The cold, snowy weather often causes people to stay inside, where eating and the use of electronics are more likely to occur. While it’s okay to be lazy every once in a while, doing this day after day is unhealthy. Children need fresh air and exercise. How can you get your family outside and moving this winter? Here are a few activities that may grasp your kids’ attention.
5 Ways to Get Your Family Outside This Winter
Arrange a Scavenger Hunt
If your kids go to private school, they’re likely used to small class sizes, as 87% of them contain less than 300 students. This means that solving a puzzle with just one or two siblings would be feasible for your children to accomplish. Arrange a scavenger hunt for your kids to solve. Leave notes in spots around your house and in your backyard, with each clue leading to another. Each clue may require your kids to complete a task or activity, such as playing HORSE at the basketball hoop, making snow angels, or climbing the jungle gym. These tasks will not only get your kids moving, but they’ll have to work together to solve the puzzle, too.
Try Snoeshowing
If you live in a snowy area, perhaps you’ve tried snowshoeing before. If you haven’t, though, now’s a perfect time. Snowshoeing is a lot of work, but it’s also a lot of fun! Take your kids to a local park to practice. You may attempt walking in trails, where you can enjoy some winter scenery all the while having conversations with your family members. This activity is light and fun but also requires exercise, which is a perfect combination for some outdoor winter fun.
Play a Game of Baseball
While playing soccer may be difficult in the snow, a game of baseball can be relatively easy. Set up some makeshift bases in your backyard or at a local park, and dig out the gloves and bats in your garage or basement storage. However, don’t use your shaved bats. They don’t do well in cold temperatures, especially if it’s colder than 65 degrees outside. Be sure batters and catchers wear helmets to avoid injury. A game of baseball will get your kids running around, and it also requires some healthy competition. You may ask other kids in your neighborhood to join in as well.
Build a Snow Fort
How else can your kids get some fresh air in the snowy weather? Build a snow fort with that packing snow in your backyard! Bundle up your kids in snow gear and provide some helpful digging and building tools, such as small shovels. Your kids may choose to build an open or an enclosed fort. They may even get creative with the style of their snow fort. Castles and igloos are popular models your kids can look to making themselves.
If your kids are involved in sports, be sure they’re careful. You don’t want a twisted ankle to affect your child’s skiing season or a fractured wrist to ruin your kid’s basketball season. Pre-participation physical exams are often performed six to eight weeks before a sports season begins so that health care providers have time to address concerns and book necessary follow-up exams. Remind your kids of this before they get started!
Rent a Camper
If you want to get your kids outside in the winter, here’s an idea that’s outside of the box: rent a camper and host a camping extravaganza in your very own backyard! While this is a pricey venture, you may find it worth the money, or you may even consider making a long-term investment by buying a camper instead. On chilly winter evenings, a camper allows your children to enjoy typical camping activities, such as making s’mores, telling spooky stories, and singing campfire songs. Then, everyone can sleep in the warmth of a camper instead of a tent during the cold nights. Camping is a great way to spend quality time as a family.
Even during the cold winter months, it’s important for your children to get outside, get fresh air, and get exercise. Watching a movie and cuddling up with hot cocoa can always be a nice treat after solving a scavenger hunt, snowshoeing, playing baseball, or building a snow fort.
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