The school holidays can be hard. Hard to manage, hard to keep kids entertained and certainly hard to get the kids off the couch! So with another week of holidays in front of us, we thought we would look at 5 easy ways to keep kids fit and healthy during the school holidays!
Limit Screen time
This has never been more important for children (and parents!) to try and enforce and the holidays is the perfect time for a reset. Whilst this may not exactly be the way to win a popularity test, it's crucial to develop hobbies and activities that don't involve the kids eyes going square. This will also help prepare them for returning to school with healthy screen habits and possibly some new healthy hobbies too!
Get outside, rain hail or shine
This is what school holidays are all about! Get the kids and take them outside away from the screens, classrooms and noise of everyday life. Children learn in so many different ways and getting them outside in nature is in itself a form of learning and development for them! You could talk them to a local nature park or simply for a walk around the block. It's all about just getting outside and out of the usual routine during the holiday break!
Set Challenges
This is a fun and exciting way for children to set mini goals and enjoy the satisfaction of achieving them. Children love to have a clear goal or challenge to work towards, so as a parent think of some ways you could do this each day! It may be setting a challenge to run a lap of a local oval or even just 100 star jumps each day. The challenge is less important than the habit building it creates within your child. You will likely find once they achieve some small steps, they will want to be challenged to a greater degree more and more! So go and set some challenges this week!
Family / Group Activities
Children love to be with their families and this can be a great way to get everyone together to show the importance of fitness and activity. By seeing carers and parents getting involved in physical activity, children will not only join in on the fun but will also see that it is important by seeing adults taking part. This is a really powerful technique of instilling the importance of lifelong exercise.
Activities don't have to just be sport
Whilst we think that all kids should be involved in a sport in some capacity, staying active doesn't just have to be about sport! Spending a day at a museum or a show where you are walking around and on you feet is a great way to stay active for those children who may not gravitate to organised sport and fitness in the same way as others. Try and find something that interests your child and get them involved in it in a way that is active and movement focused.
Did these help? We hope you and the kids have an amazing holiday break and are able to connect over healthy / active and positive hobbies! We can't wait to see everyone back at school in just under a week!
Until then, happy holidays everyone!
Fit For Kids Co.
Melbourne based kids sports coaching.