Fun Family Fitness: Group Games

There are a lot of great reasons for getting your family involved in more fitness activities. You may want to exercise yourself, but don’t want to give up any important family time. Why don’t you exercise together? Exercise doesn’t always have to involve a treadmill or aerobics classes—you really just need to get your heart rate up. All of the activities listed below will get your heart rate up. Maybe you want to find more bonding experiences for your family. Not only will playing a game together be fun, but you will create wonderful family memories. As well, it is important for everyone in your family, children too, to get a certain amount of physical activity each day. When you do it together, in a fun way, you will be teaching your children healthy habits. What are you waiting for? Go play!

If you have any suggestions, ideas, or comments, feel free to share them in the comments box at the bottom of the page.

Kickball is a fabulous game to play together as a family. It involves running, coordination, and quick reflexes. Best of all, you can play it with both older children and younger children. Kickball is played a lot like softball and baseball. You can play the game on a baseball field, or create your own diamond in your yard. You need to set up three bases and a homeplate for the game. Use a soccer ball (or other inflatable ball)—in fact, the game can also be called soccer-baseball. The pitcher rolls the ball towards the catcher. The batter doesn’t actually use a bat, but has to kick the ball. The opposing team players need to capture the kicked ball, then tag either the batter/kicker or the base plate he/she is running for. Even if you don’t follow the rules exactly, your family will have a lot of fun.

Flag Football

I’m not a big fan of contact sports because the risk of accidental injury is too high. Flag football, however, is a perfect way to play the popular sport without the risk of injury during tackles. Flags for the game are available at many stores, as well as online. Basically, you strap the flags around your waist (different colors for different teams). Instead of tackling the player carrying the ball, you simply have to pull their flag off. You will have a lot of fun playing this game—and end up out of breath.

Tag

This might not be a sport, but it is a fun, fitness game. There are so many different versions of the game that it won’t get old. How do you play tag? One person is it, and has to try to tag the other players. If another player gets tagged, that player is then it. You can also play variations, like freeze tag or cartoon tag. In freeze tag, when a player gets tagged, they are frozen. The other untagged players have to rescue the frozen players by touching them. If the person who is it manages to freeze all of the other players, he/she has won. Cartoon tag is where the players have to yell out a cartoon name when they get tagged. If they don’t yell it fast enough, or repeat one that has already been named, that player is out. You don’t have to use cartoons, you can use states or cars or whatever you want.

Hopefully you will end up having a fabulous time playing with your family. Don’t rule out other fun activities your family can do together, like going for walks or bicycle rides. If the weather is crappy, throw a crazy dance party inside. The fun you can have together is endless.