Friday Home Fun! – Let’s Get Moving!

Today’s Friday Home Fun activities are all about staying active and there isn't a better weekend to try out some of these fun activities to get your exercise in and enjoy that beautiful Colorado weather!

Scavenger Hunt Fun

 Everyone loves a scavenger hunt! Create a scavenger hunt indoors and outdoors, upstairs and downstairs to get your kids moving. To add a bit more exercise to the scavenger hunt, add an activity they must do to get to the next clue. For example, they must bunny hop to the next clue or do 20 jumping jacks before heading on. The treasure at the end of the scavenger hunt? A trip the park for some more physical activity!  Here is a great link that makes creating the scavenger hunt easier. 

 Geocaching- A bigger, family friendly version of a scavenger hunt! Have you ever  been? It is a world- wide GPS based scavenger hunt and so much fun for the entire family! Using GPS (which is now available on most phones and car navigation systems) you can search for hidden items or books to sign. You then log on to the online site and mark which caches you found!  Plan a day of geocaching and a picnic for a family fun activity that will keep you all moving the entire time! 

                                                              Check out the Colorado Geocaching Site! 

Exercise Calendar

Items Needed:

Magazines/internet printouts of exercise activities

scissors 

glue

crayons, colored pencils or markers

calendar -(you can use a printed template of the month as well)

Just like last week’s Friday Home Fun, I suggest having the kids create a calendar to keep the exercise going all month long to create “good habits” and exercise more frequently! Have your children thumb through magazines to cut ideas for exercise and glue them on to each day on the calendar or simply draw a picture of what they’d like to do that day to stay active. It can be your families’ goal to participate in the chosen activity for that day each day of the month. This will help get your family into a pattern where exercise because an everyday activity.  Don’t forget to ad ideas from Today’s Friday Home Fun as well as the Benefits of Exercise Blog!

Lilly Pad Leap Frog Learning

Items Needed:

Construction paper

Scissors

Contact paper

Dry Erase Marker

Duct Tape

I know that it can be overwhelming to plan everything you need to get in to one day, so why not combine a few things and kill two birds with one stone? We like to use this activity to get some exercise in while my daughter does her homework. At any age there is an opportunity for learning, so weather your child has homework or not, this is a great activity to learn and be active at the same time.Cut lily pads big enough for both of your child’s feet out of construction paper. Cover them in contact paper (for repeated use). With the Dry Erase Marker write the information the child is learning (i.e. Spelling words, numbers, letters, etc. or questions for a test) and place them around the house on the floor with Duct Tape. Space them wide enough apart for the child to jump from one to another.  Star on the first lily pad and have them spell the first spelling word, recognize the number or letter, or answer the test question.  If they get it correct, they get to pick it up and hop to the next one. If it is wrong, it stays on the floor. After they've hopped all the way through, they move the lily pads closer together and repeat until all of the lily pads are off of the floor. This not only helps my child stay active, but also makes homework a little bit more fun!

Check out our Parent Tip of the Week for some information on a great organization providing a fun exercise program for kids in our schools!