Especially in winter or during pandemic times, there are fewer opportunities to exercise outside and with friends. So why not move the exercise indoors to the children’s room or do sports together with the family in front of the TV? Exercise is an important balance if you spend a lot of time indoors, in front of the game console or on your cell phone, especially in the dark season.
Since the first Corona Lockdown in the spring of 2020, clubs, television stations, health insurers and others have recorded home sports programs and made them available on the network. Our compilation will help you choose the right physical activity program for you and your family based on your child’s age:
On theYouTube channel of the Berlin basketball club there are sports instructions for different age groups. In a playful and entertaining way, the children’s and youth trainers guide you through different age-appropriate exercise programs ranging from 20 to a maximum of 50 minutes in length: daycare children can travel with the ghost ship, elementary school children get fit with kitchen stuff, teenagers can keep fit with the power workout, and much more. There are already over 100 videos on YouTube and on the site of the club.
Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg has teamed up with various sports clubs and offers very different sports videos on its YouTube channel or in the media library. For families with children of daycare and elementary school age, the episodes Kinderport with Heike, Kindertanz with Susi or the family workouts are suitable. For older kids and teens, it can be yoga, street dance, or working out with everyday objects. The entire playlist is available here.
Former ski racer Felix Neureuther has teamed up with Bayerischer Rundfunk to produce two web series to help kids stay fit and get fit. The ten-minute clips bring the Olympics into the children’s room. The shorter clips from the Beweg dich schlau series are about movement in everyday life and coordination. Felix does sports with kids and it’s entertaining. With his friendly manner, Felix certainly appeals to many children, especially those of preschool and elementary school age. Here are all the clips to watch and join in.
Sports games for game consoles can also provide fun and exercise. Some consoles, such as Wii, Nintendo Switch or XBox, offer accessories that allow you to play sports. But even without such additional equipment, exercise is possible with the game console, with Zumba Fitness, Just Dance, Wii Sports Resort and many other games.
If you look around on the net or specifically on YouTube, you will see that there are many more offers. Before recommending or doing them together with your child, see if the sports program is age-appropriate and if you and your child can do it all. After all, exercise should be fun, not frustrating. If you keep at it together, you can slowly increase.
If you have an Internet-enabled TV (smart TV) or large computer monitor and make some space in front of it, you can play sports together by opening YouTube, going to the media library or connecting the game console. Together, sport and exercise is more fun and especially motivating!
