Here in New York the winters are long and cold. Often the temperatures keep us inside for too long. As homeschoolers we need to be able to find ways to include winter physical education activities even if we can’t get outside.

As the weather here in the East gets colder and colder, we are starting to prepare for not only the outdoor cold weather activities, but the indoor activities that can still keep us moving during our long winter season.

I know many will debate about what should be included as a healthy lifestyle physical education program, and debate is not my purpose for this article. I am all for training the body with consistent target heart rate training, and muscle building activities. On the other hand I am also aware that this type of activity is not for everyone, and we need to get physical activity in any form we can. It is especially important for our children who want everything to be fun, and exercise doesn’t always seem fun. The good news is there are so many things we can do to combine what seems like fun playtime, with good physical activities.

If your children are anything like mine, especially my 9 year old son, they get a little, more like a whole lot, wiggly when they are short on physical activity! This happens very quickly when they can’t just pop out onto the trampoline, or run up and down the sidewalk. Thus, it is important to continue with physical activity even when the weather is cold outside, not only for your physical health, but your emotional well being too.

As with my post in August, I am going to keep my list of activities limited to include mostly free activities, and non organized sports teams. Our advice to you for fulfilling a physical education requirement and just plain getting in some healthy physical activity, is just to get up, get out, and have fun with your family!

Easy Indoor Wiggle Busters

DDR (Dance Dance Revolution), Wii Sports/Fit and other motion video games

Obviously this is only cost effective if you already own a game system. You can often find us pounding it out on our DDR pads together as a family in the evening!

Music

Turn on some dancing music and boogie! We often turn on the Electric Slide, Hokey Pokey, Macarena, etc.

Conditioning Exercises

The kids and I help each other to do things like jumping jacks, sit-ups, push-ups, and leg raises. Counting for each other and increasing in number as we get better.

Outdoor Snow Activities

Sledding

I think the real exercise is in getting back up the hill!

Other Snow Fun