4 fun ways to keep your kids active

It’s a new year, a time traditionally focused on family fitness, but the kids are stuck at home so how do you work exercise into their daily homeschooling routine? Even before lockdown, research by the World Health Organization found that in the UK 75% of boys and 85% of girls (aged five to 18) don’t get the recommended 60 minutes of daily physical activity. To tackle this head on, make exercise fun. ‘Children won’t do something if they don’t enjoy it,’ says childhood exercise expert Jason Clarke, founder of The Active Hour. 

Jason believes that the ways you motivate children change as they grow, but certain rules stay true throughout. ‘One is that if you’re an active role model, they’ll become more active as a result,’ he says. ‘That might mean jumping with them on the trampoline or instigating a game of tag. Being part of it is when the magic happens.’

Nicky Adams, founder and director of children's fitness and sports-coaching company Full of Beans, agrees. ‘Take time for your own exercise,’ she says. ‘Your children will grow up seeing it’s a priority.’ Likewise, ensuring everyone in the family gets good nutrition is key. See Waitrose's healthy eating ideas for kids.

So, whether you're raising a junior David Attenborough or a budding artist, here’s how to engage their minds and bodies. 

Upgrade dog walks to fun treasure hunts. ‘Create a list of things to find – something spiky, something fluffy, something red,’ says Nicky. To take it a step further, download Geocaching. One for older kids, the app locates caches (treasure boxes) hidden in nature, and you use your phone’s GPS to find them. You can sign the cache’s notebook for posterity. 

If your child’s physical abilities aren’t up to geocaching, a bubble kit can be a great addition to a walk, says Rachel Conslik, director of Creative Active Lives, which helps children unable to participate in mainstream sports to engage in physical activity. ‘Get the kids chasing the bubbles and jumping up to pop them. They love it and it’s a full-body workout.’

Why not harness your child’s artistic side in the name of health? ‘Preschool children love to draw and paint. Combining this with related physical activity can often mean they become more engaged in the whole thing,’ explains Jason. ‘This is the ethos of our Make, Play, Get Active programme, which gives parents loads of ideas about making props that can then be incorporated into physical activity. So, they might cut out and colour a steering wheel, then play car races with it.’ 

In a similar vein, older children can make ‘Olympic equipment’ out of cardboard – from batons for relay races to targets and starting blocks. ‘You’d be surprised – even teenagers can really get into this,’ says Jason. 

If you’re stuck in a musical rut, try the all-singing, all-dancing Bounce Patrol. It’s a monthly subscription service with a large library of music and dance videos aimed at children of preschool age. Alternatively, Strictly Come Dancing star Oti Mabuse will have them on their feet with her Oti’s Boogie Beebies series on CBeebies. ‘Props can be so useful with preschoolers,’ adds Nicky. ‘They love to dance with teddies, pompoms or anything that makes a sound.’ 

For older kids, bond over the unfathomable world of social-media platform TikTok. ‘It can be controversial,’ acknowledges Jason. ‘But we’ve really seen TikTok have a positive impact for some teens. It’s helping redefine exercise in their minds – especially girls. It’s not just celebrity dance crazes: Sport England encourages young women to share their spin on exercise and fitness using the hashtag #FitGotReal.’

For many older kids, gaming provides community and social connection, as well as satisfying their need for competition. Studies also suggest that playing 3D video games boosts the formation of memories and improves hand-eye coordination and reaction times. 

For primary-school-age children, creating physical games based on popular video games can often capture their imagination. ‘We play ‘real life’ Fortnite with Nerf guns,’ says Rachel. ‘We'll have timed sessions where there might be an objective of capturing a flag or defending a rock or tree. The kids enjoy it and are so physical – running, jumping, crouching, crawling.’

Similarly, Minecraft can put an updated spin on traditional activities. ‘It adds a new dimension to den building,’ says Nicky. ‘Throwing bean bags in hoops becomes ‘planting crops’, while that old game where you have to get water from one bucket to another with a sponge? That’s saving the world’s scarce water resources.’

Read Waitrose Health Magazine here.