7 Exercise Ideas For Kids In 2026 To Stay Active And Healthy
Written by Smriti Dey | February 26, 2026
Introduction
Nowadays, a lot of parents work from home while their children attend distance learning programs or take advantage of vacation time. This can be challenging, as some children use a lack of structure as an excuse to overindulge in computer games and TV shows and snack excessively. The question of how to get the kids off the couch may cross your mind.
It's crucial to keep youngsters active and prevent them from staring at screens all day. It is best to start them with the 2026 resolution. The Pediatrics. 2017 Nov;140(Suppl 2) states that excessive screen time causes children and teenagers to become obese and have sleep issues. Additionally, all school-age children participate in moderate-to-intense physical activity for at least 60 minutes per day.
Regular exercise helps prevent diabetes, obesity, and other diseases while establishing healthy habits that can last a lifetime. Try these ten kid-friendly workout ideas to keep your family active and healthy while everyone is at home. None of them requires any specialized exercise equipment, and they can all be performed in the yard or inside the house.
7 Exercise Ideas For Kids In 2026 To Try
1. Relay Race
Running is a full-body workout and one of the quickest methods to increase a child's heart rate. Running laps can be dull, so organize a relay race! A fun relay race encourages kids to run back and forth across the room or yard. To boost motivation, have siblings compete against one another or time your child's jogging so they can compete against their own personal best score.
Make The Relay Event More Enjoyable By Having Your Child:
Balance something on a spoon while walking or running, and restart if it slips off.
Move across the space in ways other than running, such as lunge-walking, crawling, hula hooping, and somersaulting.
Pick small items (marbles, coins, etc.) from a bowl at one end of the race and drop them into a bowl at the other end, one by one.
2. Scavenger Hunt
Make a list of the goods your children must discover and deliver to a designated "home base." The catch is that they must return home after finding each item. Once they've gathered all of the items, have them race to return each item to its proper location, one at a time. Here are some example indoor scavenger hunt items:
Spatula
Book
Roll of Toilet Paper
Penny T-shirt Toy
Spice box
If you organize the scavenger hunt outside, adjust the rules slightly so that the children do not have to collect stuff. Instead, have them run and touch one thing, return to home base, and then run and touch the next.
3. Obstacle Course
Create an obstacle course, or better yet, challenge your children to design their own obstacle course.
An obstacle course is a sequence of tasks that require children to do certain actions before moving on to the next obstacle. Most children have completed an outdoor obstacle course at school and are familiar with the general concept. With a little creativity, you can build an indoor obstacle course for them at home.
4. Agility Training
Athletes in football, soccer, and basketball frequently practice agility to improve their performance. Agility training improves speed, balance, and motor skills while providing a strong cardio workout. Furthermore, you can do it with only a few scuffs on the floor!
If you're outside, you can draw sidewalk chalk on concrete or use grass cones. Inside, draw lines on the floor with masking tape or twine. Here are some simple agility training activities for youngsters to attempt at home.
Knee-High Running
Knee-high running is often performed with an agility ladder, a rope or fabric ladder that sits flat on the ground. If you don't have one, use another way to draw multiple lines on the floor or ground, leaving about a foot between each one.
Dot Drills
Make the shape of an "X" on the floor or ground with tape, chalk, rope, or something else. Have your youngster jump from one section of the X to the next with their feet together. Create creative leaping patterns and inspire others to do the same.
5. Push-ups & Crunches
Push-ups and crunches are prevalent in physical education programs, so your children may already be familiar with them. These exercises increase strength and, when performed quickly, provide a cardio workout as well.
Play some music while doing push-ups and crunches. Ask children to repeat 10 of one exercise, then 10 of the other, until the music ends. Try making it a family challenge. Who can complete the most push-ups before having to stop? Who can complete the most crunches in one minute? Push-ups and crunches are also useful indicators of your child's age-appropriate fitness level.
6. Squats And Lunges
Bodyweight workouts aren't limited to adults! They give strength training without causing undue strain on your child's joints, as free weights may.
Squats and lunges help to strengthen the legs and core. Teach your children to do these with their backs straight and their heads forward. When they squat or lunge, their knees should not extend past their ankles.
To upgrade things, use squats and lunges in relay races, scavenger hunts, obstacle courses, and agility training. A fast set of five to ten squats or lunges may be required before or after other physical exercises. For example, require a set after your child finishes a relay round or brings a treasure hunt item to home base.
7. Yoga
Stretching improves flexibility and minimizes the risk of injury during other physical activities. If you practice yoga, offer to try it with your children. There are also many free yoga videos available online, some of which are oriented exclusively to children.
Conclusion
It is essential to educate kids about the value of exercise and health at a young age in order to foster a favorable attitude toward new resolutions as well as fitness in 2026. These activities at the start of the year will get them going in no time, impacting their later life with strong immunity.
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