Making movement fun is key to catching your kids’ interest. I found that making it a game or challenge with a reward immediately grabbed my kids’ attention! But first, I needed some kid-friendly exercise ideas.
We came across host of “American Ninja Warrior Junior,” Akbar Gbajabiamilas, exercises for kids. He is a former athlete and father of four. Gbajabiamilas uses these moves with his own kids and helps create an effective family workout session that doesn’t involve any equipment:
Dice Roll Body Weight Movements.
My 8 year old, Will, did this for his homeschool movement time. I assigned each movement to a number on the dice to make it more interesting! (Roll a 1, do jumping jacks; roll a 2, do pushups, etc! Do for three minutes):
Roll a 1 – 30 second Jumping Jacks
Roll a 2: 30 second High knees
Roll a 3: 30 second Butt kickers
Roll a 4: 30 second Body Squats
Roll a 5: 30 second Jumping Jacks
Roll a 6: 30 second Mountain climbers
Plank Challenges
Next up, planks! The best way is to use a timer, suggests Gbajabiamilas. (We love using timers in our house, too!) We did one minute circuits with different planks together:
– High plank
– Forearm plank
– “Up-Downs” (go from high plank to forearm plank and alternate which arm you lead with).
Animal Walks.
This is fun and educational, so kids love it! We got Will’s 4-year-old sister, Eva, involved with this one! Integrate different animal movements into the exercises, suggest Gbajabiamilas. That way, it keeps them distracted and moving around. Two top favorites:
– Crab walks
– Bear crawls
Relay Races.
Wrap it up with an exciting relay race. Remember those “suicide drills” you did in high school? Now the whole family can get involved!
– One kid starts and runs to the end of the driveway, comes back, tags the next and so forth. Gbajabiamilas makes it a fun competition to see, as a team, how quickly they can complete the drill. We tried out this exhilarating competitions and the kids had a blast!
Learn more about American Ninja Warrior Junior and find some fun educational games at universalkids.com/shows/american-ninja-warrior-junior.