10 Fun Family Fitness Ideas

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Exercise can be an important part of bonding with your family. It also helps the family stay fit, avoid health risks, control weight, and ensure that your kids perform better in school. With these family fitness ideas, you can incorporate exercise in your kid’s routine early, which goes a long way toward helping them embrace healthy habits in life.

However, don’t expect your children to understand this right away. It can be hard to keep kids motivated. Make workouts fun and not a routine that you have to follow on a fixed timetable. When you make exercise play, the whole family will be excited to join in and stick with it as a routine. Here are 10 workout activities to get your family moving.

1. Go on Pre or Post-Dinner Walks

Adding a walk into your schedule is one of the best fitness challenge ideas you can suggest for your family. It could be something such as drafting a walk schedule that takes you on a cruise around the neighborhood or into town. To make it enticing, you can add play into it.

If it’s a routine exercise, ensure you don’t follow the same path as this may become predictable and boring. Change it up and explore new neighborhoods or locations, and your family will always look forward to the walks.

2. Build Games Out of Household Chores

If you are looking for fitness ideas for kids, one thing you can do is to make household chores fun. This not only helps them stay fit, it also ensures they perform the chores without objections. Be creative in designing fun activities to ensure they don’t seem like work. If your kids are involved, the last thing you want is predictability, as they can get bored quickly. You could create fitness competition ideas by designing a contest that involves completing tasks. The winner earns points that reward them with a prize.

3. Sneak Exercise into Other Activities

You could also transform everyday activities into fun workouts. For example, if you always carry your toddler in a stroller while at the supermarket, you can have them walk with you instead. Instead of using the escalator, you can take the stairs. Foregoing small life conveniences without appearing like you’re working out will achieve the same effect as scheduling time to exercise. If you’re consistent with this approach, you will notice incredible gains.

4. Make Time to Play

Kids love games, so you can use this as an opportunity to explore fun fitness ideas. Set aside time each week to enjoy fun exercises with the kids. You can make this an after-dinner or after-school routine. Young kids might like hide-and-seek, and if they are older, they might enjoy kicking a soccer ball or shooting hoops. Try to schedule at least one family activity every week. This could be something simple, such as taking your family to the playground or going on a morning hike with the teenagers.

5. Sing and Dance

While doing household chores, you can add some fun by playing music. Pick your favorite songs, those your children love, and play them to stimulate dance and movement. The kids can perform tasks while dancing and having fun around the house. For older kids, good music can get them focused on vacuuming, making beds, dusting, and performing any other tasks you assign them. You can involve the kids in picking the playlist, so you’re not the only one choosing music for the family.

6. Make Yard Work Enjoyable

Involve your family in seasonal yard work. Doing things together brings everyone closer. For your younger kids, you can get them to tend a garden, while older kids can sweep leaves into piles and jump into them. If you’re dealing with snow shoveling, you can make it fun by building snow people or a snow fort. All these activities can be a great way for your family to move their bodies, and they won’t feel like they’re doing chores or working out because it’s a fun experience.

7. Use Commercials as Fitness Breaks

When watching your favorite show on TV, you can sneak in a workout during commercial breaks. You can invent silly names for exercises like push-ups, squats, and sit-ups. Do the exercises together until the show returns. Any creative approach will work to get the family in rhythm. These exercises don’t require extensive planning to execute; you just need to form a habit out of them, and the family will benefit from fitness gains.

8. Run or Walk for Charity

Modeling exercise around giving is a great way to build your fitness program. Team up with your children and join a charity race. Since it’s a project supporting a good cause, your children may be more willing to commit to the exercise and a cause they are passionate about. You can even make this a family tradition where you attend specific runs or walks for charity each year.

9. Go for a Swim

Whether indoors or outside at the beach, swimming is one of the best fitness ideas for your family. Swimming exercises the whole body, so the results are incredible if you make it routine. This is a low-impact workout that could get your kids excited. Teach them how to swim and do laps or competitions. You could also include games in the water. Beyond swimming, you can do other water activities like paddle boarding, surfing, kayaking, water skiing, and canoeing.

10. Play Sports in the Backyard

Bring your family together for sports in the backyard. You can invite kids from the neighborhood to enjoy soccer, basketball, baseball, and other fun team choices. If there are not enough players, adapt the game and focus on sport-specific skills such as dribbling or throwing.

If you identify a sport your children love, coach the team to transform family time into workout sessions. Classic outdoor games like kickball, kick the can, and jump rope could also be good options if you don’t have a big space for other sports.

Family Fitness is a Great Way to Stay Healthy

Staying fit does not mean limiting yourself to just going to the gym. You can fashion workouts for your family without spending money on equipment. It begins with turning normal chores into opportunities for workouts. Make it fun to ensure your kids are motivated to participate and contribute towards the sport. Choices such as joining a charity race help your children appreciate the art of giving and also contribute to their fitness. Engage your creativity and you will find many opportunities for family fitness.

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Kevin Nelson has been writing content for top-mom.com for about 3 years. He enjoys helping people achieve their fitness goals with simple instructions and overcoming any obstacles along the way.

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