5 Tips To Help Your Children Stay Active
Preschool Children enjoy exploring, learning new things, and moving around. This curiosity and energy usually lead to them fidgeting and wanting to keep busy.
But even if your child is busy, that doesn’t always mean they’re getting the exercise they need. That’s why it’s so important to channel their endless energy into exercise.
When our kids don’t exercise, they can experience mood swings, poor quality of sleep and increase their risk of health-related issues.
But when children have enough exercise, they have better emotional well-being, build stronger bones and muscles, have a well-developed immune system and so much more! A study carried out by child development Scientist Gwen Dewar found that-
When children get 60 minutes of activity each day, it can make learning easier for them.
Also Read This- How to Boost Your Child’s Brain Development and Learning
Exercise stimulates brain growth, improves focus and can increase a child’s ability to solve problems independently. Children get all of these benefits because physical activity enhances brain ‘plasticity.’ This is the brain’s ability to form new connections and alter old ones.
But maybe you’re wondering-
What if my child doesn’t like to exercise? What if my toddler is easily bored?
Well, our teachers have learned a lot about helping children keep a healthy activity schedule while at Grace Preschool. So, here are 5 ways to help your Children stay active at home:
1. Build Fitness into Your Day
When you structure your day to be more active, it removes the pressure of setting aside fitness time for your kids. You could walk to the supermarket, your local library or take a mini-stroll around the neighbourhood. Take your child out of their stroller so they can walk with you.
Another way to help your kids exercise is by including them if you’re doing an activity involving movement.
2. Listen To Music
Music helps the body and mind work together. It ignites all areas of a child’s development, including intellectual, social, motor and even language.
It’s an excellent way to encourage your child to be active while also helping them to learn new sounds and words. You only need to pop on their favourite song and start dancing. Even better, many popular songs today have dances you can learn with your child.
Also Read This- 5 Healthy Habits That Improve Kids’ Mental and Emotional Health
3. Teach Your Child New Games
Much of the learning that happens for preschool children is ‘learning through play.’ Our kids are able to improve hand-eye coordination, problem-solving ability and movement while having fun.
Some well-known games are- Simon Says, Red Light – Green Light, Catch or you can even join your toddler to play with their age-appropriate toys.
What may seem like a simple activity will actually be an exciting learning experience for your children.
4. Formal Programs
Parents can enrol in formal programs that introduce their child to tumbling, dancing and general movement activities.
These programs can be especially good for you if you’re a busy parent who wants extra support or if you simply want a new experience for your child.
The best part is you can practice what your kids learn in their program during your play time with them during the week.
While we can’t recommend examples, given that many of these providers are outside of Grace Christian Community Preschool. We can recommend that you do a quick search online while paying close attention to reviews from other parents.
5. The Power of Role-Modeling
No matter how active your Child’s schedule is, it’s all for nothing if you do the opposite.
The best way to get your child active is by being active as a parent, whether that means making time for family outings, hiking or new adventures.
If you’re strapped for time, you could use an exercise video at home or a daily workout routine. Your child will follow in your footsteps and actively make connections as they observe you.
Also Read This- How To Praise & Encourage Your Children at Home
A study by the NIH found that parents with healthy habits were 3.7 times more likely to have a child with healthy habits.
Additionally, parents who ate fruit and vegetables every day were 10 times more likely to have children who also consumed the recommended daily amount.
These findings suggest that our role as parents is crucial in our children’s behaviours. And this is something our teachers strive for at Grace Christian Community Preschool. Our teachers set up a consistent daily routine to meet the needs of the children in our Christian Daycare Centre.
We hope these tips give you some new ideas to try. But if you ever need any support, feel free to reach out to our team.
