Community Corner

5 Activities to Help Your Family Reach 60 Minutes of Exercise Each Day

Take a walk with the dog, have a dance party, even make chores fun.

Experts say 60 minutes of exercise or activity each day is key to a healthy life.

That can be difficult just for an individual, but incorporating exercise into the family structure can be even more complicated.

Find out what's happening in Alpharetta-Miltonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and Dr. Stephanie Walsh share Strong4Life’s Five Short Bursts for Play, which when mixed and matched, can quickly add up to 60-minutes a day:

  • 1. 20-Minute Family Walks: Take a family walk (bring the dog if you want!) and during the walk, you can challenge your kids to walk backwards or sideways, skip, hop on one foot or take giant steps to add some fun.
  • 2. 20-Minute Family Dance Parties : Having a family dance party is an easy (and fun) way to add 20-minutes of activity to your day: When you are watching TV as a family, get up and move during the commercials—try running in place, dancing or jumping jacks.
  • 3. 15-Minute Family Bike Rides: Get your family together after dinner for a quick 15-minute bike ride: Make it a rule to leave the television off one day a week—this encourages physical activity and outdoor play. Switch out different activities each week—anything from riding bikes to building an obstacle course inside.
  • 4. 5 to 30-Minute Where You Are Movement: Whether you park at the end of the lot at the mall (adding five minutes of activity to your day and save your car from a few dents), take the stairs instead of the elevator at the office or a store or, while at one child’s sports practice, grab your other kids and walk around the field for 30 minutes instead of sitting in the bleachers, it all counts so move when you can!
  • 5. 5-Minute Chore Challenges: Challenge your kids to have a race to see who can mop the floor in five minutes: Making these responsibilities fun will help your children get active and they may even look forward to chores.

Little changes in your daily routine will quickly add up to 60 minutes of activity.  Learn more about what simple changes your family can make. 

Find out what's happening in Alpharetta-Miltonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Source: Children's Healthcare of Atlanta


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Alpharetta-Milton