Physical Fitness: Aerobic and Strength Building Workouts

Make your own fitness game!

According to the Government of Canada, “Children and youth aged 5 to 17 should get at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity per day. Physical activity is an important part of healthy living at any age, and it’s essential for children. Making regular physical activity a habit at an early age will provide your child with lifelong benefits.”

Goal:

Get active for 20-60 minutes. This can be done in smaller increments of time throughout the day, or in one block of time (depending on age and engagement).

What you will need: ONE of the materials suggested below

  • A deck of playing cards (or you can make your own out of paper)
  • Dice (anywhere from 1-4 dice)
  • Spinner (you can make this with a piece of paper, pencil, and a paperclip)

Card Game

(adapted from Toronto Blue Jays | Jays Care | Unstoppable Kids Challenges)

  • Think of 4 different exercises for each suit, for example: hearts-jumping jacks, diamonds-squats, spades- push ups, clubs – side jumps.
  • Shuffle the deck and flip a card.
  • The suit tells you what exercise to do and the number on the card tells you how many repetitions of that exercise to do.
    Variations:

    • You can choose to take the face cards out of the deck, or use them as wild cards (you pick the exercise and number of repetitions you will do).
    • Time how long it takes you to finish the whole deck. Work to beat your score.
    • Play until you get one of each card (e.g. numbers 1-10)
    • Try to play until you get one of each card in the same suit!
    • This can be played by yourself or with a family member.

Dice Game

  • Collect some dice. Depending on the child’s age, you may use only one die, or for older children you can use several dice.
  • Create exercises for each number you can roll! For example, if you roll a 2, do 10 jumping jacks, if you roll a 6, do 10 lunges.
    See if you can roll the dice and try every exercise.
  • Variations:
    • If using more than one die, then you can add the numbers together and create more exercises for numbers 7-12, or you do two exercises each time. For example, if you roll a 2 and a 6, you would do 10 jumping jacks and 10 lunges.
    • Pick a target number, such as 100 and when you finish 100 exercises, the game is done.
    • Challenge a family member to a game.

Spinner Game

  • Similar to the card or dice game, choose an exercise for each colour. For example, if the spinner lands on red you do 30 seconds of the plank exercise, or if the spinner lands on blue then you do a minute of jogging on the spot.
  • The game ends when you have landed on every colour.
  • Variations:
    • The game ends when you have done 30 minutes of exercise (or whatever amount of time you have chosen)
    • Have a competition with a family member.