Starting at age 2, kids should get at least 60 minutes of varied moderate-intensity exercise every day, recommends the American Heart Association. Being physically active offers kids a variety of benefits, including controlled weight, increased life expectancy and boosted self-esteem. However, modern technologies such as television and handheld video games have made more children sedentary. Fortunately, kids don't need to spend a harrowing hour on a treadmill to get fit. Make exercise fun by encouraging your kids to play games.
Endurance Sports
Aerobic activity is any form of exercise that causes an increased heart rate and faster breathing rate. When kids do aerobic exercise regularly, their hearts get stronger and their bodies are better able to deliver oxygen to the cells, according to the Nemours Foundation. Many sports, organized or not, count toward kids' daily recommended aerobic activity. If your child is into team sports at school, basketball, soccer, track and football demand ample amounts of running. Also suggest other sporty activities such as taking a dance or gymnastics class, shooting hoops at home, and riding a bike or in-line skating near the house.
Classic Movement Games
Think back to the games you played as a kid. Tag, "red light, green light" and "Simon Says" are just three examples of games that can get the heart pumping, says the Mayo Clinic. Feel free to make up the rules as you go along if you're not exactly sure how a game is played. The game of tag is so simple that you can spice it up with just about any rule change. For example, during a game of freeze tag, the person who is It causes his victims to "freeze" in place when he tags them and other players must run under "frozen" victims' legs to "unfreeze" them.
Group Challenges
If you have a large group of kids at your house for a birthday party or otherwise, encourage active outdoor game play with group challenges. A relay race is a prime example of an active group game. For example, set up two identical basic obstacle courses -- with stools, ladders placed on the ground, balance beams and hula hoops -- and split the children into two groups. Both teams form lines in front of the course and each child in line must complete the course on her side before the next player can begin. The first team to finish wins.
Active Video Games
Although you should limit your child's tube time to about two hours per day, you can make the most of his time in front of video games by investing in activity-oriented ones. According to research published in the 2009 issue of "Pediatrics" journal, the amount of exercise kids get when playing active video games such as motion-sensor boxing and dancing is comparable to what they receive from other moderate-intensity exercise. Lower-intensity motion-sensor games such as virtual bowling also offer about twice as much exercise as television watching does.
References
- The Nemours Foundation: Kids and Exercise
- Mayo Clinic: Fitness for Kids: Getting Children off the Couch
- Mayo Clinic: Fitness and Your 6- to 12-Year-Old
- "Parents"; Fun Ways to Get Your Kids to Exercise; Kathleen Reilly
- "Pediatrics"; Playing Active Video Games Increases Energy Expenditure in Children; Diana Graf et al.; July 2009
- American Heart Association: Physical Activity and Children
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