12 Beneficial & Fun Exercises for Kids

Exercising is not only a vital habit to improve physical and mental health but also an entertaining and skill-building activity for kids.

The recommended daily amounts of regular exercise for kids to stay healthy and improve their development are as follows:

• Toddlers - 60 minutes of active play
• Preschoolers - 120 minutes of daily activity
• Children and teens - One hour of muscle strengthening three times a week in addition to 60 minutes of daily exercise.

If you're ready to adapt regular exercise into your child's daily routine, here are some fun exercises for kids to stay active and healthy! 🤸

6 Exercises for Kids to Do at Home

Exercising indoors can be a good option for your kids to stay active and healthy when the weather isn't ideal, or when they have limited time.

The following are some of the most enjoyable exercises for kids at home.

1. MentalUP Exercises for Kids App

Incorporating exercise plans into children's routines while respecting their interests and habits is key to sustaining their development. An exercise library that is fun and always accessible from many different devices is a great way to encourage children surrounded by digital possibilities.

The MentalUP Exercises for Kids App supports the development of children of all ages holistically, with the exercises it offers in different categories, such as cardio, stretching, balance, strength, and fun exercises, and helps them gain healthy habits.

2. Superman Holds

Children often imagine themselves as Superman, as they are impressed by Superman's relentless passion for justice, strength, and famous flying style.

Here is an opportunity for you to enable them to perform their exercise routine while fulfilling their dreams!

Superman holds is a bodyweight exercise that targets the muscles in the back, shoulders, and hips.

How to:

• Lie facedown on a mat or soft surface with your arms extended in front of you.
• Lift your arms, chest, and legs off the ground by contracting your core muscles.
• Hold this position for a few seconds and then slowly return to the starting position.
• You can set your goal based on the number of repetitions or time.

3. Windmills

When you observe children for a while, you will sometimes find that they are waving their arms just for fun. Turning this move into a targeted and muscle strengthening exercise increases its benefits but does not lessen the fun!

The windmill exercise is one of the best arm exercises for kids that also works the muscles in the core, hips, and shoulders. If you need to know how to improve balance and be powerful, you can use this exercise.

How to:

• Stand with your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart and open your arms to the sides.
• Contract your core muscles and bend your upper body to reach toward your right foot with your left hand.
• At the same time, extend your right arm straight up.
• Return to the starting position and repeat the movement with your right hand reaching your left foot.

4. Squats

Squats are a popular aerobic exercise that works the muscles in your legs, including the quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves primarily. They can also help strengthen your core and back muscles.

At first glance, this exercise looks very similar to sitting on a chair, with the only difference being that the chair is invisible and gets shorter and shorter. Feel free to use this analogy while encouraging kids to exercise as it makes the exercise so entertaining for them!

How to:

• Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and stretch your arms out in front of you. This is an essential step in maintaining your balance during exercise.
• Imagine that you are sitting in a chair. Bend your knees and hips to lower your body.
• Make sure to keep your back straight and put all your weight on your heels.
• Hold your body down for a while.
• Then push your body up with your heels to return to the starting position.

5. Yoga

Yoga is a great way for kids to improve their physical and mental well-being.It helps them become stronger and more flexible, improves their balance and coordination, and lowers their stress levels.

Yoga is also fun and a good way for kids to get regular exercise. It can also help them improve their focus, self-awareness, and mindfulness.

How to:

• To practice yoga, you must find a quiet and comfortable space to relax your mind.
• There are many different types of yoga practices. You can learn these practices from a trainer or through tutorial videos.
• The first step in yoga is to take a comfortable sitting position, such as an easy pose.
• Once you're in position, take a few deep breaths and focus only on your breathing while you're at it.
• As you feel relaxed, perform a series of poses, starting with the simple ones and gradually moving on to the more challenging and complex ones.

6. Mountain Climbers

Famous for its ease of performance and unique benefits, mountain climbers are one of the easy exercises for kids that work muscles in the arms, shoulders, back, and core.

Kids love when an activity they're already enjoying turns into exercise. Surprise! This cardiovascular exercise is inspired by a vital skill we often use in our daily lives–climbing.

How to:

• To begin, we must first get into the plank position.
• To do this, place your hands directly under your shoulders and extend your body straight from your head to your feet.
• Once in the plank position, contract your core muscles and pull your right knee toward your chest.
• Return to the plank and repeat the exercise with your left knee.
• Keep switching legs until you reach your goal.

6 Outside Exercises for Kids

Exercising outdoors is vital for strong bones and a healthy immune system. Because these exercises allow children to get fresh air and synthesize vitamin D with the effect of sunlight. In addition, outdoor exercises provide a variety of group activities for socialization.

The following are some fun and simple exercises for kids to perform outside.

1. Exercising With MentalUP

If you want to support the benefits of fresh air and sunlight for the development of your children with fun exercise programs, you can introduce them to MentalUP, the easiest and most efficient way to support their development.

