You may be living under conditions that limit your ability to take your kids out right now (eg. the Coronavirus COVID-19 lockdown, bad weather etc). But what can you do if your kids are driving you bat crazy and creating mayhem in the house? They still have the same amount of energy that needs to be used everyday.

Try these strategies that incorporate creativity, learning and exercise to get your kids moving indoors or outdoors.

Indoor Activities

If you are stuck indoors, here are some activities that you can organize to get your kids moving.

1. Indoor Obstacle Course

For younger kids, set up an indoor obstacle course. You can use any available things you have in your house such as cushions, balls, LEGO blocks, boxes etc.

We set up a simple one for our 3 year old in our living room. She had to wade through balls, jump over blocks and avoid stepping on sharp “cactuses”.

For a more elaborate version, you can use your entire house for the indoor obstacle course.

2. Free Online Videos & Apps

YouTube has some amazing kid exercise videos. I was amazed at the quality of some of these videos. They are professionally done and will do a good job of getting your kids moving while indoors.

Cosmic Kids Yoga– these videos incorporate story-telling, colorful props, simple yoga exercises and relaxation. They are so engaging that my 3 year old (who is not particularly into exercise videos) is willing to participate for more than an hour!

Hip Hop Public Health– this organization collaborates with hip-hop artists to create cool music and moves to encourage physical exercise. Their resources include music tracks and videos.

GoNoodle– this app combines fun games with exercise. Games are always a winner!

Little Sport Kids Daily Exercises– What I like about these kid exercises is that you can go as hard as you want and it’s structured professionally to give you breaks in between. It works on different muscle groups and is guaranteed to work up a sweat.

POPSUGAR Fitness Family Fun Cardio Workout– This is a fun workout for the entire family. It will get all of you moving and jumping around.

3. Indoor Hopscotch

If you’ve got painters tape lying around, use it to set up an indoor hopscotch in your house and challenge your kids to play. You can include numbers and colors to encourage numbers learning too.

4. Video Game Software

If you have video game hardware already in your house, you can invest in some exercise or workout game videos. Here are some popular ones:

Outdoor Activities

If you have limited garden or yard space for your kids to play in, you can still organize outdoor activities within that limited space to get your kids moving. Here are some examples.

5. Outdoor Jumping Games

I used chalk and drew a simple jumping game where my 3 year old has to jump to the right number, shape or color that I called out. I added language learning into the game by repeating the game in other languages. She had a lot of fun.

6. Hopscotch

You can also use chalk to create an outdoor hopscotch. I remember how much fun outdoor hopscotch was when I was growing up.

7. American Ninja Warrior Junior Obstacle Course

Have you ever watched American Ninja Warrior Junior before? It is an obstacle course competition for kids.

Inspired by this show, some parents have begun making their own American Ninja Warrior Junior obstacle courses in their backyard.

You may not have the interest, skills or space to create such an obstacle course for your kids but you can make a simple version using your kids outdoor slide, ladders, old tires, ropes, bricks or sturdy outdoor objects.

Alternatively, you can just make one using pool noodles. Just get creative!

We hope that you got inspired by some of these ideas to get your kids moving indoors or outdoors!

For other ideas on kid activities, please visit us at www.lebrickfamily.com.