14 Exercise Options for Kids to Help Keep Your Entire Family Moving

Exercises for kids

For Kids

During this unprecedented time when most of this country is on “pause,” the biggest challenges for both adults and kids will be staying active and motivated. With pent-up energy and emotions running high and with routines in flux, making physical activity a part of your family’s routine can help diffuse tension, lift spirits, and re-establish a sense of normalcy.

How do we begin with this daunting task ahead of us? Here are some great videos which are exercises for kids to help shift things into high gear on this one.

Fun Exercises For Younger Kids

Make time for family dance parties or walks. Be open to dropping what you happen to be doing for impromptu games of tag, if possible. Beyond that, these free online exercises for kids videos, generally suitable for pre-K through third-grade kids, also deliver equal doses of movement and fun.

Cosmic Kids Yoga

This popular YouTube channel engages kids with themed adventures and fantastical backdrops. Most are in the 10- to 30-minute range. Cute characters (The Very Hungry Caterpillar,Betsy the Banana) and popular stories (Frozen) are cleverly woven into the yoga instruction.

Fitness Blender

Fitness Blender, which is on our list of 15 free workout options for adults, has a 25-minute kids workout which incorporates games like Red Light, Green Light. It is most appropriate for ages three and up. You just have to remember to move along at your own pace.

Movement for Kids with Jaime

This series (part of the audio fitness app Aaptiv’s new collection of family-friendly workouts, posting daily to YouTube) features brightly patterned yoga mats and fun themes.

Pancake Manor

This YouTube channel of music for kids has a collection of short action songs for the pre-school set that will get antsy bodies up and moving.

Spiderfitkids PE in your Living Room

Spiderfitkids founder Brett Klika hosts 20-minute Facebook Live PE classes (weekdays at 11 a.m. Pacific) that he then posts on Instagram. These workouts are great exercises for kids 5 and up.

Fun Challenges For Older Kids

Prying older kids away from the TV and video games for exercise can be especially tough. Hence, it helps to get a little imaginative when doing it.

If you want to turn screen time into active time, these videos keep their juices flowing without missing a beat while they are exercising.

Alo Yoga Kids Yoga & Meditation from Alo Gives

Alo Gives (the philanthropic arm of yoga-wear brand Alo) has published roughly 60 videos. Each of them are about five minutes long and are for kids. Sometimes this is even too long for a kid to focus on inner harmony within oneself but one must not give up on hope.

Double Time

This eight-session series includes playful grab-a-partner sequences and upbeat ball workouts (a kickball or soccer ball will do).

Family Fitness with Wes

Another video from Aaptiv, this 24-minute partner workout is designed for parents and kids to do together. It almost, but not quite, makes burpees and squats a little more fun.

Go Noodle

Go Noodle mixes movement with learning. Look for lessons on patterns and handwashing, as well as a workout (just under two minutes) hosted by tennis star Madison Keys. Expect things to get pretty silly to keep the little ones entertained.

P.E. with Joe

Joe Wicks, popular host of YouTube’s The Body Coach TV, is currently streaming a new 30-minute workout for millions of kids and parents every weekday. He started the Body Coach TV with a goal to offer free home workouts to everyone, no matter what their fitness levels.

Shaun T’s Fit Kids Club “Cool Moves”

Another offering from the Beachbody brand, the high-energy 25-minute “Cool Moves” video is part workout, part dance party. Kids join Shaun T and other gym buddies in learning too-cool-for-school steps like the Dust & Wave and the Snake It.

Conditioning Strategies For Kids Who Play Sports

With sports seasons delayed or cancelled, children who are into sports most likely miss their teammates as much as they miss the physical activity.

To make training more fun and social, they can share their accomplishments with teammates via Google Hangouts or some other similar service. Videos such as the following can help with motivation, too.

ActiveKids.com

This site offers cardio- and strength-building exercises that are relevant for all sorts of sports and activities. Mix and match the exercises found here to create a challenging DIY workout.

StandUp Kids

StandUp Kids is a nonprofit founded by noted mobility expert Kelly Starrett of The Ready State. Their Movement Break Curriculum or “brain breaks” are classroom-based physical activity programs for kids to get them moving more. Movement energizes kids and increases their ability to focus on the next learning activity. In order for kids to learn, they need to get moving!

Tabata Workout from HASfit

If your kid(s) would like to work out with you, let them. Teens can participate in most, if not all, adult workouts.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of what is available online for your kids. You can do your own google search or search within YouTube for many more offerings of this kind. I have also written an article on this subject just for adults which you can find here.

If you found this list interesting or would like to offer a suggestion of your own, please feel free to leave a comment.