The winter months and holidays make it challenging to stay active. However, engaging in physical activity at a young age can help children develop lifelong habits of being physically active. We recommend kids are active 60 minutes per day, which helps promote a healthy weight and heart, strong bones, muscles, and joints.
To stay active, help your child entertain themselves without relying on media. Have the entire family pledge to do an activity together instead of using media screens. Plan a goal to complete screen free activities throughout the winter months and have your child help pick the activity. To get you started, here’s a list of 31 Days of Family Activities
- Indoor ice skating. Skate around the house with paper plates or mittens on or under your feet.
- Use a balloon to play volleyball.
- Build a fort and go indoor camping.
- Create an obstacle course with chairs and blankets.
- Play sock ball. Use a laundry baskets as the hoop or goal.
- Jumping jack contest.
- Wall sit contest.
- Go for scavenger hunt. Parents hide fun objects and write clues on how to find them.
- Rainbow contest. Find household objects of each color of the rainbow as fast as you can.
- Count how many hops, skips, big steps, and small steps it takes to get around the house.
- Create a tower of plastic cups as fast as you can until the tower is as tall as you. Then time how long it takes to take the tower down and restack the cups.
- Plant an indoor garden.
- Build a blanket fort, hang string lights, and read or play a board game inside.
- Minute to win it games.
- Play catch with a rolled up t-shirt and then play hockey with the t-shirt using brooms.
- Sock or paper bag puppets. Write a show to use your puppets.
- Fold paper airplanes and have a contest of how far the planes will fly.
- Play leap frogs. Put a finish line and start line. Have a leap frog race.
- Have a dance party or dance off.
- Build a snow man and see how big you can make it.
- Family yoga. Name yoga poses after your favorite movie characters.
- Go outside and play a game of tag.
- Make paper snow flakes and hang them throughout the house.
- Build a tower of pillows. Measure how many pillows high you can jump.
- Build your own town out of toys and things found around the house.
- Start a family craft or do housework together.
- Go for a nature walk and collect interesting things that you find.
- Prepare and cook a meal together.
- Put together a puzzle.
- Play winter charades. Act out winter themed objects and movies.
- Have a snowball fight.
