Just because you want your kids to be more active in order to improve their physical health, doesn’t mean they can’t ever have screen time. However, it is what you do with that screen time that makes a difference. Here are some ways you can keep your kids active even while watching television.
Do Workouts From the Couch
When the family is sitting together on the couch, it is the perfect time to get in some good workouts! You can teach your kids all sorts of activities they are able to do while sitting on the couch and still watching their favorite show or movie. This can be anything as simple as knee or leg lifts while sitting on the couch, to giving them one of their heavier toys to throw up in the air and try to catch. You can also do fun family challenges where each member of the family tries to see how many of a certain exercise they can do, each person going one at a time, then the winner chooses the next movie or what you will eat for dessert.
Get Up and Move During Commercials
Commercials are the perfect time to do some exercising, but your kids won’t miss any of their cartoon or favorite TV show. Tell them to get up and move around whenever a commercial is on. This can be anything from doing sit-ups on the ground to jumping jacks. You can even put a small indoor trampoline in the living room and have your child jump on it during every commercial break. This is also a good time to walk or run in place, or use a fun accessory like a hula hoop. Once the commercial is over, they sit back down for some rest.
Set Challenges For Character or Plot Points
This is another fun way to enjoy TV time, while also being physically active. Depending on what you are watching, set a certain activity for certain things you might see. If there is a character that shows up just once or twice during a show’s episode, have the kids do 10 leg lifts when the character shows up. You can do this for any plot point, from seeing a mountainside to someone wearing the color yellow. It is fun to come up with things and to set little challenges that everyone has to follow during TV or movie time.
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