How to Exercise with Your Preschooler
You may be motivated to drop a few pounds or get in better shape -- but you're not the only one who needs to stay active to maintain your health. Your preschooler needs plenty of physical activity. In fact, the National Association for Sport and Physical Education recommends that preschoolers get at least 60 minutes of structured physical activity every day. That's not going to involve taking your little one along to your aerobics class -- but that doesn't mean you don't have options for doing fun fitness activities together.
Things You'll Need
- Stereo
- Swim gear
- Athletic shoes
- Athletic balls and equipment
- Jogging stroller
Instructions
Turn on some fun music in the morning and have a dance party right in the living room. This can help your child get some of her energy out before she heads to preschool -- and helps you get in the morning workout that can set the tone for the rest of the day. Sign up for a parent and child fitness class, such as swimming or dance. The classes often have more complicated moves for parents to follow, helping parents get in a better workout. If yours doesn't, use your time to the fullest. Kick your legs or run in the water while your child is practicing her kicks on the side of the pool, or add in extra lunges and squats while your child is doing her dance routine. Teach your child some basic sports skills. Preschoolers are not too young to start learning the basics of soccer, basketball or other sports, and those sports also involve a lot of running. Challenge your child to a game in which you both try to score points, or do drills that have you and your child kicking or throwing balls around rapidly. Use the jungle gym as your own personal gym. Do pull-ups on the side bars, and head across the monkey bars for even more of an upper-body workout. Run up and down the ladders, or just do a high-intensity interval workout by running around the perimeter of the playground while your preschooler plays. High-intensity interval training involves doing bouts of sprinting followed by bouts of recovery. Sprint for 30 seconds, then walk for 30 seconds, repeating the cycle a total of eight times. Buy a jogging stroller and walk or run as much as you'd like. The beauty of this option is that you can do it during nap time or any time when your preschooler needs a little bit of downtime. You could even combine it with your playground workout to get even more exercise in a single day.
