, you can arrange for indoor games that will help improve blood flow to the brain so that they become better thinkers and build confidence in them. There are various games/exercises you can include in your list. 

Jigsaw Puzzles
Have at least 100-200 pieces and let your child actively think about joining piece by piece until they build a complete structure. As your child goes through the challenge of thinking where each piece fits in, he or she is exercising their mind, problem solving, and allowing creativity to blossom.

Cards 
There are different kinds of card games you can try out, like memory card games and solitaire. Research shows that card games help improve memory and thinking not only for kids but also for adults.

Turn your living room into a dancing floor
Children love dancing and as they twist their bodies, their heart pumps more blood around their bodies and also increases blood flow to their brains which holds a multitude of benefits including memory, focus and aiding those neural pathway connections to form. Dance also helps raise the children’s mood, especially when you put on a song they love! 

Exercises good for the heart

The heart is another organ your child must learn to exercise as its the epicentre of their being. You can browse to check which exercises are fit for children, but here are some of the recommended exercises good for the heart.

Jump rope
Jump rope is a simple yet exciting exercise. As your child jumps, the heart increases its rate and the harder it pumps, the stronger it becomes. All that you need to do is get the child a good rope and create some good space in the corridor, on the balcony, living room or even their bedroom. 

Jumping 
You can also try jumping without a rope. If the child is younger, they can jump while counting numbers or reciting the alphabet. They will enjoy jumping and learning at the same time. The exercise will have the same effect as rope jumping. 

Exercises good for body fitness

When your child is exercising for the benefit of the heart and mind, their internal being becomes better, but they also need to work on their physical being. This is where you need to arrange for exercises that help your child improve their strength, fitness and overall physical health. You can try out any of these exercises at home. 

Squatting 
Squats help build muscles and also teaches repetition and endurance. It could be painful at first, but as they continue to exercise, they become resilient and confident that they can do it. 

Bear crawling 
Walking like a bear will help your child strengthen their hands and legs. It also helps them concentrate as they avoid falling. If you have more than one child, let the crawling be a little competitive game. 

Press-ups 
Press-ups are an exciting exercise that helps your child build stronger chest and arm muscles. Their back and hands also become stronger.

Stretching 
Help your child and guide him or her to stretch sideways, forward and backwards. This exercise will help your child build stronger muscles from the head to their toes, increase flexibility and mobility. There are many stretching exercises you can encourage your child to do. All that you need is creativity… or look up some stretching flows online!

Exercises that stimulate learning 

Your child’s learning is a continuous process that begins from the day they are born and continues forever. Modes of learning changes with the environment, so as a parent it’s important to be conscious of this and adapt accordingly. There are several games/exercises you can use to help your child learn better.

Solving puzzles 
Puzzles can be useful to children to improve their learning skills like spelling words and creating simple sentences. 

Jumping obstacles 
Jumping obstacles can help your child improve in various subjects like mathematics and physics later in life. You don’t need to buy obstacles, but you can make up your own from around the house with cushions, boxes or toys. Arrange them within distances your child can manage to jump. Keep increasing the distances so that they build resilience.

Flipping up balloons 
Let your child flip up a balloon and ensure it does not burst. As they flip it up repeatedly, they will learn to take care of the delicate or fragile items in the house. 

Counting game 
The counting game is fit for preschoolers and kids in the lower grades. They can count sweets, fruits, toys or pencils as they jump, run around the house, clap or anything that helps them exercise as they learn to count. 

Games that help children learn to do house chores 

Why not incorporate exercise with house chores! This part calls for your creativity to come up with games that will be exciting as your child learns to do house chores. You can arrange for sweeping games, folding and arranging clothes nicely, cleaning socks and handkerchiefs, washing dishes and many more. 

You don’t want your child to think they are being given chores to do, but you want to help them learn to do chores on their own when they grow and become independent. 

Overall, it is recommended for children to exercise at least an hour daily. It can be hard to schedule in exercise, especially if you’re working from home, but it can be a short dance break during zoom homeschool, a run around the yard, jump rope in the hall or a 5 minute physical activity break, and remember, your enthusiasm can help your child fall in love with movement!

Lauren Adley is a blogger, a mother, and an enthusiastic content writer. She works as a freelancer for best essay writing service UKand dissertation writing services UK. She loves to spend time with her family, work hard and make new friends. She likes reading books, playing the guitar, and traveling locally. She is interested in parenting, education, marketing and blogging niches. Feel free to connect with her on Twitter.