New year, new start, new exercises! The start of a new year brings with it many opportunities for starting afresh. It’s hard to get the family exercising together but here are 10 games and ideas that make exercise for kids fun – and that you will all enjoy together!

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It can be hard for busy parents to ensure their kids are active every day, so here are some top tips for exercise for kids, getting children moving in ways that are easy to organise and easy on the wallet and fun!

According to safefood, four out of five children in Ireland do not get the recommended 60 minutes of exercise on a daily basis, and it is no surprise that as a result, one in four children is carrying extra weight.

The fun games suggested below are designed to be fast and free and can involve the whole family. Children of all abilities can take part, and the objective isn’t to find the best, the fastest or the strongest child – it is merely about getting out, having fun and achieving a healthier, more active lifestyle. Here are 10 Fun Games to get the whole family exercising.

Exercise for Kids – and Make it Fun!

#1. Musical Creepy Crawlies

Have a game of musical creepy crawlies. You will need one adult to start and stop the music.

Have everyone lie on their backs with arms and legs wiggling in the air. When the music stops, jump up. The last one up is out!

#2. Obstacle Course

Get the whole family running, jumping, skipping, hopping and crawling with a fun obstacle course. See who can complete it the quickest, and challenge yourself to beat your own time.

#3. Penguin Shuffle

Stand side by side, with a bean bag or something soft resting on your feet. Shuffle across the floor in a penguin-like fashion. The first person to the other side wins.

#4. Tug-Of-War

All you need is a rope and two teams! Try different teams among the family to see which combination is the strongest.

#5. Hit the Deck

Using a deck of cards, one person selects a card and the family do a different activity for each suit.

So e.g. 5 Jumping Jacks for Hearts, 5 Burpees for Diamonds and so on.

Looking For More?

Download our fun Kids What’s Your Name Exercise Challenge – they get to do fun exercises for the letters of their name!

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#6. Tightrope Walk

Find a line or put out a rope that you can walk along as your tightrope. Walk one foot right in front of the other without falling off the line or rope. See how many times each person can walk the tightrope without falling off.

#7. Freeze Tag

When the person who is “It” tags you, you must freeze in your exact position.

Frozen people can be freed if another player crawls through their legs. The game ends when everyone is frozen.

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#8. Cotton Wool Race

Each player starts with a bowl of cotton wool balls. At the end of the garden is an empty bowl for each player. Using a spoon, players must move all the cotton wool balls to the empty bowl, one at a time.

#9. Family Frisbee

One of the easiest and most fun games to play, get the family together in the garden for a game of Frisbee

#10. Blob Tag

When the person who is “It” tags someone, they join hands and chase the others together. Eventually you have the whole family (the Blob) chasing one or two. The game ends when the Blob has caught everyone.

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