Are there really Wii exercise games for kids that are legit?  Or is it just another way to sell a product and act as if kids are really being helped?  These are great questions I want to explore.

I’ve done my field work and played the Wii system.  I started out by playing games that weren’t specifically designed as being for kids exercise.  I tried bowling and tennis as starters.

Yes, you’re staring at a TV but in most cases you are standing and you do have to move your legs, core and upper body.  Tennis can especially be good at getting your body to move.

I did play most of the other Wii sports games as well and found the same thing.  Can it make you sweat?  Yes.  Can it raise your heart rate enough to call it exercise?  Not sure.

Next comes the dancing and fitness games.  I researched the Michael Jackson dance game.  There are 26 songs you can dance to and you can do it competitively with family members or friends.

I read lots of reviews and they all mentioned getting a good workout from it.  There is also Zumba and Just Dance games which can really get you moving.

Next comes Wii Fit.  This whole system can actually plan a workout for you and help you along the way.  Aerobics and strength training are just a few of the activities you can do.

Not only that but there are all sorts of games and activities designed just for kids.

Other fitness games for kids include:

• Nickelodeon Fit
• Jumpstart Get Moving Family Fitness
• Kid Fit Island Resort
• Active Life Outdoor Challenge

I think these games are a great alternative to most of the other games where you just sit and basically zone out.

I wouldn’t say this activity should replace normal physical fitness but it can be a supplement.  All I can say is to try it out and see how it works.

To learn more about these types of subjects you should go here to this blog about exercise for kids.

Even for a family like mine who has a stay at home mom and a work at home dad it is still quite busy.  There are activities, errands, events, trips and schooling to name a few.

Even if the whole family is home all day it’s quite exhausting and there are new things to do around the house every day with cleaning, laundry and did I mention kids?

We are a very health conscience family.  We’ve studied health, nutrition and fitness for many years.  We want to be able to serve one another and our community for many years to come.

This means we’ve got to eat healthy foods daily and get some exercise in too.

I’ve found some really easy and fun fitness activities for kids that we as parents can not only teach our children but participate in ourselves.

You may look at some of these activities and consider them normal and nothing new.  They may not be normal to your kids though and they will think they are fun.

I’m all for traditional exercises for kids but I found these to be fun and healthy too.

1. Find a public playground – Kids love playgrounds and so do parents. It’s a great opportunity for kids to climb, slide, run and use their imaginations. Playgrounds can also give parents a little mental and physical break (as long as the kids are old enough to play without parental supervision)
2. Stroll through your neighborhood – If you haven’t figured it out yet, the walking possibilities are endless for families. After a busy day, this option is the most accessible.  It can easily be done after dinner. And, since you’re not going far from the house, you can really do it throughout the year.
3. Go ice or roller skating – This activity helps with coordination and muscle strength. It also gets kids’ heart rates up. Just make sure they wear safety padding.
4. Set up a relay race in your home or outside – Designate a starting and ending point.  Have them run around furniture, crawl under tables or jump over objects. The path can change with each race.
5. Do yard work together – Kids can really learn the value of hard labor by working in the yard. Teach them how to pull weeds, plant flowers and even mow the lawn.  My favorite idea though is something I hope to do soon.  How about planting and working on an organic vegetable garden?

Again, these may seem normal and not traditional in the exercise sense but kids love it and it keeps them active which is what we want daily.

Your kids aren’t going to do pushups and other boring exercises every day so why not have fun with these fitness activities for kids?

Just plan an activity each week and make sure it’s in writing because as busy parents it’s easy to forget or put something off unless it’s written down right in front of us.

To learn more about this subject you should visit this site which is all about fun exercises for kids.

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I bet when you first start thinking about circuit training exercises for children you visualize a weight room with all sorts of big, clunky machines right?

That’s what I envision at least.  There are probably great circuit training ideas out there for kids and depending on their age it might be appropriate.

Today I want us to focus on children 12 and under.

You don’t have to be an athlete competing in a sport to do this kind of training.  The only requirement is that you have to be a kid!

What I’m about to share with you will still provide the benefits you are familiar with in this kind of training.

• Muscle endurance
• Increase strength
• Cardiovascular
• Fat loss

I have one single exercise which will act as a whole round of circuit training.  You just have to set it up one time and let your kids go through it.  I also have a guarantee.  I bet they’ll do it more than once, twice and three times.

The first one I want to tell you about is pillow jumping.

We have an old couch in which we don’t care about the pillows.  Our kids set out the pillows as if they’re stepping stones.  They love jumping from pillow to pillow.  There are about six pillows total spanning at least 10 feet.

They run, jump and leap and they do this about 10 times in a row.  You can add other items such as a cardboard tunnel so that they jump, crawl and then jump again.

You can then set up a fun obstacle course in the backyard.

There are so many objects you can set up like patio furniture, garden hose, swing set, trampoline, boxes, old tires and more.

You have a start and a finish and have them race either against each other or against a stopwatch.

It’s a great idea to mix things up and have a variety of exercises for children.  Set some circuit training indoors and some outdoors.  You can even go to a park and set up activities there.

As I said, this is for kids 12 and under.  The idea is to introduce them to activities like this so when they get older they will be used to these types of movements.  Not just that but they’ll be used to the speed.

Do you have any ideas you’d like to share?  What have you found to work with your kids?  Please leave a comment below.

If you want to learn more about this subject and others then you must check out these exercises for kids ideas.