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Lockdown is challenging enough even when the only thing you’re responsible for is yourself right now! For those of you out there with toddlers and children off school and nursery (for the foreseeable future), trying to keep the whole household entertained will provide a test like no other! Kids have shed loads of energy, and if your little one’s internal, Duracell-like batteries are still going strong by 4pm, chances are sticking on Frozen 2 for the 119th time won’t A) keep them entertained for long enough and B) tire them out! 

Fret not, weary parents, we’ve thought of some healthy pursuits that will hopefully not only entertain your children but also introduce the idea of wellbeing into their lives. 

Kiddie workouts with Chloe Pilates
If you’re looking for a quick, fun way to tire your kid out (and get moving yourself) the lovely Chloe Hodgson, founder of Chloe Pilates has a series of videos on her website to help you and your child bond over a little mini workout circuit. If you work out at home regularly, chances are your little one has always been curious to join in and now you can exercise together!

Make fruit ice lollies
We’ve been spoilt with some glorious weather as of late and there’s nothing that kids love more than ice lollies and ice cream to cool off with in the sunshine. As you’ll know, store-bought varieties are often laden with additives and sugar so we suggest giving some fruit ice lollies a go with as much fruit as you can get hold of. Show them how delicious making homemade lollies can be and you’ll revel in the added bonus knowing your child is getting a healthy dose of vitamins. You could even through in some frozen greens too… they’ll never taste it!
Recipes we love: Naturally Sassy’s Strawberry & Coconut Ice Lollies

Headspace for kids
There couldn’t be a better time to try and introduce the idea of mindfulness and “quiet time” to your children. We’re not saying this will be a total success straight away as getting your kid to find stillness will be challenging at first! But Headspace for kids offers an accessible way for children to find calmness with short recordings for ages 5 and under, 6-8 and 9-12 years old. We suggest getting the whole family involved and trying it before a daytime nap or before bed.

PE with Joe Wicks
We had to include this, even though most of you parents out there with young children will most likely already be enjoying Joe’s PE sessions! What a legend… if you have yet to join in every day for his live stream PE workouts then you are missing out! Kids love it, adults love it, it’s great fun and such an amazing way to get your child moving first thing in the morning. Astonishingly, he’s raised almost £20,000,000 (yup that’s 20 mil, you read that right) from donations and advertising profits which have gone straight to the NHS fund. 

5-Minute Journal for kids
We absolutely love the 5-Minute Journal, it’s fast-track pass to a life filled with gratitude and positivity. With one page a day to fill out, there’s a morning section and an evening section. In the morning it asks you to jot down 3 things you are grateful for, 3 things that would make the day ahead great and one positive affirmation. In the evening, it asks you to write down 3 amazing things that happened and something that could have made your day even better. It’s the easiest journal in the world and it’s incredibly effective. Intelligent Change, the creators of this journal, decided to create one for kids too and it helps to educate them on the art of gratitude, what an affirmation is and why it’s cool to be kind to yourself and others. It offers the same format, just simplified for your little budding journalists. 

Hip & Healthy Founder, Sadie Reid, is home with her two sons aged five and two and wanted to share a quickfire round of some healthy pursuits she has embarked on with the family:

At home sports day: we’re talking the egg and spoon race, three-legged race, obstacle courses, relays – the whole sports day shebang. This one comes with a warning – it normally ends in tears and they are likely to be yours.

Discos: sometimes we get to 5pm and the energy is still coming in droves so to make sure that they are suitably tired come 7pm we do a post supper party time disco session. The music is pumped up and we all take turns choosing the song and we just dance, dance, dance.

Bubbles: I think bubbles may have been our saviour during this lockdown period – they require minimum effort on my part and yet maximum output from the children who chase them around our postage-stamp sized garden (for which I have neve been more grateful for) trying to pop every single one. My dad then bought them a bubble machine and so now all I do is press a button, sit back and pop open a kombucha as the two little rascals knacker themselves out.

Vision Board: Now this was perhaps one of the only activities that we all enjoyed equally. We bought a great big pin board, found a bunch of magazines (my hoards of Vogues and Condé Nast Travellers came in very useful here) and just ripped out anything that looked enticing and that we wanted to pin on the board for our future selves. It included a lot of daydreaming about holidays and home interiors (me), cake recipes (my two year old), garden inspo (my husband) and I had to filter out all the Harry Potter and Ninjago characters my five year old kept trying to put on there. The boys loved ripping out all the pictures from the magazines, I loved editing everyone’s choices to create MY perfect vision board. Ok, maybe the whole family didn’t enjoy this quite as much as I did.


Read more: Tips to Get Your Kids to Eat Healthier

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