4 Fun Ways to Get You and Your Kids Outside and Exercising!

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4 Fun Ways to Get You and Your Kids Outside and Exercising!

Summer is almost here and we are all looking for ways to be outside more often while providing enriching activities for our kids.  Fitness Nomad, a mobile personal training business based in Des Moines has provided four fun activities that you and your kids can do together to enjoy the outdoors while getting exercise and providing activities to keep their minds active all in one!

Backyard/Driveway Game 

You can start with a simple classic like hopscotch and then move into something more competitive and a bit harder like a family relay race.  Have your kids race you and/or their siblings in the backyard, add in an obstacle course to make it more fun. You can add in alternate versions of classics like potato sack races just by having them hop and leave out the potato sack, or try a partner race.  

Playground Workout

Take your kids to the park and use the playground equipment as a gym. This is a fun way for kids to be active and learn to use their muscles through play. Adults can also use the equipment to squeeze in some exercise! Try the following workout for a quick strength session while your kids have fun, and maybe invite your kids to give it a try too. Modeling exercise is a great way to have your kids grow up with healthy lifestyles.

Pull-ups or chin-ups 

Use the monkey bars or any overhead bar/beam that you can reach.

Push-ups 

You can also take advantage of the playground to perform incline and decline push-ups by either elevating your hands or feet respectively on a piece of equipment, platform, or bench.

Single leg split squats

Put one leg out in front while elevating the back foot on a bench or piece of playground equipment. Then squat down using the front leg to lower and raise yourself.

Outdoor Adventure

Go explore a nearby park, forest, or take a deep dive into your backyard! Pretend that you’re on a safari or guided adventure where you’re looking for animals, plant life, and of course treasure!

Start with picking out your favorite park with large amounts of green space. A few great ones in the Des Moines area are Greenwood Park, Browns Woods, Walnut Woods state park, or Raccoon River Park.

Start your adventure with a good walk and remember to let your imaginations and curiosity go free. Eventually start looking for all types of creatures like bugs, frogs, turtles, birds, and other forest creatures. Once you find one, do an exercise that replicates the animal’s movement (crawl, hop, jump) as the animal does. Having trouble finding these animals? No problem. While looking for them you can pretend to be one. What better way to find a frog or grasshopper than by moving like one!

Find fun ways to use the natural surroundings to be an obstacle course. Ducking, climbing, and jumping over tree limbs.  Jumping up on large rocks or hopping from rock to rock to get across a path or cross a stream or find low hanging but sturdy branches that you can climb and swing on.

Read and Walk

The pond by the West Des Moines Library is a great place to walk. One fun and unique thing about walking here is the storybook pages they have that go along the trail. As you’re walking you’ll come to stands that have one or two pages of a storybook. Stop to have your kids read these and then keep walking to find the next one. This trail loops all the way around the pond which also has some fun art installations to look at and the trail also links up with a nearby park with playground equipment. Enjoy the walk and then stop into the library to read a good book!

If you are looking for other ways to get outside and exercise or need a more convenient time-saving way to exercise like having a trainer come to your home or outdoor location of choice, contact Fitness Nomad. You can find them at fitnessnomadllc.com or call them at 515-229-4625.

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