Great After School Activities for Your Kids

We all know how important staying active is for overall health.  As parents, we want to make sure our children learn good habits for lifelong health.  After exercising their minds all day in school, make sure your kids have a chance to exercise their bodies as well.  Except for a short break for recess or gym class, kids are expected to sit still and concentrate.  There are also plenty of options for their free time that don’t involve being physically active.  So finding after school activities that help your kids get some exercise is really important.  Staying active can help them learn to focus on their studies too, making homework time more effective. Here a few activities your child might like to try.

Tennis
Tennis is a really great activity for kids.  Tennis is an exciting form of exercise, it is fast paced and action packed. It increases strength and hand-eye coordination.  It also uses both your upper and lower body. While tennis can be played as a doubles team, most of this sport is based on one-on-one competition.  So it is good for kids that prefer individual over team sports.  Tennis is a fast paced sport and requires a player to react quickly.  It requires the participant to mentally engage and pay attention. While players can always work to improve their skills, if your child doesn’t perform well in a fast paced environment, they may not enjoy it.  Tennis can be practiced alone so your child doesn’t need a whole team of people to help them practice the necessary skills. Parents might like tennis because it offers a little more civility than some other sports.  If your child is watching a tennis match, they won’t see bench clearing brawls and punch throwing.  As a result, participants end up practicing more self-control.  Since tennis can be played both indoors and out kids can participate year around.  Even younger children can participate with the use of the right sized equipment.

Swimming
Swimming is another good sport for kids that exercises their entire body. While swimmers often participate on a swim team and in relay events with other swimmers, it is still an individual sport.  Lessons can be individual or group and swim teams offer competition opportunities.  Small children often like to play in water and are often enthusiastic about learning the basic skills and participating in classes.  Swimming can be an especially good choice for children with disabilities since it is non-contact, and requires no equipment.  It can often benefit these children therapeutically as well.  Many people find swimming relaxing and children can participate and learn skills at a pace that works for them.

Yoga
Yoga for children can help them relax and focus.  It is a non-competitive way to build strength, flexibility and balance.  All of those things are necessary physical well-being and can help improve their performance in other sports or physical activities as well.  Yoga can incorporate a little creativity too.  Many of the poses involve animal names and young kids can like “pretending” they are the animals.  It is important to make sure the yoga program is designed specifically for children to ensure that the exercises are developmentally appropriate.

After school activities offer lots of enjoyment for children of all ages.  Finding the right after school activity for your child can help them stay healthy and happy!