Collaborative Post

Active games your children will love

Just like us adults, kids are a lot more sedentary these days. Between spending hours a day sitting in the classroom, and coming home after school and sitting again to do their homework, it can be hard to motivate them to get up, away from a screen, and even out of the house! Hard…but not impossible.

Active games are a fun way for your kids to get their exercise, burn off some steam, and have fun. They can also provide a fun opportunity to spend time with your kids after a long, busy week.

Here are some active games your kids will love, whether they’re outside on a sunny day, inside when the rain hits, on the road, or enjoying their holidays. 

Outdoor games – have fun in the sun

Encourage your kids to get active in the fresh air with outdoor games. Outdoor activities can be as simple as a game of backyard basketball and soccer or you could even try something more unique like a toy car race.

If you prefer to get out of the house and want to give your kids more space to play, a trip to your local park is ideal. A larger space offers up endless options when it comes to games.

Take some soccer balls or footballs for the kids to kick around without worrying about a window breaking or the ball being kicked into your neighbour’s yard. Take advantage of trees, bushes and playground equipment for a game of hide-and-seek or a scavenger hunt and enjoy more space to run around for a game of tag.

Photo by Phil Hearing on Unsplash

 Indoor games – keeping entertained on a cold or rainy day

There’s nothing worse than feeling cooped up and trapped indoors on rainy and cold days. However, sometimes it’s unavoidable – especially in winter! While you might be stuck in the house, don’t let that stop you from having fun. There are plenty of active indoor games for you and the kids to try out.

Start simple with building games, like building a fort with towels and bed sheets in the lounge room, or building with Lego. You can get your kids moving more with a game of Freeze, which involves putting on some music and letting them dance around, until you stop the music and they have to freeze on the spot.

You can also bring some outdoor games inside, like hide-and-seek and treasure hunt – after all, there’s plenty of good hiding spots to choose from indoors. Or you could go with role playing games, like playing dress-ups using clothes around the house or old costumes, which will provide you and the kids with hours of imaginative fun.

 Guessing games – games that can be played anywhere

While guessing games may not be the first thing that comes to mind when getting active, they can get your kids up and moving while sparking their imaginations and critical thinking skills.

Guessing games like The Celebrity Game, I Spy, and Twenty Questions don’t require any equipment. You and the kids can play them at home, in the doctors’ waiting room, and even in the car on the way to the park to play outdoor games. When it’s their turn, get your child to stand on the spot to get them up on their feet and encourage some movement. You can even make everyone do five jumping jacks to get their hearts pumping after each round.

 Special occasion games

While you may play active games with your kids every day, they are also important on special occasions like Easter and Christmas, when you’re all in ‘holiday mode’.

When the holidays hit, your kids may not be as motivated to leave the house, preferring to stay home and indulge in some holiday treats they don’t get the chance to have at any other time. While there’s nothing wrong with a little indulgence, having to deal with a sugar crash or a bored child on a special occasion isn’t ideal.

There are many active games out there specifically for these special occasions. For Easter, you can set up an Easter egg hunt for your kids to go on, and at Christmas, you can get the kids to play a gift stacking relay game, where they race to recreate a stack of wrapped gifts, while they wait to open their ‘real’ presents.

 There are plenty of ways you can encourage your kids to get up from their seats and start moving. With these game ideas, your kids will definitely be motivated to get their blood pumping with a range of activities for active fun.

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