Fun Ways to Get your Kids to Be Active While Homeschooling

Sitting at a desk isn’t good for anyone, we all need to more our bodies and get some exercise. This is especially true for children, who are sitting down completing schoolwork for hours during the day or sitting in front of screens doing schoolwork or playing video games. Being active can help children learn and focus better. Here are some ideas and fun ways to get your kids to be active while homeschooling.

Fun Ways to Get your Kids to Be Active

Getting children active in engaging ways can help boost the productivity of your homeschool day. Plus, building good exercising habits is a great process that starts at home. Use these tips to build healthy habits in your family, and help your children get off to a great start!

Get Outside In The Yard

There is nothing better than getting outside and breathing in the fresh air, while getting a healthy dose of vitamin D. Here, not only do you have the space and freedom to move and have fun, it is a great place for learning and getting some exercise. There are many activities while involve both learning and exercise which are also engaging.

• Heading out for a walk or run before starting lessons for the day is a great way to run off excess energy before sitting down to complete some bookwork
• While outside, children can practice reviewing and memorising things such as Bible verses, their times tables, poetry or the flags and countries of the world while swinging, jumping rope or walking down the sidewalk, rolling around on roller-skates or a skateboard or even bouncing a ball 
• They can practice writing their spelling words with chalk on the driveway or in the sandpit 
• Read aloud while sitting in a tree or in a ‘natural’ cubby house they have built
• Complete nature journals or note booking pages such as these Butterfly Notebooking Pages
• Help out in the garden while recording the details of what they have planted in this Gardening Journal
• Use these exercise and fitness cards to use up some of their energy, and have fun while exercising

Productive Indoor Spaces and Lessons

Some days, it isn’t possible to get outside, but that doesn’t mean that kids don’t have to stop doing some exercise activity.

• Find a place inside where kids can burn off some energy like a basement, rumpus room or even the garage. Here they can ride scooters, skates, jump on a mini trampoline, hula hoop or bounce around on hopper balls.
• Create a cubby house under the dining room table
• Use equipment such as swivelling chairs for homeschooling
• Chalkboards or whiteboards are great for lessons, as they require children to stand up and practice writing on a vertical surface.
• Play indoor games such as tossing bean bags while reciting lessons, poetry, Bible verses and times tables
• Complete stretching exercises to help burn off energy
• Do hands-on lessons with clay, playdough, salt dough, Lego, crafts, or simple science experiments 
• Turn on music and have a dance party

One of the great things about homeschooling is that you can create a schedule that works for you and your children, tailoring it to suit their needs and interests.

Hopefully this list will give you some ideas as well as inspire you to come up with some great creative solutions to help your children get active during the day.