Water Fitness Routine for Kids

Physical fitness is important and should be encouraged from a very young age. However, many children will not enjoy a workout routine if it isn't fun. Luckily, many kids love swimming and playing in the water. Utilizing a pool or even a lake in a water fitness routine can help your kids stay in shape and have fun.

  1. Swimming

    • Compete with your kids in a fun swimming game. Race each other in laps around the pool, or have them race friends. Time them and try to get them to beat their old scores. Make a tournament out of it. Have each child compete for time and in head-to-head matches. Give the winner a small prize like a toy or a little money. Open up the pool for a free swim. Let them splash around and swim as long as they can. Always have a lifeguard present. Twenty minutes of competitive or free swimming is a great way to start a water fitness routine.

    Water Sports

    • With a lifeguard, get several children with strong swimming skills in a deep pool to play swimming sports. A rubber ball can be thrown at a plastic cone to score a point. Use goalies and forwards and keep track of the score. As the kids swim and play, they will keep themselves afloat treading water. If you have enough children, hold a tournament with the winning team winning a gift certificate for pizza or something else fun. This should be done after the warm-up free swimming and will really test each child's endurance and strength. Aim for a half-hour workout.

    Free Dancing

    • After the game is over, unwind with some free dancing in the water. Get a boom box and play some fun and danceable music and let the kids go wild. Encourage them to dance by dancing with them. If kids want to sit out because they're tired or embarrassed, that's OK. Never force children to do an activity that makes them uncomfortable. Try to get them to make up their own dances and encourage dancing in deeper water that isn't over their head. Deeper water dancing will test their muscles as they work to stay afloat. Ten to 15 minutes of this should be all that's necessary.

    Floating

    • Let your children relax their tired muscles by encouraging a five-minute floating session. Teach all the children how to float and play relaxing music while they float. They should breathe deeply and fully, and think relaxing thoughts. Coach them with encouraging and kind statements as they float. This floating will relax their muscles and minds and will leave them in a good mood. They will look forward to their next relaxing and fun workout session at the pool.