Have an "Eggs-ercise" Hunt

Do you have some plastic eggs that open up that are left over from Easter?  Here are some fun fitness activities that can be done inside or outside. 

OPTION 1: BASIC EXERCISES

Draw a stick figure of a yoga pose or an exercise like jumping jacks, toe touches, arm circles, windmills, trunk twists, squats, curl-ups, etc., on a small piece of paper.  (Stick figures help children identify the skill without reading, but you can also just write the name of the exercise on the paper and read it for them.)  Place each paper inside a different egg and put them in the yard or indoor play area.  They can either be hidden or in plain view.  Have each person run and grab one egg, bring it back, open the egg, and perform the exercise the number of times you decide or hold the yoga pose for a certain number of seconds.  You can do the exercises as a group or individually.  When finished have each person find another egg and repeat the process.  If you have competitive children, this is fun to do as a race to see who can accumulate the most eggs and do more exercises.

EXAMPLES:

  

OPTION 2 - MORE CHALLENGING:

Place various coins inside each egg and assign one type of exercise or yoga pose for each coin.  Example:  Half Dollar = Toe Touches, Quarter =Jumping Jacks, Dime = Lunges, Nickle = washing machines, and penny = jog in place.  You can even make a stick figure chart with the monetary value of each coin and the exercise assigned to it.  Decide ahead of time how many repetitions will be done for that coin.  It’s easiest at this age to keep one number (4-10) for all exercises.  Send children out to find an egg and bring it back.  Provide each child with a bowl or cup that they can put their coins in.  Each child does the exercise or yoga pose that corresponds with the value of the coin.  Continue the activity until all eggs are opened.  Together, count up the value of the money in each cup.  You can also count by fives using only the nickles, or dimes counting by tens.  This is a great activity to help children begin to identify coins and learn their value. For very young children you can just use pennies and have them count individually.  The one to one correspondence is very good practice.

OPTION 3: DIFFERENT SKILLS

Instead of doing exercises, place a ball skill inside the egg.  Examples include throw overhand to someone, throw underhand to someone, toss and catch to self, basketball dribble right hand, left hand, or alternately, soccer dribble, soccer trap, pass ball around waist, both legs, individual legs, or head, shoot baskets, kick a goal, etc.  Do these activities for time rather than repetitions.

NOTE: If you do this activity at home this week, please send me a photo for this week's "Spartans in Action" post.