Exercise Challenge
DID YOU KNOW?…
- That you need at least 1 hour of exercise per day to keep your body healthy?
- That it’s important to drink lots of water when you’re playing hard?
- That everytime you play soccer, basketball, tag, or just run around, you are making your body stronger?
- That when you bend and stretch and crawl, you make your body more flexible?
- That exercise can be fun? Try these challenges and make up your own too!
Ready to start?!…
#1 - ROCKIN’ RELAY RACE
You’ll need 4 to 6 players, so gather your brothers and sisters and friends! Split the group into 2 teams for a tag relay. But instead of just running back and forth, make it more interesting with multiple steps. For example, the first player from each team could start with step one: throw a ball into a box some distance away, then they run to a table to do step two: put a pile of several blocks into a single stack. Next, they run to a designated spot for step three: Hula-hoop while singing the Happy Birthday song.Once the player completes all his tasks, he tags next person, who then follows the same steps. The first team to have all their players complete the challenge wins. Have fun making up your own steps!
#2 - OH BOY, OBSTACLE COURSE!
Use your lawn chairs, cardboard boxes, or cones to set up an obstacle course in your own backyard. Then get the kids to run through it. Try to have at least one place where you will have to run, jump, crawl and climb, along the course. Use a stop watch to see who makes it through in the best time!
#3 - SILLY DICE
You’ll need 2 small square boxes [with blank sides, top and bottom that you can write on]. These will be your dice. On one die, write a different activity on each side, such as “do a cartwheel”, or “walk ten steps backward”. On the other die, write mental challenges, geared to the kids’ ages, such as “say the alphabet”, or spell your name backwards”. Each person rolls the two dice and does the two challenges at the same time, like walking backwards while spelling your name backwards. Great fun!
From “Kids’ Outdoor Parties”, by Penny Warner [Meadowbrook Press]
#4 - FOLLOW THE LEADER
Get into a line, with one leader. The leader can decide what to do–walk, skip, dance, run, hop, crawl, clap his hands, make a funny face?– and every one behind him has to do the same thing. Lead the line around the yard or house for 5 minutes, then switch leaders until everyone has had a turn.