Unfit family

[Menagerie]

That's us. Suddenly realised that from being ultra healthy when kids were tiny - walking at least 5 miles every day and taking them to play parks for at least two hours a day, which helped my very weedy prem boy get strong and agile, we've slipped, since junior school into a rut of telly and computer and board games. The most healthy things we did over half term were go bowling and go for a one hour walk. In ten days!
My kids are not team sport types at all. And they are poor swimmers. What can I do - especially just general every day stuff, to increase family fitness and get us out and about even now the winter is setting in. I've put on a stone in the last couple of years and if it carries on this way, we'll be the family that gets up with the sofa attached to their bums.
We do walk to school but it's not far. I love cycling but they don't. I have to nag them to come out and it takes the edge off it.
Really feeling uninspired as to how to get us all out and about and get our heart rates pumping.

Any ideas from fitness freaks on here?

hows about geocaching?

we go and haven't got any fancy equipment - dh just downloaded an app on his phone.

Sort of gives a purpose to 'going for a walk' and it's very exciting when you find one.

Collect small cracker toys or similar to pop in the cache when you take your 'find' out.

You could even create your own and monitor how many visits you get.

Go on walks!
We love doing Sunday walks. I usually take a flask of hot choc for the kids if its cold.
Go for family swims and sign the kids up for classes.
Take some rackets and balls to your local park and have a tennis session or throw a frisbee around. Its not too cold for that yet!
Get some kites. They're not very expensive for kids ones and are brilliant fun.

We're not fitness freaks at all but just love being out in the fresh air. We often go to our local park for a bike ride or a walk then a play and there's always kids out playing tennis, cricket and football with and without their families at all times of the day.

Hulahooping

Great ideas. The kids would go for geocaching but we both have nerdy phones that don't take the app. Can you do it without the app?

I just to be school hula champ when I was eight. :( Think it would get stuck round my neck now!

frisbee sounds good.

it says on the website:-

Do I need to have a GPS receiver to find benchmarks?

No. A GPSr makes getting to the right area easier, but when you're there, you will (generally) be better off if you use the details of the benchmark's location description to locate it. Because most of these benchmarks were installed prior to the existence of GPS, the benchmark database is geared toward finding benchmarks from the descriptions, not the coordinates. Occasionally, however, a good GPSr will prove to be an invaluable tool in finding a benchmark, especially in situations where the location's description is inaccurate due to development and the passage of time. A good GPSr will also help you get to benchmarks in locations you are unfamiliar with.

Hmm... We've tried two without GPRS and am pretty certain we found the right places. One was an oak tree with a huge hole at its roots, covered by a piece of bark, but nothing inside, the other was a stone water trough but again no cache...

Maybe we need a GPS for Christmas.