Who knew a time would come when we’d be home with our kids 24/7?
No school. No ballet. No karate. No spring T-ball. Just home. All together. With A LOT of pent-up energy.
Homeschool schedules are flying around, all promising a routine that kids will thrive in. I feel that keeping PE part of every day is possibly the most essential component for success during these unprecedented times — for both kids and parents.
Kids need to move. They need to wiggle and laugh. Play games and breathe fresh air. So, don’t delay in adding some of these at-home PE ideas to your day tomorrow. Morning, noon, and night — get that energy out for better focus, calmer attitudes, and happier kids.
Take a family walk
Time your daily mailbox check with a family walk. But don’t just stroll. Have the kids skip, hop, and lunge. Tell them to race ahead for 10 seconds and then freeze. Practice walking backwards or crab walking.
Splurge on a PlasmaCar
Hands down the best wheeled contraption out there. Hours and hours of fun, inside and out, for kids of all ages.
Explore the backyard with a Five Senses Eye Spy
If you’re blessed with a safe or fenced backyard, send your crew outside with a special exploration task: Find one thing that represents each of your five senses, write it down or remember it, and report back with your expert findings!
Check out GoNoodle
GoNoodle offers movement and mindfulness videos your kids will love! Best of all, you can pop it on the TV and give yourself an official coffee break.
Play Hot Lava
Pull all the towels out of the closet and have your kids lay them end-to-end in a path around the house. The towels are safe and everything else is lava! It will cost you a load of laundry, but the other day it bought me almost an hour. Totally worth it.
Log in to Cosmic Kids Yoga
Cosmic Kids Yoga is all about yoga basics for kids! These themed sessions range from 3 to 30 minutes and will leave your kids begging for more. Themes range from Pokémon to Frozen to Trolls and then some.
Have a dance party
Spotify has so many curated playlists just waiting for a dance party. My kids love the "Disney Favorites" most of all, but tomorrow I’m going to introduce them to the Beach Boys and the Beatles.
Introduce some childhood classics
Order a jump rope, a pogo stick, or hula hoop and let your kids play with some basic fun toys that encourage movement. And if you think chalk-drawn hopscotch can't take up 30 minutes, you'd be surprised!
Create a relay race route
Since many siblings are home together, this is a great way to focus on teamwork. Outline a route outside (or inside if the weather is poor) and get the kids running and cheering!
Build an obstacle course
Hop over the couch, crawl to the table, then under it, balance on one foot for 5 seconds, then slither like a snake down the hallway, jump over a pillow pile, and end with balancing on a line of tape fixed to the floor. Change it up each day and home obstacles courses will never get old.
Play Statue
It’s like freeze tag, but when everyone freezes, they pose like a statue! The tagger gets to choose the best statue and everything begins again.
Teach the Macarena
Oh yes, who needs TikTok dance challenges when you can go old-school? Line dancing and swing are other fun ones you can find on YouTube. Just search “Intro [insert dance name here]" and go to town.
Whisper Simon Says
So much of PE is loud and wild. But when you’re inside, a whisper version of Simon Says is definitely a great option. Shhhhh, can you hear what Simon says?
