How do you get your kids to exercise in the summer holidays

[Applesandblueberries]

Dc11 and DC8 are pretty active term time what with walking to school, dance and swimming classes. But in the holidays they turn into couch potatoes and are very reluctant to do any exercise. The park is boring, hate walks, bored of the garden!
I occasionally manage to take them swimming or days out but that's about it.

How do you keep your DC of a similar age active? (Without spending lots of money!)

Trampoline, bike riding, swimming, soccer practice in the backyard, playing with the other kids in the street, building outdoor ramps for their cars, frisbee. My kids are naturally very active as they have no access to devices and limited tv time. If inside it’s their own version of the floor is lava, building forts, Lego, monopoly, chess, reading.

On the weekends we do lots of walks (they tend to run), longer bike rides and soccer comp is ongoing as are swimming lessons.

They are six and eight.

Oh and this house an “I’m bored” means they get a chore to do so it’s very rare they say it.

You need a few of you to do it (or you'll burst before you've finished!), but our scout group does an annual chip shop survey which is hugely popular. They walk around the nearest town visiting every chip shop. A portion of chips is bought at each, everyone tries a few, and the chips graded for colour, crunch, fluffiness etc. This could be a pretty cheap afternoon if 2 or 3 families did it together.

Junior parkrun? Free if you have one nearby

At the beach every day 🤷

Or swimming elsewhere. Older one walks in to meet her friends, middle goes to the park to meet his.

If they're used to walking to school, look for activities they want to do that they can also walk to.

I'm not a fan of 'going for a walk' but I can walk for miles if I've got a purpose to that walk.

Playing swingball in the garden.

Swimming, tennis & football practise/ tournaments.

Dog walking, sports camps, bike rides, skating, timed running around the block etc.

Age 7&9.

Same here, even if DS was sitting in his room playing computer games all day he'd be doing swimming and athletics most days.

And he also used to do summer holiday schemes for things like football or multisports.

Great ideas - wish we lived near a beach as I think that is the sort of thing they'd actually enjoy.

I'm interested that someone said our term time activity levels are low with walking to school, dance and swimming lessons (prob a trip to the park/similar at the weekend). I thought this was pretty good going 😂. Maybe I need to up our game more generally - I don't think we could fit much more on though.

Tree climbing just about anywhere.

Climbing walls if you prefer the safer option - most towns have them and some cities have entire centres.

Ice skating/ skiing places, which operate all year round.

Street dancing clubs.

Trampoline parks.

Some towns have cycling events on for children 11+.

If they are competitive, preparation for, and participation in, local races.

Low and high ropes in places which offer them.

Get a basketball net if you have the space.

Go Ape and Conkers if you're near.

Oh, and table tennis. Does anyone play this anymore? I used to love the end part, with 3 of us running around the table, competing to be that last person standing.

Intensive swimming lessons every morning, leisure swim, walks to the park and out on their bikes.
Free places at holiday clubs- Lots of sports activities going on there.

Mine just go out to play on their bikes and scooters with friends up & down the street. We have no money so can't send them to clubs and swimming etc.

Geocaching

www.geocaching.com/play

We tried this a few years ago but the children were a bit young. Now aged 12 they have enjoyed what we've done so far.

Mine aren't keen on 'going for a walk' but this gives them something to do while we're out.

The term time things you quote are mainly things they do, not things you all do. I think if you treat summer holidays similarly I.e. they should do soemthing while you sit and watch, it won't work and of course they're going to feel less motivated.
What exercise do you do? Bring them along.
Whatever you do, you should do it too

Mine enjoy junior parkrun.

It's impossible to tell if your term time activities are low without more info. A 5 min walk to school isn't very active, but 30mins each way is a reasonable daily walk. Similarly 'swimming lessons' - my DDs have swimming lessons too, but for DD1 that equals 3 trips to the pool totalling 2.5hrs/wk, 2hrs of which is pretty intensive non-stop training. DD2 is younger so only does 1.5hrs/wk. Also if you were doing more after school posters would be queuing up to say you were overloading DCs 🤷🏻‍♀️

I make mine come on a daily dog walk. She quits moaning after a few days as it doesn’t get her anywhere and then seems to enjoy it… pretty sure she wouldn’t admit it was fun though… even under torture!

@Sandinmyknickers good point about their term time activities being what they do versus us as a family. I do yoga classes (which they can't come to) and swimming lanes (I do take them swimming).
I also like country walks (which kids think are the most dull things ever!). Agree though that we aren't very active as a family together though.

This is mumsnet, home of the strapping 6ft 14 year old championship swimmers who also play rugby or netball for the National juniors team. They run 7 miles to school and back and then have free access to the fruit bowl for snacks before inhaling a massive nutritious meal of steamed root vegetables with 1/12 of a roast chicken.

Netmums is <--- that way if you have a kid who comes home from school and flops in front of the telly with a plate of fish fingers and potato waffles

The NHS advises that 5 to 18 year olds 'aim for an average of at least 60 minutes of moderate or vigorous intensity physical activity a day across the week'.

Only you know if the walk to school, dance lessons and swim lessons meet this criteria.

TBH, I think it's ok for kids to have some down time in school holidays

We cycle to the pool. Kids swim free, so fairly low budget. We certainly get the moans about going out to the park but have fun once there and nearly always find there are friends there if we haven’t arranged to meet anyone. Kids use so much more energy playing together. I’ve started saying I need some exercise as the reason for leaving the house, which is true!

No screens, TV or phones until 4pm. Out to play or jobs given. If they want to lounge around they can read. A few days of whinging then they will find something to do.

@DustinsHat 😂 I'd better head off to netmums 😂
Waffles and fish fingers v popular in our house. I might go wild and give them some carrots or broccoli occasionally!