The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Heart Association (AHA) agree that everyone should participate in at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise everyday to maintain a healthy physical condition. In a digital age, run by screens, it seems to be increasingly difficult to encourage active play in kids. One way to engage your children in active play while reaching your own active goals, is to play with your children. Here are a few family-fun ways that you can keep you and your kids active.

Family Bike Rides

Woe doesn’t love riding bikes? Rounding up the family and heading out for a scenic bike ride can be a fun way to turn off the screens and get some fresh air. Bike riding is fun for children of all ages and can afford your family the opportunity to take in more scenes that you can if you went for a walk. If you have little ones who are too small to ride their own bike, you can easily affix a carrier to your bike and hit the road!

Family Day at the Pool

A day at the pool is a wonderful workout. Recreational swimming is not as intense as lap swimming, but still offers a great full body workout that is fun, so you don’t notice the workout! When you spend the day at the pool make sure you spend a bulk of your time in the water, swimming and splashing around.

Trampoline Rebounding

Jumping on a trampoline is a great full body workout and an extremely fun way to spend your day. Hopping on the elastic surface helps build strength, coordination, and cardiovascular endurance. So that you and the kiddos can all jump together, we suggest finding a trampoline park near you and enjoy unlimited bouncing together.

Family Skating

Skating is a great way to get some cardiovascular exercise as well as build muscular strength while having fun. If the weather warrants and your family have roller blades, you can head out and skate around your town. Otherwise, you can head to the local roller skating rink or ice rink to participate in a few hours of active fun.

Laser Tag or Paintball

You may not think about laser tag or paintball as good workouts –that is, if you’ve never played! When you are engaged in a laser tag battle or a paintball war, you spend the entire time running around looking for opponents, jumping and ducking behind barriers, and crawling to maintain a low profile. All this, with adrenaline pumping and your mind focused. At the end of your match, you’ll find your heart slowing, your breath returning, and your clothes sweat-dampened.

There are so many way to engage in active play with your kids that will help keep both you and your children active, as well as strengthen your family bonds. While we have given you some exciting options for family activities that require you to go out, there are plenty of options to fit in active play in your everyday life — play tag, walk the dogs, play hopscotch, build an obstacle course. If you are looking for a trampoline park near Grand Rapids, come check out Rebounderz Extreme Fun Zone.