Keeping kids active in every season
5/13/2024 by Kara Anderson, M.D.
Daily physical activity in childhood is critical for long-term heart, bone, muscle, cognitive and mental health. For children less than 5 years of age, getting the daily recommended activity time can be easier given the amount of unstructured time they may have in their day. School-aged children have busier schedules and have a lot more sedentary time. The American Heart Association, World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend at least 60 minutes of activity per day for children ages 6 to 17. As children get older, this activity goal can become harder with many other competing daily tasks that need to be accomplished. In a global poll of 1.6 million adolescents ages 11 to 17 years, 81% had insufficient physical activity.
Overcoming barriers
There can be many barriers to participating in physical activity every day. Not every child has access to gyms, sports teams, equipment, safe sidewalks/streets or transportation. There are also seasonal barriers like weather which can be a large deterrent to regular exercise in climates that prevent outdoor activities or summer school breaks where there is less structure for sports teams or gym class. Certain types of physical activity are not always interesting, and children will choose more stimulating sedentary activities such as watching television, playing on tablets or gaming. Below are a few strategies to include a little more physical activity into your family’s everyday life regardless of the time of year.
- Make it fun! Find games, activities or tasks at home that can raise the heart rate and not feel like another chore. Children are more likely to continue to exercise regularly when it is enjoyable.
- Turn the table on tablet time. There is a time and place for tablets, especially as they are becoming a more regular part of learning and school. They can also be used as part of activity with many apps and videos developed specifically for getting kids moving. If there is a game or TV show they enjoy, use commercial time or breaks between episodes to move the body, such as dancing or acting out the favorite part of the episode.
- Get the whole family involved. Studies show that children who have regular exercise as a family are more likely to continue those habits into adulthood and have improved health outcomes. Scheduling physical activity as a family can also become another opportunity to give autonomy to children and make them feel more empowered. Each family member could pick the activity for a day of the week. Putting activities into a displayed calendar can also help with accountability for the whole family and keep everyone moving.
- Be creative and unstructured. You don’t have to have a gym membership or go to a local park every day to find activities that raise the heart rate. Each family member could pick their favorite song and make up a dance that everyone has to try and copy. Or play a game of charades that involves mimicking animal movements or sounds. Chores can even be made into a fun activity that raises the heart rate, such as shooting clothes into the washer/laundry baskets like a basketball or having a scavenger hunt with often out-of-place items such as shoes, mail, backpacks or clothes.
- Break it up. The recommendation for 60 minutes of activity per day is cumulative. If there is no time to do a long activity, even small 10- to 15-minute spurts are still important. This approach can also be helpful for older children to build up endurance for certain activities. It never has to be all or nothing. Any physical activity is better than nothing! Walking pets several times a day, taking out the garbage, carrying loads of laundry up and down stairs — all of these small activities add up to improved overall health.
- Scope out your surroundings. There are usually many free community parks, trails and outdoor/indoor activities. Adding one of these areas to your week or month can be something fun to look forward to and can encourage diversity in the type of physical activity.
For more information about getting children involved in physical activity, visit the CDC or American Heart Association websites on physical activity.
Kara Anderson, M.D., is a resident in Community Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine in Rochester, Minn. Their interests include complex chronic care and palliative care.