Winter Wellness: 5 Ways to Help Your Kids Stay Active this Winter

From playing sports to running around at recess, physical activity is a critical part of your child’s health and well-being. Unfortunately, their activity often lags during the cold winter months when children spend more time indoors. Even during the winter months, it’s important to make sure your child gets the recommended amount of physical activity:

• Children ages 3 to 5 should be physically active on and off throughout the day.

• Children ages 6 to 17 should do an hour of moderate activity (like brisk walking or ballet) to vigorous activity (like running or speed skating) at least three days a week.

Staying active has many health benefits for children, including:

• Promoting physical health

  Winter activities combat seasonal inactivity by helping children keep up their physical fitness. That includes maintaining a healthy weight, strengthening bones, toning muscles and supporting healthy growth.

• Boosting mental wellbeing

  Staying active during winter can improve your child’s mood during colder, darker months. Physical activity can also reduce feelings of anxiety or depression.

• Encouraging family bonding

  Engaging in physical activities helps enhance relationships while promoting a healthy lifestyle. Being active together fosters family connections with meaningful, quality time.

Finding ways to stay active in the colder months, especially when your child doesn’t want to go outside, can be challenging. Here are five ways to help your child get moving this winter:

1. Add Some Extra Movement to Chore Time

Household chores are already a physical activity for your child, which means you can kill two birds with one stone. Here are opportunities to make chores even more active — and more fun for everyone:

• Add quick exercises to housework

  Incorporate jumping jacks, crab walks, bear crawls and more while you and your child work around the house. For example, while folding laundry, have them do a squat or pushup every time they finish folding a piece of clothing.

• Assign chores with more physical activity

  Encourage your child to walk the dog, shovel snow or carry groceries. If they’re too young to do these activities themselves, bring them along with you.

• Include dance breaks

  Turn on some of your child’s favorite music while they’re cleaning to encourage them to move. Or, turn the music on and off at different intervals and remind them that they can’t stop dancing until the song is over.

• Make chores a step challenge

  Clip a pedometer onto your child and challenge them to get as many steps as they can while doing their chores. You don’t need to get a fancy tracker — you can find a simple step counter online.

2. Make Screen Time More Active

One of the biggest problems with too much screen time is that it’s an activity that usually involves a lot of sitting. Add physical activity to screen time by pausing every 10-15 minutes and having your child do jumping jacks or run in place. You could also challenge them to do a certain number of jumping jacks or push-ups every time something happens on the show (like every time Dora says “Swiper, no swiping!” on Dora the Explorer).

If your child has a gaming system like a Wii or Xbox, look for games that involve physical activity, such as dancing. These games are also great to play as a family.

3. Get Moving with Free Workout Videos

There’s no shortage of free workout videos online geared specifically toward children and families. Many of these videos demonstrate age-appropriate activity and have coaches that speak to kids on their level. Many videos also feature children, which allows your child to see other kids are doing it and having fun.

Check out some of these kid-friendly workout videos*:

• Beachbody Kids Workouts

  Beachbody has a series of videos with different themed workouts that focus on everything from cardio dancing to muscle toning.

• KIDZ BOP

  KIDZ BOP has a series of dance-along videos that allow your child to break a sweat — all while dancing along.

• GoNoodle

  GoNoodle posts videos, games and other resources designed to help kids stay active.

• POPSUGAR Fitness

  POPSUGAR Fitness has workout videos that are more advanced and are great for adolescents and teenagers. The workouts range from dance and strength training to kickboxing and barre.

*Children’s does not endorse any of these videos or companies. These are just examples of virtual workouts for your child.

4. Slow Down the Pace with Yoga

While jumping rope, running around and playing sports offer fast-paced movement for your child, don’t forget about activities that help them use their muscles in a different way, like yoga.

Yoga has many physical and mental health benefits for kids, including:

• A full-body workout that strengthens, stretches and tones muscles

• Better hormone regulation

• Decreased abdominal pain for children with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)

• Improved memory

• Increased flexibility and balance

• Lower insulin and blood sugar levels

• Reduced stress

You can find many free yoga videos* online, including Cosmic Kids Yoga and Alo Yoga.

*Children’s does not endorse any of these videos or companies. These are just examples of virtual yoga sessions for your child.

5. Brave the Cold (Safely, of Course)

While there will be some days when it is too cold to go outside, take advantage of heading outdoors when possible to enjoy children’s winter activities like sledding, snowball fights and building igloos. These winter favorites can be a great source of exercise. For example, walking uphill through snow, while dragging along a sled, promotes leg strength and gets your child’s cardiovascular system pumping.

When heading outdoors, always remember winter safety and be mindful of how much time you and your child are spending in the cold. Children cannot regulate their body heat as well as adults. That means they can develop hypothermia — a potentially life-threatening condition — quickly.

Keep an eye out for signs of hypothermia, such as:

• Bluish skin

• Decreased breathing

• Developing goosebumps

• Lack of responsiveness

• Shivering (a sign that their body is trying to heat itself up)

• Sluggishness or clumsiness

• Slurred speech

Since hypothermia is a medical emergency, call 911 right away if you notice these symptoms. Until help arrives, move your child inside, remove wet clothing and wrap them in blankets or warm clothes.

No matter what physical activity your child participates in, make sure you’re always looking out for their safety. Remove any tripping hazards, avoid outdoor activities when there is ice on the ground and don’t push them beyond their limits. If you'd like to learn more about playground safety and other ways to help keep your child safe during physical activities view our injury prevention resources.

Children's Nebraska offers a proactive approach and practical tips to encourage children’s healthy habits and physical activity year-round. If you want to learn more about helping your child stay active during the winter months, reach out to their pediatrician.