Fun Family Fitness
Happy first of the month to all, and what a great way to kick it off by carrying on from our last blog post. We chatted about the importance of your involvement with your child outside of Thriving, to continue their development. But the age-old question is how?
Well activities at home should compliment the activities in Thriving. This means they should target some key fundamental moving skills (e.g. catching, throwing, balance and jumping) while sneaking in some strength. But most importantly it must be fun and engaging.
Now this may all sound like a lot and somewhat impossible BUT we are here to help and give a few activities to try out yourself!
1.Bucket Golf
Requirements
Throwing items: beanbags or socks
“Hole”: Bucket, laundry baskets, or cardboard boxes (the bigger the easier the activity is)
Tape: to mark tee off areas (if you don’t want to use tape find a piece of paper scrap)
Instructions
Place the “holes” around the house to make a complete golf course.
Place tape on the floor to mark where you throw from for each hole.
Take turns standing on each golf tee and tossing (underhand) the item into the “hole”.
Continue tossing at each “hole” until the player sinks the item.
Go around the house golf course and keep track of how many tosses each of you requires to sink a shot at each hole.
Variations
Too make it a little harder, make the toss distance larger or decrease the size of the hole
Once the underhand throw has been mastered, play again using overhand throws
Benefits
This activity helps to develop coordination of the upper body and fine motor control. These skills transfer to many sports and other activities that have a throwing component.
2.Musical Statues
Requirements
An open space: cleared of obstacles
Boundaries: cones, tape or floor edges
Music: loud and fun!
Outside activity: choose an activity that must be completed on the outside before the player can come back in (e.g. 10 squats, 5 push ups or 10 star jumps)
Instructions
Play the music and run or dance around the area
Once the music stops, all players must freeze on the spot
Hold your statue position until the music is played again
If you don’t stop or hold your statue stand outside the boundaries and complete the activity that was set to come back in
Variations
You can use place markers (e.g. pillows) as a location of where the kids have to run and freeze. Have one less than the players to use the outside activity
Increase the freezing time
Benefits
Running and dancing around will get the kids’ heart pumping and their balance will be challenged during the freeze times. The start stop rules are also teaching children to listen and follow instructions.