5 Fun Fitness & Exercise Challenge Ideas for Kids
If you’re looking for ways to get your kids outside and actively playing, then look no further – here we’ve put together a short list of some of our favourite ways for encouraging children to regularly exercise and live a healthy lifestyle.
Enter a Virtual Challenge
If you find that your child easily gets bored and loses interest in exercising, signing them up to a virtual challenge is certainly something to consider.
Virtual challenges task children to either run, walk, cycle or swim a specified number of miles throughout the course of a month, so are great for motivating children to frequently keep active rather than just exercise sporadically. The miles can be completed in however many stints necessary, so it doesn’t matter if your child gets out of breath quickly or isn’t accustomed to exercising for longer periods of time.
Once your child has covered all the miles, at the end of the month they’ll receive a prestigious and unique medal as a reward for their hard work, determination and commitment.
What’s particularly great about virtual challenges is that any child of any ability can participate – the miles range drastically so you can pick a distance most suited to your child and their capabilities. It’s also not a competitive event, meaning your kid can take their time and cover the distance at their own pace without feeling pressured by other children.
If your child manages to complete the virtual challenge, see if they can complete another one the following month but of a further distance!
You can also join in too! View the different adult virtual challenges here.
Find out more about virtual challenges >
Take Part in a Charity Fun Run
Charity fun runs are friendly races that allow people of all ages and abilities to enter for enjoyment purposes rather than competition. They’re extremely popular in the UK and are the ultimate event for parents and kids to complete together.
There’s always a great atmosphere at fun runs and as they’re not timed, you and your child can run as fast or as slow as you like and just enjoy the occasion. A lot of these events are held to raise funds for a charity, which is perfect if there’s one close to your heart, whereas others are just for amusement and getting covered in paint or mud!
As so many people enter, there’s no need for your child to worry that they might be the slowest or least fit as there will be plenty of other people of the same level also taking part.
30 Day Fitness Challenge for Kids
A great method for inspiring your child to continually keep active is to set them a 30-day fitness challenge. You can customise the finer details to suit your preferences, but the general rule is that your child must do some form of exercise every day for 30 days. This can be 20 minutes riding their bike, a 30-minute swimming lesson or even 1 hour playing in the garden – it doesn’t matter what their daily activity is, as long as they’re doing something.
It can be a good idea to create a chart so that you can keep a track and view the progress your child has made.
The key to ensuring your child regularly exercises is to make sure that the activity they’re taking part in is fun, so encourage them decide what each day’s activity is going to be.
Set Them a Goal
It’s quite common for motivation levels to drop when it comes to exercising, so an idea that’ll help your kids stay committed is to set them a specific goal. For example, task them to cycle to school every day for a week or perhaps see if they can improve their swimming so that they manage to complete 10 lengths without stopping to catch their breath before the end of the month.
Offer them a tangible reward so that they have an incentive to work towards and are wanting to achieve their target.
Replace Your Car with Your Bike
It isn’t a challenge as such, but another effective method for helping your children to become more active is to cycle to places you would otherwise drive to. If you’re visiting a friend who only lives 2 miles away, for instance, ride your bike rather than take the car.
This is an easy way for you to incorporate exercise into your day-to-day life without having to go out of your way.
Get Started with Race at your Pace
Here at Race at your Pace, we’re passionate about helping children to enjoy getting outdoors and exercising. Our virtual challenges are enjoyable but challenging, and are perfect for kids looking for an introduction into fitness.
See more: Motivation Tips for Running
See more: Diet & Nutrition Tips for Running