After a full day sitting in the classroom, get your child up and moving!
This back-to-school season, it’s important for parents to make sure kids’ bodies are just as active as their brains. According to the CDC, physical activity before and after school can help improve students’ physical and mental health, and even boost their academics!
Include the following ideas in your child’s after-school routine to encourage movement daily:
1. Walk to and from school
Consider walking to and from school with your child, distance allowing. It’s a great way to ensure physical activity five times a week!
One fun idea: volunteer to lead a walking school bus for your child and their fellow classmates! You and other parents in your neighborhood will walk to and from school with the group of students, creating a structured routine for movement.
Looking for a reason to get started? National Walk to School Day is a holiday in October that motivates students around the country to walk, bike, or roll to school. As fall comes around, you can use this holiday as an opportunity to get kids excited about car-free alternatives to transportation.
Learn more about National Walk to School Day here:
2. Go on a family bike ride
Promote physical activity by getting involved in the fun! Organize a family bike ride in the evening. By participating in the bike ride yourself, you’ll set a good example for your child.
To further motivate them, you can have them decorate their bicycle basket with flowers, yarn, and stickers. This way, they’ll be excited to start pedaling so they can show off their jazzed up wheels around the neighborhood.
3. Explore nature
As soon as you get home and the backpacks hit the ground, mix things up by going to a nearby park or hiking trail! Getting kids into green spaces helps them learn about the world around them, get exercise, and has even been shown to reduce anxiety, so make sure they’re getting some outdoor time after school.
In nature, you can encourage them to explore outdoor activities like nature journaling, inspecting animal tracks, and using leaves to create artistic rubbings. This Everyday Darwin: Create a Nature Journal is a great way to ignite their curiosity about the natural world and introduce concepts like botany and evolution.
4. Play Musical Magical Hoops!
Grab some hula hoops and bask in the sunshine!
In Musical Magical Hoops, each hoop represents a movement, whether it’s jumping up and down, running in place, or doing the chicken dance. Once you start the music, kids run from hoop to hoop and do each motion until the music stops.
Ready to play? Get the full set of instructions here.
5. Combine math and movement
Who said sports and math don’t go together?
Use the following activities to combine physical activity with math practice:
Kids will learn while they play!
6. Play Red Light, Green Light
Go back to basics with a game of Red Light, Green Light.
Assign one child to be the “traffic officer” and have them hold up homemade signs representing the colors on a traffic light. This game is a great way to teach spatial awareness, develop reflexes, and get in some outdoor play time.
7. Have an animal race!
Gallop, crawl, and hop in an animal-themed race!
Have an Animal Race in your backyard, and encourage your children to think of creative ways to move like different animals, including a dog, a frog, or a crab. While they’re horsing around, they’ll also move their bodies and get some essential aerobic exercise.
8. Play Builders and Bulldozers
Assemble two teams to play this construction-themed game!
After school, gather the neighborhood kids and assign one group to be the builders and the other to be the bulldozers. Using traffic cones, organize play into rounds, and have the builders protect the cones while the bulldozers attempt to knock them over.
9. Get active in your living room
Kids have a ton of energy, and sometimes, the easiest way to get them moving is in the moment, even if that means you’re at home.
If you don’t have access to outdoor space or you simply don’t have time to take them outside, you can still promote physical fitness in your living room!
The following activities can easily be done at home:
10. Dance!
Get up and groove with an after-school dance party!
Dancing can be a fantastic physical and emotional outlet for children. Plus, dancing with your child is an opportunity to bond over shared interests and love of music.
To get started, simply turn on some of your child’s favorite tunes and encourage them to move in whatever way feels natural for them. If they need some more guidance, turn on a YouTube video with instructions.
If they really enjoy dancing, they can even host a Monster Dance Competition for some of their friends, complete with prizes for the best and silliest dancers!
Don’t just sit there—get moving! If you need more inspiration, explore the full list of movement-based activities and outdoor games in the Education.com Learning Library.
