Active Games and Exercise Activities

Hide and Seek will get those kids moving!

Kids love running around, but when it comes to the word exercise, sometimes you can get sour looks. After all, it does sound like a chore! And even though smart sitters would never use that word as a motivating factor for getting kids moving, exercise is still a great activity to incorporate into your babysitting routine.

The key to getting kids up and moving is to hide exercise in games, clean-up and outdoor activities. They'll have so much fun focusing their energies on the games, rules and how to win that they won't even notice that they've been exercising more than those fitness fiends on Bravo's Work Out.

Here are nine great ways to get your own charges hopping:

1. DANCE MARATHONS

If you have a copy of Dance Dance Revolution, then you're all set to mambo away! But if you prefer to take a more traditional approach to dancing, gather the kids in the kitchen, have them take off their shoes and play the best hits of the eighties (what else?). You could go really old school and grab a boombox, but technology-loving sitters will do just fine with an iPod as long as they've got some great speakers. Flip on the tunes and the kids will be shimmying around before you know it. To make it more of a game, turn the music off and having the kids freeze, and then turning it on again so they can hop around. Whoever forgets to freeze during silence has to wait one round before they can dance again.

2. RED LIGHT, GREEN LIGHT

Ah, a classic favorite from your own childhood - back when games were simple, fun and active. This game is best played in a backyard, since any type of running near a street can lead to trouble, at the very least. Stand in front of the kids with your back turned to them and yell, "Green light!" to have them run towards you. Then yell, "Red light!" and turn around to see if anyone is still moving. If so, they're out. (You may want to tell the kids that running too fast will make it harder for them to stop; this will also reduce the potential boo-boos you'll have to bandage when someone takes a nose dive.) Whoever reaches you first while still adhering to the rules of the game wins.

3. POTATO SACK RACES

This game is really fun. Get several potato sacks (a quick Google search will give you plenty of options - they're under $2 a piece) and have the kids put their legs into them, then hop towards a goal. The first to reach the goal wins. If you don't have potato sacks, pillowcases will do (but they will get very dirty, so make sure you're not swiping your mom's luxury linens). Beware of using either paper bags, which will break, or plastic bags, which pose a suffocation hazard.

4. SNOWBALL FIGHTS, LEAF FIGHTS

Just because the weather isn't warm and the outdoor summer fun has passed doesn't mean that outside exercise has to halt too. Depending on the season, you can have snowball wars or leaf fights to get the kids moving. Every good fight should have clearly defined sides and involve forts of some kind (try to steer forts towards cardboard, paper, cloth or snow instead of something hard.) Just make sure fights don't involve anything too hard, like ice, apples or rocks. A fun variation is to take two objects object (anything, really, from a thick glove to an action figure) and put each one somewhere near the two forts. Team A's object is to capture Team B's object, so this will require teamwork and strategy as well.

5. CLEAN-UP RACES

This is a favorite when you are racing to clean up before the parents get home. Pick a room or task and have the kids race each other to complete it, or set them on separate but relatively equal tasks. If you're sitting for especially competitive kids and you don't want any fights to break out, you can have the kids try to beat their own times rather than beating each other (start with the messiest room first so it will be easier for the child to beat his time). Stand in a central place with a timer and recite loud, cheerful and funny commentary on the time and who is winning. Place a great prize at the end, like a new coloring book or an extra hour before going to bed - but, no matter who "wins," make sure all the kids receive the prize. "Well, Sarah had the fastest time, which is AWESOME, but everyone just did such an amazing job that we're ALL going to have some extra ice cream for dessert!"

6. SOCK SKATING

Who needs roller skates, scraped knees and cars coming too close to the curb? You can have just as much fun with sock skating! All you really need is a clean kitchen floor (see Clean-Up Races above, in case the kitchen is more of a disaster area and skating rink). Grab that iPod again, turn on some music and perhaps throw in the "Freeze!" variation for good measure. For an added twist, let the kids wear sponges on their feet and loudly sing songs from the musical Annie.

7. HIDE AND SEEK

Tried and true, Hide and Seek is a favorite for kids of all ages. Best played outside, try to get a large, open area so kids can really chase each other around to figure out who is "it" next. You may need to help the younger ones (or pair them together as a team), but it's almost guarantees a great time and fits of giggles as the seeker gets closer and closer to his hiding opponents.

8. LIGHTNING BUG RACES

For those humid summer evenings, let kids race lightning bugs and try to predict where they will appear next. Those little things may not be fast, but they sure are sneaky. You can also collect them in a jar, but make sure to let them go again before the night is out or you'll have some very sad kids!

9. RELAY RACES

Get the kiddies outside and set up a series of obstacles or tasks that the kids must complete with an object in hand (see, it's not just video games that require hand-eye coordination). Whether that object is a water balloon, the traditional egg on a spoon or a cup of water, everything must remain in tact for the duration of the course. When creating the obstacle course, you can use items such as hula hoops to hula or jump in, a jump rope, a plastic chair to circle around five times, a Frisbee to toss into a trash can, a sprinkler to run through, etc. Have the kids run, skip, walk backwards - anything you can think of. At the end of their completed run, have them pass the object onto another teammate, who will have to run the same race. If you have a lot of kids, consider having them split into two teams and run against each other.