10 ideas to help keep children active in winter

Keeping your children active and entertained during the dark, cold and rainy days of winter is no mean feat.

It’s recommended that children do 60 minutes of daily physical activity, but how when you’re all stuck indoors?

For those never-ending days when you look at your watch and see it’s only 11am, here’s 10 simple indoor activities to lift the spirits and get everyone moving.

Dance

Dancing is ideal for burning some energy. Freestyle or play games. Go classic with musical statues, musical chairs and musical bumps, or modern with the likes of the emoji dance game. For this game, either print out or draw a different emoji on pieces of paper. Choose songs to suit each emoji. When you hold up an emoji card, your children’s dancing needs to reflect that particular emotion. 

You could also challenge your children to choreograph a dance to one of their favourite songs. Encourage lots of practice, suggest costumes, set up a few chairs in front of a makeshift stage area and then it’s lights, camera, action.

Movement jar

Fill a jar with active ideas and have your children pick out a few each. They then need to lead the activities they have picked, demonstrating the movement and getting everyone involved. Here’s some ideas for your jar:

• Star jumps
• Side-to-side jumps
• Toe touches
• Squats
• Frog jumps
• March on the spot
• Arm circles
• Run on the spot
• Climb the rope
• Crunches
• Balance on one foot for X seconds
• Dance move
• Box push-ups
• Side lunge
• Crab walk
• Follow the leader
• Overhead arm stretch

String laser maze

Tape string across your hallway or room to create your own laser maze. Position the string at different heights and angles to get your children turning, sliding, crawling and twisting to successfully reach the other side.

Obstacle course

Furniture and household items can very easily double up as obstacle course equipment. And this is one of those activities that can keep your children busy for a fair few hours (just so long as you don’t need your chairs for a while).

Reading workout

Reading a book doesn’t have to mean sitting still. Select a book that has obvious word repetition. Then assign a different movement to each of the repeated words. For example, every time your child hears the word “red” they have to stand on one leg, or when they hear “dog” they have to do 5 star jumps.

Hunt for treasure

Who said treasure hunts were just for Easter? Write clues or draw a treasure map to create an indoor treasure hunt.

Fitness bingo

Make your own or print out some fitness bingo cards. Each card will feature a variety of exercises and movements. The nominated leader calls out different exercises. If the exercise features on your card, you need to do the move and check it off. The first person to check off all their exercises is the winner!

Play ping pong (with a twist)

Use a balloon as the ball and make your own bats with sticks and paper plates. Safe and fun!

House clean

Not exactly top of the fun to-do list. Or could it be? (OK, maybe not right at the top).

Setting a timer, creating a cleaning relay, putting on some music and placing some hidden treasure for your children to find as they clean are just some of the ways to turn this chore into a game.

Yoga

Starting yoga at a young age can have incredible benefits, helping children to establish healthy habits early on. Yoga enables children to move, stretch and strengthen their bodies, but it can also reduce stress, anxiety and be a confidence booster. Cosmic Kids use stories and role-play to create yoga sessions that are beneficial and great fun.