Image Source: Pixabay
Most kids love when winter arrives. They dream of
snow days, hot cocoa, and getting presents during the holiday season. However,
that fades quickly for children, leaving them feeling trapped inside the house
thanks to the bad weather. Who wants to play outside when it’s freezing, grey,
and dreary?
You can help your children by directing them to
some fun and educational online activities. While they need some supervision at
first, your kids can find ways to learn, get exercise, and feel better about
the winter days.
Staying Inside Causes Problems
These days, lots of children love watching TV and
playing video games. Does that mean staying inside most of the winter is
something they love? Time Magazine explains being
stuck in the house can get to everyone, children included. Everyone
needs sunlight. It helps our bodies produce vitamin D, but it also keeps our
internal clock on time and helps avoid depression. Adults and kids alike can
get seasonal affective disorder by spending too much time indoors.
In fact, staying inside under artificial lights
has been linked to an increased chance of obesity, diabetes, and depression.
With less time spent outdoors, there’s usually less time spent exercising as
well. This can make obesity and depression even worse, as a child’s body needs
regular physical activity.
Get Some Exercise
By adding some exercise to your children’s winter
schedule, you can help combat the problems of inactivity. No, you cannot expect
to play baseball or football inside the home! But thanks to online videos, your
kids have many ways to get the exercise they need during winter.
Love To Know shows there are videos online specifically made for children
of all ages. Young kids can have some silly fun moving around to weird music,
while elementary-age children can do more traditional workouts such as aerobics
and strength training. Middle and high school students can use the same online
exercise videos as adults, but they can also focus on learning how to dance.
This can help them socially and boost their self-esteem while burning off some
energy.
Some children need a little motivation to use
those online videos for exercise. In these cases, it helps to set a goal your kids want to achieve. Maybe
you have a child that really wants a new bike, so you can create an exercise
log based on those videos. Each time they work out, they earn some credit
towards that new bike. The key is to involve your children in setting the goals,
as this is supposed to motivate them.
You can also help their motivation by scheduling
the videos at the same time each day. As your kids continue to exercise, they
start to turn this into a habit that can carry through the rest of the year.
Learn Something New
Exercise is very important during winter, as it
can help fight depression. However, there are only so many exercises your
children can do. That’s why you should also use winter as a time to learn
something new. Keeping their minds sharp helps them feel better about
themselves.
This is when you can turn staying inside the house to your advantage. There are many websites that offer direct learning, educational games, and fun experiments. For example, Earth Science Jr. has a great page listing activities kids can do at home that builds their creativity and learning. Building challenges with Legos, creating their own mazes, and even playing Jenga can help your kids beat the winter blues.
You can also teach your kids many math concepts
with stuff you have around the house. Home Advisor lists many websites with math-based lessons for kids in Kindergarten
through high school, such as using cans to learn about geometry and cooking to
learn about ratios. Even just going through the household budget on the
computer can be a great learning experience.
Make Winter Fun & Active
There’s no reason your kids have to feel trapped
in the house this winter. You can make it fun and active by looking online. Get
your kids moving with some exercise videos and use online lessons to discover
math concepts in everyday life around your home. If your kids are happy this
winter, that means you will be as well.
