Some Ideas to Get Moving indoors or when the weather is not great!
Find indoor activities to do in the winter, such as exercising to a workout video, dancing, or using a hula hoop. If you can’t set aside one block of time, do short activities throughout the day, such as three 10-minute walks. Vary activities, so kids don’t get bored. For instance, use different jogging, walking, or biking paths to vary your routine. Or bike one day, and jog the next. Use stairs instead of the elevator.
Create opportunities for activity, such as parking your car some distance from your destination and walking. Walk or bike to school or to the store. Start a walking bus: according to the CDC, only 13 percent of kids walk to school–a 66 percent drop from 30 years ago. Even when the distance is a mile or less, only 31 percent of kids make the trip on foot. Reverse this trend by starting a “walking school bus,” where a designated adult or an older, responsible teen “picks up and drops off” children at their homes (on foot) following a set route. If walking to school is too far, pick a central location like a park, where parents can take their kids, and walk from there. Or, caravan by foot to a central bus stop.
Surf over to Kidnetic.com, a Web site where exercise is disguised as video games, and let your kids play till they drop. The site is filled with fun activities like “sock war,” “obstacle fever,” “speedy stairs,” and “3-legged balloon race” that challenge kids to get moving. There are literally dozens of games, including indoor, outdoor, group, and one-person options.
Pop in a video. Who says TV has to be passive entertainment? Kids’ fitness videos like Kideosyncrasy feature active kids who encourage your child to jump, sing, and learn hot dance moves like the hip-hop, twist, and jitterbug. Younger children can dance, hop, and jump along with their favorite red Muppet while watching Elmocize.
Make a muscle. In this get-strong game, everyone takes turns yelling out a muscle and coming up with three exercises that make that muscle move. Build a routine to put them all together. If you run out of ideas, pop in a kids’ strengthening video like Tony & the Kids! by celebrity trainer Tony Horton, which has more than 30 fun, total-body exercises that will strengthen your kids’ muscles while making them laugh.
Make old games new again. Play “All on one side,” a volleyball game with four or five players on one side, none on the other, and a balloon for a ball. The object is to get your team to the other side of the net and back as many times as possible. Each player volleys the balloon to another person, then scoots under the net. Last player to touch the balloon taps it over the net and scoots under. The receiving players try to keep the balloon in play and repeat the process. With some variation, this can occur in a living room after breakable items have been moved out of the way.
Give ‘em dance fever. Here’s a video game you will love letting them play–Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) MAX2. The game uses a floor mat that looks like a rollable tic-tac-toe board, and teaches kids high-energy hip-hop dance steps, as they try to mimic increasingly complicated moves, hopping from square to square in the right sequence. Most kids love it (and so do many moms and dads).
Simon says get moving. Everybody wins when Simon says “Go” on a dynamic walk sprinkled with a healthy dose of interval conditioning along the way. Hang a stopwatch and a whistle around your clan’s appointed Simon. He’ll lead the group through 10 calisthenic-type activities (jumping jacks, one-foot hopping, jogging in place, toe touching, etc.) Perform each move for 1 minute, then walk briskly for 2 for a total 30-minute workout.
Be an American Idol. Give each kid in your house 20 minutes to pick a favorite song and come up with a catchy dance routine. When you’re all ready, every player has 5 to 10 minutes to put on his or her performance. After everyone has gone, use a family “applause meter” (who gets the loudest claps) to choose the player who gets to give an encore performance for the whole family.
from Prevention Magazine and other sources
Formal Indoor Activity and Fitness Options for Kids in the Vancouver Area
Some neighborhoods in Vancouver are not very safe for outdoor play for kids, but there are other options:
Phone: (360) 885-9622 After school programs do have some financial assistance available (up to 60% of the fee for qualifying families): http://www.ychildcare.org/schoolageprograms.html
Boys and Girls Clubs of Southwest Washington
Clinton & Gloria John Club 360.567.1152; Jim Parsley Center Club 360.313.4960 Multiple locations with after-school activities including gym time, low-cost membership.
Vancouver-Clark Parks and Recreation
Phone: (360) 619-1111 Vancouver-Clark Parks and Recreation provides information about parks and trails in Clark County as well as a variety of classes and activities, including swimming and access to workout equipment. Scholarships are available:
Drop-in teen hours, for free, including access to the gym
Hough Pool - some scholarships are available.
Vancouver, WA – Tel. (360) 693-1741
(503) 977-6800; (800) 338-5248
7502 NE Meadows Drive Vancouver, WA 98662 (360) 604-7955 Fees may be reduced upon request
Rise & Stars Community Center – For VHA subsidized housing residents, offers youth programs, including sports and recreation 500 Omaha Way, Vancouver, WA
(360) 737-2950
(360) 546-5437 13914 NW 3rd Ct Vancouver, WA 98685
Lake Shore Athletic Club
(360) 574-1991 2401 NW 94th St Vancouver, WA 98665
Dance – multiple local dance studios, as well as community centers above, and. . . your living room!
{ 1 } Comments
I was very pleased to find this site.I wanted to thank you for this great read!! I definitely enjoying every little bit of it and I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff you post.
cforms contact form by delicious:days