You can benefit from MentalUP's comprehensive outdoor activities for kids and workout plans, which are created from a unique mix of hundreds of fun exercises in 5 different categories.

2. Hula Hooping

Are you looking for exercises to lose weight for kids? Hula hooping is one of the good exercises for kids in which a person swings a hoop around their waist, usually accompanied by music or rhythm.

It has been popular for many years as a fun exercise and is loved by people of all ages, but this exercise is even more special for kids as they can make it a part of their colorful world.

This exercise is also an enjoyable way to improve coordination, balance, and muscles.

How to:

• To start the hula-hoop, lower the hoop down to your waist with your feet hip-width apart.
• Begin to rotate it around your waist, using your hips to move the hoop in a circular motion.
• As you master the hula hoop, you can make the exercise more challenging and exciting with advanced moves, such as moving the hoop up and down your body.

3. Sponge Water Relay Race

It is well known that children have a lot of fun playing with water. Running around with a sponge filled with water on a pleasant summer day offers a little more fun than that.

Sponge water relay races are often used as a fun and exciting way to promote teamwork and physical activity for kids.

This competitive and exciting game also helps children develop many skills, such as speed, acceleration, balance, strategic thinking, and concentration.

How to:

• Two teams line up on opposite sides of a playing court.
• Each team starts the game at the same time with a signal.
• The first players on each team dip the sponge into a bucket of water.
• Then, these players run to the empty bucket at the other end of the field, and when they reach it, they squeeze the sponge into it.
• Then they return and give the sponge to the next players.
• The first team to completely fill the bucket at the other end wins the race.

4. Scavenger Hunt

Adventure-filled movies, TV series, or books have always been the focus of attention of children. Finding themselves right in the middle of the adventure is even more fun than watching or reading them.

Scavenger hunts are a unique outdoor game where players must search for and find a list of objects individually or in groups. This activity, which can improve children's social and cognitive skills such as strategic thinking, memory, focus, and hand-eye coordination, is also one of the perfect cool down exercises for kids.

How to:

• To start hunting, it is necessary to decide on the theme, rules, and location limits of the game and to create a list of tasks and a clue sheet.
• After the rules are fixed, players are given a list and a time limit.
• Players search for items on the list and try to complete the quests.
• In the meantime, players can use hints to help them find what they are looking for.
• At the end of the time limit, players return to the starting point and compare what they have found or completed.
• The team or person with the highest score wins the game.

5. Frankenstein Walk

While the Frankenstein walk is one of the best leg exercises for kids, it is also quite enjoyable.

Have you ever seen Dr. Frankenstein's monster walking? He is an iconic book and movie character, but also a good exerciser.

Especially if your child knows this character from any movie or book, they will enjoy it more with the help of their imagination. You can even paint their faces green with reliable materials to increase the fun!

How to:

• Stand with your legs together.
• Simultaneously extend your right arm forward and lift your left leg up.
• Try to touch your toe with your hand while performing this move.
• Repeat the exercise, alternating sides, until you reach your goal.

6. Red Light, Green Light

This exciting game, which has recently become notorious with a TV series, has actually been played with pleasure by children from various cultures for many years.

If we focus on the game itself rather than its reflection on the famous TV series, we realize that it is an innocent group exercise that improves muscles, balance, focus, reaction speed, and hand-eye coordination.

This game also helps you teach your kids one of the essential social responsibilities: understanding the meaning of traffic lights.

How to:

• When starting the game, one player is chosen as the "traffic light".
• The player in the traffic light role stands at one end of a playing field and looks at the other players standing at the opposite end.
• When the traffic light says “green light!” players try to reach the other end of the playing field as quickly as possible. They can use many methods to achieve their goals, such as running, jumping, or even rolling if there is a clean and safe surface.
• When the traffic light says “red light!” players must freeze without making the slightest movement.
• The first player to reach the traffic light by moving during the green light wins the game.

Benefits of Exercises for Kids

Improved Physical Health

Exercise can help improve a child's overall physical health. At the same time, physical activity sustainably increases physical performance by contributing to the development of fine and gross motor skills.

It can help maintain a healthy weight, improve cardiovascular health, and build strong muscles and bones. In this way, many diseases can be prevented.

Improved Mental Health

The physical benefits of exercise are often overemphasized, and its other benefits are overlooked. But exercise can also have a positive, long-lasting effect on children's mental health.

Exercise can reduce stress and anxiety, stabilize mood, and boost self-esteem for kids. Thus, they become much more mentally resistant to complex challenges in social relationships and daily life routines.

Healthy Habits

Exercise can help children develop lifelong healthy habits, such as successfully establishing regular routines and developing a positive perspective towards physical activity.

Most adults shape a healthy and active lifestyle and achieve long-lasting physical fitness through exercise habits they developed during childhood.

Cognitive & Social Skill Development

Exercise can provide children with the opportunity to accelerate their own cognitive development and learn a lot by interacting with others. This can help them improve their social skills as well as their cognitive skills, such as concentration, memory, and problem solving.

Frequently Asked Questions About Exercises for Kids