You don’t need a lot of space to get your kids moving

It is never too early to start cultivating love for a regularly active and healthy lifestyle! Children and adults alike stand to reap many health benefits when incorporating physical activity into their schedules.

Here are six ways to keep your children entertained (and active) even when you are indoors:

1. Put on your dancing shoes

Play a game of Freeze Dance. The rules of Freeze Dance are simple: dance when the music plays and freeze when it is paused. You can take turns as DJ, so everyone gets a chance to participate. You can also learn the choreography of a specific dance on YouTube or TikTok.

2. Make watching TV or reading a book active

Grab your kids’ favorite book or movie. Pick out a catch phrase, a repeated word, or a character habit. Every time the word or habit comes up, you have to do an exercise; take a vote on what this exercise should be. For example: do five sit-ups every time Dory forgets something in Finding Nemo.

3. Let the races begin

First set up a starting point and a finish line then divide yourselves into teams. You can compete in one or all three of these party games:

• Use potato sacks, trash bags, or pillowcases for a sac race. Put both feet into the bag and hop your way to the finish line. For a more toddler-friendly version, you can skip the sacs and imitate animals to the finish line. Hop like a frog, crawl like a cat, or waddle like a penguin.
• Try a three-legged race. Group yourself into teams of two and tie one person’s leg to another (It should look something like this). Add some obstacles along the way to make it harder.
• Test your strength with a tug of war challenge.

4. Turn your living room or hallway into a maze

Grab some extra yarn or strings and tie them across to build a maze. Now channel your inner secret agent and try to get across without touching the “laser” strings.

5. Activate the board game

Try to incorporate a fitness challenge into board games. If your family relishes a game of Ludo, make the player do four jumping jacks every time his or her token gets sent back to the starting point. The player can also challenge others to a squat when her or his token makes it the finish line. Have Jenga handy? Write out an exercise on each block. Every time a block is pulled out, everyone has to try the move!

6. Play some charades

You’d be surprised by how active a game of charades can be. Need some inspiration for what to act out? Check out this list of charade words for kids.

If your kids still miss team sports, bring the soccer game indoors. Set up makeshift goals at each end of a hallway, grab a plastic ball, and tip off. Or use some plastic cups as pins to turn your hallway into a bowling alley.

Try to regularly set aside some time for physical activity. Keep it fun so your kids will keep coming back for more!

Healthy Living is a frequently updated content section brought to you by the Saudi Sports for All Federation. In the spirit of supporting our #HealthyActiveCommunity, we’re sharing tips around wellness, physical activity and more!