As the ‘ber months begin, we eagerly anticipate the cooler temperatures and all things Fall. The colder weather also brings fewer opportunities for kids to play outside. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), children should be physically active every day for at least 60 minutes.
We understand that it’s challenging to stay active during the colder months. At Kids 360°, we prioritize movement to enhance children’s development, and we don’t want the weather to prevent your kids from being active this season!
Stay active with our Top 5 Tips!
1. Designate Play Spaces
Designate specific areas in your home where your child can engage in active play freely. This could be a corner of the living room, a playroom, or a cleared-out space in the backyard. Having a dedicated play area encourages children to move and explore without constraints.
2. Weather have you down? It’s all fun and games in here!
- Obstacle Courses – Create simple obstacle courses using pillows, cushions, painter’s tape, and other household items. This not only promotes physical activity but also enhances problem-solving skills. Everyone loves a good game of The Floor Is Lava!
- Dance Parties – Turn on some music and have spontaneous dance parties with your child. Dancing is a fantastic way to build coordination and fitness.
- Yoga for Kids – Introduce basic yoga poses tailored for children. It helps improve flexibility, balance, and mindfulness. We all need a good stretch!
- Animal Walks – Create dice and draw or print pictures of different animals. Your child will roll the dice and act out how that animal moves.
3. For those remaining nice weather days
- Nature Walks – Explore nearby parks or nature trails. Encourage your child to run, jump, and climb while discovering the outdoors.
- Bike Riding – Teach your child how to ride a bike or scooter in a safe area. Riding bikes enhances motor skills and provides cardiovascular exercise. Your child can try a balance bike that doesn’t have pedals, a bike with training wheels and pedals, and a two-wheeler bike when they’re ready.
- Gardening – Engage in gardening activities together. Digging, planting, and watering plants involve physical movement and teach children about nature.
- Encourage movement in different plains – Find or create safe places to climb, run, and change height levels (ex., crawling, army crawling, rolling, walking, bear walking). Navigating through tunnels, climbing, and changing movement positions helps to develop spatial awareness. Spatial awareness is important for developing hand-eye coordination, balance, and motor skills. Children with poor spatial awareness may appear clumsy or bump into things more often, so these activities can help!
4. Make Screen Time Active
Your child can even be active during screen time! Instead of passive screen time, incorporate active video games or apps to encourage movement. Many educational apps now integrate physical activity into their games, making learning more dynamic and engaging. We highly recommend using a timer to limit screen time to 30-60 minutes per day.
5. Join Community Activities
Look for local classes or community events that promote active play for children. This could include sports clubs, gymnastics, ninja classes, or community center programs emphasizing movement and physical development.
Wright’s Gymnastics & NinjaZone & Kids 360°
And when in doubt, choose one of Wright’s gymnastics, ninja, or dance classes to help your little one stay active! You can support your child’s physical, cognitive, and social development by creating a movement-friendly home environment and following these tips.
Today’s world has left a crucial gap in children’s development. Showing up differently in every child, we now know that movement in the form of both exercise and intentional vestibular activation is critical to cognition, focus, visual and auditory processing, and emotional regulation. Kids 360° is the perfect mecca for children to get what they have been missing for decades. We know we can make a difference, so we have to.
Check us out and book a tour!