It’s recommended that children get at least 60 minutes of moderate physical activity a day. But they don’t have to do it all at once – it can be spread out through the day in bite-sized chunks.
Here are a few tips to help you get your child more active.
Healthy options
- Walk to school rather than taking the car, or if you use the bus, get off a stop or two earlier.
- Encourage them to walk to school. If they are too young to go alone, go along with them. If you live in the city, check out what places of interest there are to walk to.
- If you live in a flat, get your child to use the stairs rather than the lift – you could even have a race to see who gets to the top first.
Keep it varied
- Games like hide and seek, tag, and hopscotch don’t cost anything and encourage children to run around.
- Balls and frisbees are relatively cheap, and can be a lot of fun if you have outside space.
- Provide them with a box of equipment, such as balls, hula hoops, skipping ropes, tennis rackets, frisbees and roller skates – relatively cheap, and can be a lot of fun if you have outside space.
- Learn some skipping games that they can play with friends.
- Create an obstacle course in the garden. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, try using chairs and balls. If you don’t have a garden, you could do something similar in the house.
- Get your child to organise a treasure hunt with some friends – this can be either indoors or outdoors. They’ll be active both while they’re setting the clues and finding the treasure.
- If you’ve got plenty of outside space around you, consider buying a kite for your child. You could even hold a kite-flying competition. Or what about getting a mini trampoline for the garden?
- If you don’t have any outside space, get an exercise DVD designed for children.
Get your child to dance around to their favourite tracks, or work out a dance routine. Maybe add some dressing up and hold a disco-dancing competition with their friends.
- Teach your child to hop like a bunny or leap like a frog, see how long they can keep it up for.
Parent power
- Praise and encourage children when they are taking part in an activity - particularly if they are learning a new skill. Keep feedback positive - and don't push too hard. If they enjoy the experience they'll keep taking part.
- Teach by example – if your child sees you walking to the shops and so on rather than taking the car or bus, they’re more likely to do the same. Children learn by watching what parents do – so be a role model.
Family matters
- Encourage the whole family to join in – maybe go on a walk or a cycle ride.
- Ask children what activities they enjoy and encourage them to follow their interests.
- Try doing some regular activity together as a family, like walking, cycling, swimming or playing tennis. This will help your children develop a positive attitude towards physical activity.
- Encourage your child to spend more time outdoors and let them invite friends over to play.
- Sort out a rota with other parents locally to take a group of children to the local park. Arrange games and take it in turns to supervise them.
Extra-curricular
- Encourage your child to try a few after-school sporting activities. If they enjoy an activity, they’re much more likely to stick with it.
- Go along to your local sports centre and see what they’ve got going on locally for children.
- Involve your child in household chores – things like dusting, cleaning and vacuuming are all forms of physical activity. You could offer a small non-food related reward if your child is reluctant.
- If you have a garden, get your child involved in gardening. Maybe try growing some fruit and vegetables that they can go on to eat.
Reviewed February 2009.