We all know exercise is key to a healthy lifestyle, but it’s not always easy to stick to the same old routine. Keep your family engaged with a variety of fun activities can make it even harder to stay on track when your budget is tight. Rural Mom is pleased to welcome guest Ashley Spicer, a leading choreographer and dance instructor, to share her best tips on how to keep your family active on a budget!
Exercise has so many wonderful benefits – it builds strong bones, maintains a healthy weight and even improves self-esteem. The one benefit that millions of families overlook is how physical activity can create a stronger family bond. With summer right around the corner, we find ourselves busy making plans for the summer, but are we choosing the best activities for our family?
Family fitness activities teach valuable life lessons like teamwork, communication and organization. You don’t need to spend a fortune to make memorable memories. Sometimes, all you need is a little inspiration and some imagination.
Below are my five favorite family activities that are low-cost and tons of fun!
● Hula – Hula Hoops cost a few dollars, create hours of fun and can be a lifesaver on rainy days when you’re stuck inside. You can use it just like a jump rope, create a human ring toss game, play hula hoop pass or host a friendly competition to see who can hold the classic spin the longest.
● Mini Yoga – Growing can be stressful on the body and mind, and yoga has been proven to improve balance, focus and emotional wellbeing. Not a yoga expert? No worries; the Butterfly, Tree, Bridge, and Child’s pose are moves any child and parent can do together.
● Build A Dance Studio – Move furniture around and choose songs that are 2-3 minutes long. Dancing is not only great for the soul, but just 20 minutes of dancing is great exercise and most importantly, it’s fun for the whole family. The best part, you can create your own signature move. At FLYAROO Fitness we incorporate dance and yoga moves to my favorite dance songs like “Roar” by Katy Perry, “Waka Waka” by Shakira and the famous “Cha Cha Slide.”
● Unstructured Fun – Pack a healthy picnic basket full of fresh fruit and whole grain sandwiches and head to your local park for some unstructured fun. Help your child use their imagination as they swing, slide, and climb to victory, while you channel your inner kid and fly through the air on the swing set.
● Just Bike It – If you don’t know how to ride a bicycle, start learning! It’s a great way to exercise and with your whole family. If you don’t own your own bike, many towns have affordable bike rentals. Just make sure your family is wearing proper protective head gear and pads for the junior riders. For babies and toddlers, there are seats that attach to your bike.
Creating/ Sustaining/ Designing an active environment is an important part of your child’s development. Aim to incorporate at least one group activity into your week. Also, check out your local kid-friendly gyms and children centers who have fitness programs, like FLYAROO Fitness, who teach young children about healthy habits through dance-fitness.
For more information on fitness and to learn about the FLYAROO Fitness certification program, please visit www.flyaroofitness.com.
About the Author: Ashley Spicer is a leading choreographer and dance instructor who holds a BFA in multicultural dance. With more than a decade of dance experience, Ashley creates innovative curriculums that support fine motor skill development. Keeping a child’s emotional and physical needs top of mind, her programs are customized to ensure babies, toddlers and preschoolers are moving and learning simultaneously.
Taking her passion of movement and mixing in her understanding childhood development, Ashley created FLYAROO Fitness, a program for preschool children to discover their own passion and love for staying active. Her main goal is to empower a new generation of kids to channel their inner dancer and explore how their body moves through targeted movements.
Designed to teach preschoolers about healthy habits through yoga, dance and imagination, FLYAROO Fitness is the first nationwide preschool certification program designed for children 18 months to 6 years. This learning-based movement program teaches kids numbers, shapes, colors and the alphabet.
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