Stuff I've picked up from magazines...part 1 Trina12:20 PM 0 comments

Ways to exercise at home with the little'uns:

Toddler (1-2 yrs)

• Oom Pah Pah! 
• Bring out some musical instruments (or pot lids and wooden spoons) and march through the house to the beat of the band!
• Benefits: aerobic, improves coordination
• Chasing Bubbles
• Challenge your child to jump up and pop them as you blow them.
• Benefits: aerobic, builds muscle and strengthens bones
• Inchworm
• Have your chid lie on her belly and move by scooting her knees toward her chest, then straightening them
• Benefits: increases flexibility, improves coordination
• Simon Says
• Include a variety of stretching, bending, jumping, and heart-pumping moves
• Benefits: aerobic, builds muscle and strengthens bones, improves flexibility, improves coordination, and improves balance

Preschool (3-4 years)

• "Paint" the House
• Hand your child a pail of water and a paint brush and let her go to town on the side of the house
• Benefits: aerobic, increases flexibility
• Muscle Mural
• Cover the kitchen floor with several large pieces of paper taped together end to end, then let your child decorate the entire surface with crayons or markers, or let her "finger paint" with her bare feet
• Benefits: aerobic, increases flexibility, improves balance
• Parachute Toss
• Hold one end of a sheet and have your child hold the other.  Place a beach ball in the center and together lift the sheet up and down to keep the ball in the air
• Benefits: aerobic, builds muscle and strengthens bones, improves coordination
• Walk the Line
• Stretch a jump rope out straight on the floor.  Challenge your child to traverse it like a tight rope.
• Benefits: improves coordination and balance
• Dig to China
• Hand your child a plastic shovel, and tell her to make the biggest, deepest hole she can in a soft spot in the yard, in the snow, or at the beach.  Make it a real muscle builder by having her fill the pail with the soil, snow, or sand she scoops out and lug it to another corner of the yard or beach.
• Benefits: aerobic, builds muscle and strengthens bones, improves coordination

Elementary (5-6 years)

• Hopscotch
• This classic game can be played indoors, too: just mark the boxes with masking tape
• Benefits: aerobic, increases flexibility, promotes balance
• Jumping through Hoops
• Place several hula hoops on the floor or ground and have your child step or hop in and out of them.  Older kids can try hopping on one foot.
• Benefits: aerobic, builds muscle and strengthens bones, improves coordination, promotes balance
• Ice Hockey
• Freeze water ina  one-quart bowl.  Use brooms to knock the slippery puck up and down the driveway.
• Benefits: aerobic, builds muscle and strengthens bones, improves coordination
• Limber Limbo
• Use a jump rope, a broom, or even a spray of water from the garden hose to create a horizontal line for your child to shimmy under.
• Benefits: aerobic, increases flexibility
• Balloon Bash
• Put a blown-up balloon on the lawn and let your child go at it with a Wiffle-ball bat.  Afer it pops, blow up another...then another...then another.
• Benefits: aerobic, builds muscle and strengthens bones, improves coordination