By, Erick Fountain
Marketing Support, Benefit Intelligence
May is National Family Wellness Month, a month to focus on each other’s health and well-being by being active together after a cold winter. With the weather warming up and school coming to an end, it is the perfect time of year to get out in the sun to achieve and maintain family wellness. There’s effectively an unlimited number of ways for you and your family to get fit. If you are having trouble with figuring out fun activities to do with the family, then you’re in the right place.
Exercising and being active should be a no-brainer. With businesses opening back up and expanded capacity is taking place nationwide, going to the gym a great solution, and some gyms even offer kid-friendly family classes. Most gyms also have a kid’s center where they’ll watch your little ones during your workout; which is nice but that’s not exactly quality family time together. The gym might not be the best option for setting a family-oriented active lifestyle for the whole family, especially if you have young kids. While others may not yet be comfortable heading back to local gyms.
Let’s focus on a few family-friendly activities to do together that do not require a gym membership such as:
- Biking
- Hiking
- Throwing a ball – or playing Balloon Tennis
- Walking
- Roller skating
- Going to the park
- A Family concert at the house with lots of dancing and singing
- Meditation sessions
Here is a list of 38 more fun activities for the whole family.
Building an obstacle course is another fun activity that gets everyone moving. Have them crawl under a row of chairs, toss rolled-up socks into laundry baskets, jump over pillows, the possibilities are endless! ‘Race Against the Clock’ is an easy game to get most younger children excited. Time them doing mini-challenges like retrieving toys or running across the yard. Try animal charades where you take turns hopping like a bunny, walking like a crab, or galloping like a horse, then guessing the animals.
Make family game nights more active. For game night, try playing games or activities that require you to move around. Simon Says is a great game to get everyone moving with active commands like jumping, running, crawling, jumping jacks, etc. Here are multiple lists of games that will get everyone moving.
Planting a garden is a great way for the family to spend more time in nature and get kids excited about being outdoors. Caring for plants gives your children a reason to get outside each day and gives them a sense of responsibility. Learning how to grow a garden also teaches the food system, while harvesting your bounty encourages healthy eating habits.
Setting achievable goals will make your fitness journey feel more rewarding and can also help keep you motivated as a family. The key is to set achievable goals and to not set too many goals at once.
Check out this article on How to Set SMART Goals.
SMART goals make it easier to set and achieve the goals that you would like to accomplish in life. You can start with simple family-oriented goals such as, “Dinner will always include at least 2 different vegetables” or “Go on a mile-long family walk before 7 PM”. Planning family fitness evenings on certain days of the week can also help you keep your family on track with their fitness goals. Having a family fitness day on certain days of the week will make exercising easier and easier the longer you do it as it will eventually form into a healthy habit.
If your family is competitive, consider starting a family fitness challenge. This is a great way to keep everyone motivated with staying active and healthy.
Having trouble with getting your family into fitness? Check out this article for some tips on encouraging your family to get active.
The best tip for how to encourage your family to workout is to simply have fun and developing healthy habits that become quality family time spent together. If you are the driving force around the activities of the family, they will typically join in and establish those exercising habits without it feeling like it’s a workout.