Let's Get Moving: How to Keep your Kids Fit Through Winter

As the days shorten and the old Jack Frost settles in for a long visit, it’s more difficult to motivate yourself to get outside and have fun. Your natural inclination is to hole up at home and eat comfort food, but this isn’t healthy or productive. Here are some practical and fun ways to keep your family fit this winter.

Winter Sports
If you haven’t taken up a winter sport, then this is the perfect time to find something you enjoy doing. Skiing, snow shoeing and skating are great traditional winter sports to keep yourself busy. If you want to do something more local, taking walks around your neighborhood or in natural areas can be really interesting over the winter. You can also toboggan with younger students and have snowball fights. Check out these snowball gloves which you can make with an old ball and a glue gun.

Winter projects

When you have a goal for the winter, it’s easier to motivate your students to get outside. Take a look at this amazing igloo. This was built from ice bricks that were frozen in old orange juice cartons. It took several months to make, but ensured hours of outdoor winter fun. If an ice igloo seems like too much effort, make a snow fort instead.

Geocaching

If you live in a place with no snow, try Geocaching. This is a super fun game where participants create a geocache and hide it in a secure natural location. This location is then posted to the Geocaching website here. You can use your smartphone or GPS to locate a geocache. Fill in the log book and take an item from the cache and leave another one for the next visitor. Visit the website for instructions on how to play the game and what items are acceptable.

New hobbies
Swimming: I love swimming in the winter. It’s a great all-body workout and its fun too. You can join a gym or your local YMCA to get access to an indoor pool. Games like water polo and volley ball also take place at indoor pools or get your students ready for the summer with swimming lessons.

Dance classes: No matter their age or music preference, there is a dance class that’s perfect for your student. From ballet to hip hop, learning some new moves will make them more confident, it will improve coordination and is a great workout too.

Indoor sports: From martial arts to gymnastics, having an indoor sport option that your student enjoys is a great way to keep them fit this winter. If they aren’t into sports, get a gym membership so that they can swim, workout or join an exercise class.

This winter ensure that your family keeps moving and has fun. The best way to get your students to move is to be a good example, so opt for a more active life yourself.