10 Easy Exercises To Do With Your Children

Photo by Valeria Ushakova from Pexels

My childhood was vastly different than Rei’s childhood will be. We didn’t have a bunch of electronics around us every minute of the day. If we wanted something to do, we had to go outside and find a way to entertain ourselves. This naturally kept me, my siblings, and my cousins pretty active.

Given what I do for work, it’s safe to say I’m still pretty active. As a family we’re pretty active in general, Hunter and I make it a point to go on family walks daily (Weather Permitting), and we enjoy hiking and being outdoors in general. So thankfully, Rei is off to a good start on the being active side of things.

Building Good Habits

As a personal trainer a huge passion of mine is obviously to encourage fitness as a lifestyle and a habit for my clients. If we dig a bit deeper my drive behind why I chose this path is to help fight obesity and unhealthy habits at home. The easiest way to do this is to impact the household as a whole, so mama’s this article is for you. Take in the info, go home, and get your children involved in your workouts. 

At this point you’re probably thinking that I’m slightly crazy: Is she seriously telling me to exercise with my kids? I get it, when you exercise its more than likely time that you use to decompress, a small semblance of time for just you in your hectic life. But I’ve learned that if Rei is with me when I’m doing a workout, he wants to do it too (His squats are picture perfect by the way). I honestly think it’s a great example to set for our children. When they see us as their parents and role models taking care of ourselves, they’ll want to do it too, and that will stick with them through life. Build good habits now, and they’ll have the habits for life.

Now these aren’t my typical high intensity workouts, these are easy low impact exercises that you can do with your children. These are intended to introduce your children to fitness and give them a chance to have fun with it. The key is to ensure good form, as learning to do it right is a crucial step. 

So below are some of my favorite exercises to do with children. And just so we’re clear, no Rei doesn’t do all of these with me. Rei’s still too small to do all of this, but my nephew is 9 and he loves to take part.

Easy First Exercises

1. Planking

Put your elbows on the floor, raise up on the tips of your toes, and keep your back straight and your abs tight in a line. Hold that position as long as you can. 30 seconds is pretty good if your kids can hold it that long.

2. Squats

Put your feet a shoulders’ width apart and do deep knee bends as if you’re sitting down on an invisible box. Put your arms out. Make sure your knees don’t extend past your toes.

3. Push-ups

Keep your abs tight and your back straight; you can do this with a straight or bent knee. It’s important that your hands are flat on the ground, fingers extended. Keep your hands about shoulder width apart.

4. Crunches

Sit-ups, but not all the way from the floor to knee. Just curl your chest toward your knees.

5. Lunges

Take a step. Touch your back knee to the floor, and make sure your front knee doesn’t extend past the toes.

6. Hello Dollies

Lie on your back. Keeping your abs tight, raise your feet just barely off the floor and open your legs wide (Like scissors), now bring your feet back together, that’s 1, rinse and repeat. Shoot for 10 then bring your legs down to the ground slow and controlled.

7. Burpees

These are a great full body exercise, if you have children who play sports and they aren’t doing these. Get them started now, I promise it will help. Squat, then put your hands to the ground. Kick your legs straight back behind you, landing on your toes. Then do a push-up, bring your legs back underneath you, and jump straight up off the floor. That’s one.

8. Mountain Climbers

I HATE these, in a good way. These are honestly Hunters favorite, and for good reason. These are a struggle to do a lot of. Start in a push-up position, then alternate bringing one foot at a time forward toward your armpit and then extend it back out. It almost looks like a stationary bear crawl.

9. Flutter Kicks

Lie on your back. Keeping your abs tight, raise your feet just barely off the floor and kick them (Just like you’re swimming), left then right, rinse and repeat. Shoot for 10 with each leg (total of 20) then bring your legs down to the ground slow and controlled.

10. V-ups

This one’s like a sit-up, but in the shape of a V. Lie back, extend your arms out above your head on the floor, then lift your legs and raise your torso and hands until you make a V. Reach toward your feet, then back down again.

I wouldn’t suggest jumping right in to doing all 10 exercise with your children, make it a game. Have them draw three exercises from a hat, or pick 3 random numbers between 1 & 10. They key here is to get your children active in a way that is enjoyable and encourages them to WANT to do it. 

Are you looking to build healthy habits for you and your family? Have you struggled to figure out the best way to introduce a healthy change that lasts a lifetime?

Luckily for you, that's exactly what I do!

Fill out the quick form below to learn more!!