Activities by Season

Yearlong Activities

Being active is essential to a healthy lifestyle for children and families. There are great activities yearlong. Find one that suits your lifestyle. Here are a few ideas to get started:

1. Ride a stationary bike
2. Make an obstacle course
3. Mighty marsupials - make a jumping pad out of bubble wrap and measure how far you can jump
4. Create an audio tape or CD of your favorite music to listen to while you’re being active
5. Play flashlight limbo
6. Play follow the leader
7. Water bottle bowling
8. Stomp dance
9. Lost sneaker race
10. Create your own exercise video
11. Adopt a space and collect trash
12. Paper plate Frisbee
13. Solo soccer – with the help of an adult, fasten a soccer ball to rope and attach it to a post. You can do the same thing with other balls.
14. Make a sled out of a carpet remnant
15. National TV Turnoff Week ( 3rd week in April)
16. Make a jump rope
17. Make and fly a kite
18. Pong ball
19. Use a yoga (resistance) ball
20. Juggle scarves
21. Walk the family pet
22. Stretch
23. Micro-golf – a home-made version of indoor mini golf
24. Tae-balloon kickboxing

Reference: Sweet, Julia E. 365 Activities for Fitness, Food, and Fun for the Whole Family. Contemporary Books; 2001.

Fall and Spring Activities

1. Freeze tag
2. Flashlight tag
3. Capture the flag
4. Hide and seek
5. Scavenger hunt
6. Dodge ball
7. Obstacle courses
8. Relay races
9. Wheelbarrow races
10. Kickball
11. Climb trees
12. Playing on a jungle gym (climbing, swinging, etc)
13. Trampolines-this is actually a very intense activity if children have one
14. Nature walks/hikes (look at the changing leaves)
15. Corn mazes (in the fall)
16. Create a garden (spring)
17. Golf (driving range or actual golfing)
18. Indoor climbing walls
19. River rafting
20. Paintball
21. Rollerblading

Most activities you do in the summer can be modified to fit the fall and spring seasons. Be aware of changing temperatures and altered hours of daylight.

Be creative. Most activities can be modified to be more physically active.

Summer Activities

1. Freeze tag
2. Flashlight tag
3. Capture the flag
4. Hide and seek
5. Water balloon toss or fight
6. Dodge ball
7. Badminton
8. Obstacle courses
9. Relay races
10. Wheelbarrow races
11. Kickball
12. Climb trees
13. Swimming
14. Playing on a jungle gym (climbing, swinging, sliding)
15. Trampolines

Some of these ideas may not seem very active, such as hide and seek or a water balloon toss, but it depends on how the games are played. All can become quite active.

Other activities, such as Capture the Flay and kickball, could be played at large family gatherings, school, or summer camps.

Winter Activities

1. Ice skating
2. Ice hockey
3. Snowball throwing contest
4. Build a snow fort/igloo/cave
5. Snow-ball (played like softball, only in the snow)
6. Walking/hiking
7. Sledding
8. Playing in the snow
9. Skiing
10. Snow tubing
11. Snow shoeing
12. Snowboarding
13. Jump snow hurdles – Lightly pack a bunch of basketball-size snowballs and then use them to build a course of hurdles to jump over in a round of follow-the-leader.
14. Build a snowman.
15. Snow flag football
16. Tobogganing

For more ideas, check The Kids Winter Handbook by Jane Drake, Ann Love, and Heather Collins.