5 Enjoyable Warming Up Exercises for Children

“Statistics prove if the parents can provide their kids with a healthy start during their initial years, the habit stays with them for long, and they naturally tend to make healthy choices regarding their eating or exercising.”

Starting physical activities with aerobics or slow-paced exercises is always better so that the body is gradually adjusted to the heart rate rise. These are some good and fun games for children to warm up.

1. Mirroring:

This is a two-member activity where the children take turns to mimic one another’s actions.

GUIDE:

• You will need two children to create a team and set a 2-minute time limit.
• Tell one of the kids to do things such as raising the hands or feet, or doing basic stretching poses.
• The other member of the team follows the poses done by the previous one.
• The process reverses after two minutes, and the one-child that was performing must now mirror the practices of the other kid.

2. Traffic lights:

The game involves children walking quickly when the instructor/parent says ‘green light’ and slowing the speed when the instructor says ‘ yellow light’ and pausing when they say ‘ red-light. ‘

GUIDE:

• Make the children stand in a line and clarify the sequence in which to walk back to the start line.
• You say out loud — ‘ green light, ‘ ‘ yellow light, ‘or ‘ red-light ‘ depending on your desires as they start walking.
• Repeat until all children are back to their starting point.

3. Simon Says:

In this game, the children are only expected to follow the instruction given to them by the instructor or parent with a prefix, “Simon says.” In addition to being a physical activity, this is also an excellent game for increasing children’s concentration.

GUIDE:

• Make the kids stand in a row and set a 5 minutes time limit to play the game.
• Give them directions according to your choice.
• Play until you have just one winner.

4. Hokey Pokey:

The kids need to move their body parts in this game as the instructor says with the rhyme, “Put your right hand in, put your right hand out, put your right hand in and shake it all about,” and so forth.

GUIDE:

• Make the kids stand in a line, and set a time for playing the game.
• Sing the song that interchanges with every part of the body within.

5. Dance:

For any age group, this is the perfect form of exercise. Dancing calms the mind and exerts each part of the body.

GUIDE:

• Make a list of popular songs.
• Ask the kids to vote for one song.
• Play the song that is most voted and ask the kids to dance to the song.

Staying healthy and fit right from an early age is essential. Incorporating these enjoyable warm-ups into your child’s daily life would enhance the quality of living and make a positive impact on the community.