Is anyone else like me? Stuck at home, mostly inside with one or more child(ren) bouncing off the walls? So here’s the answer to the question we all want to know…how to keep children active during quarantine!

1. Yoga. Yoga can be such a calming force for little ones who might be confused as to why they can’t go to school, see their friends or go to the playground. My absolute favorite yoga is Cosmic Kids. It is free and it is amazing! I love the different stories and the meditations can be beneficial for all of us.
2. Freeze Dance. A good old fashioned session of freeze dance is a lot of fun and a good way to get the wiggles out! All you need is some music!
3. Dance party. Along the same lines as freeze dance is just simply dancing with your kids. There are tons of great playlists on Spotify for kids so just push play and start showing them some moves. Don’t forget your video camera!
4. Let them workout with you! I love getting my kids involved in my workouts. I use them as weights, have them crawl under me, sit on my hips as I do bridge lifts. I try to take turns with them so we can all be active together. Follow the leader is a great way to go about this one.
5. Pilates. I bought this book for children doing Pilates and we have so much fun with this. I often bring the book and a giant blanket outside and do this outside.
6. Indoor/Outdoor Obstacle Course. Depending on whether you can get outside or not, this can be done either in the house or outside. A simple outside version is to use some chalk to draw a giant path with a line to run along, circles to jump to, zig zags and swirls to turn along, hopscotch and more. This is just as much creating as doing. You can recreate the same thing inside using some tape on the floor. It takes a bit longer but is still really fun. You can also use some sporting equipment to make stations for the kids. For example, indoors try using a mini trampoline, a tunnel, a soft ball pieces of paper to jump over or other items. Outside you can kick the ball to a goal, run around cones, jump rope or even run through a sprinkler to make a fun obstacle course. Just use your imagination and have some fun!
7. Play tag and other games. Kids love tag, hide and seek and duck duck goose. Pull these oldies out of the box. You can also play other games like Fruit Salad where everyone is a piece of fruit and one person yells out the name of the fruit and that “fruit” has to run a loop then come back. When the caller yells “fruit salad” everyone needs to run then go back to their spots. You can play a similar game using colored pieces of paper. The caller yells out a color and everyone has to run to that piece of paper.
8. Outdoor Activities. I also recently bought this book on Amazon which has amazing outdoor ideas for kids. It helps you get outside and get the ya yas out!
9. Ballet lessons. My background is in ballet and I’m loving the access we are getting to professional dancers during this quarantine. New York City Ballet is offering Ballet Breaks on Saturday mornings. The kids get to take virtual class with the professional dancers. It is so cool!
10. Nature walk. If you can get outside, go on a nature walk. Ask your child to find items like a flower, a pine cone, a leaf, a stick, etc.

Hopefully these ten ideas will help you figure out how to keep children active during quarantine! Just keep our fingers crossed PE and recess will be back soon!