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  • Writer's pictureShawna Rundstrom

Exercise for Fun, Fitness, and Emotional Wellness

By Diane Cretin


During the beginning of our time of sheltering in place when we were homeschooling my granddaughter on our own without teacher instructions, we decided P.E. (exercise) was going to be a daily part of her school routine. This week I was glad to see that Olivia's teacher included 25 minutes of P.E. as a daily requirement for homework.

Some days in the late afternoon after my work day is over, Olivia bikes to the park inside our HOA with me accompanying her. She then rides around the basketball court until she gets tired. I realize we are lucky to have access to this private park since she does not like to ride in the street; for most of you, you will be doing family rides through your neighborhood. Others of you might enjoy walking through your neighborhood, looking for messages on sidewalks, stuffed bears in windows, or items in nature.


Some days we work in the garden since we are getting it ready to plant. We skipped planting last year, so we have a lot of work to do: pulling weeds, adding soil amendment, and more. Many times Olivia likes to dig and look for bugs and worms. One day we found this friend in one of our raised beds when we were moving the red plastic we use around our tomato plants.


I notice in both Olivia and myself that our mental health improves when we get outside and get some fresh air as well as vitamin D from the sun.

When we are stuck inside due to rain or when we simply want to mix things up, Olivia dances or jumps rope or watches things like GoNoodle (www.gonoodle.com) or Cosmic Kids Yoga.

GoNoodle:: a company that creates FREE movement and mindfulness videos! They are wonderful videos for that include things like kids exercise routines, silly songs, yoga, and dancing! Help your kiddos get their energy out and have fun in the process!



Cosmic Kids Yoga: Yoga designed specially for kids. These amazing yoga videos for kids are centered around kid-friendly stories and themes (Moana, Frozen, Spiderman, Trolls, etc.)!



One word of caution - I recommend that you don't let your kids access youtube on their own. There are so many other things that your children could see that might not be appropriate for them. So we stay close when Olivia does Cosmic Kids Yoga.

Oliva also really likes exercising using the following page . Some days Olivia goes through the entire alphabet with an adult saying each activity. And we join in when we feel like it. After all, it is fun to be in community while exercising. Other days we spell Olivia's name and other words and she does the corresponding moves. These can be done inside or outside.



We hope you and your family have as much fun using this chart as we do.Try to make sure you get out of the house to improve your moods. Blessings to you and yours

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