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If your kids are like mine then I’m sure you can relate to hearing the moans and groans whenever the word “exercise” is mentioned. I’ve tried getting my kids to go on long daily walks with me or to do an exercise video on a regular basis, but their enthusiasm to spend time with mom while sweating peters out after about 5 minutes. This reality compelled me to think outside the realm of regular exercise and to be more creative with my calorie burning time spent with my children.

Admit it, sometimes mentioning words like exercise, healthy and organic to our kids results in a major rolling of the eyes, sighs and “Oh MOM, not that again!” so sometimes we have to get clever and trick them into doing things that are good for them. The days of jumping jacks and sit ups are long gone in my household and have since been replaced with the following sneaky and fun way to get my kids to keep off the pounds. This game is called Room to Room Exercise Treasure Hunt and it combines a fun game involving furniture and silly exercises that will keep you and your children laughing all while sneakily burning fat.

Room to Room Exercise Treasure Hunt

Items Needed: Rooms in your home, Paper, Pen, Willing and Able kids.

Before playing you’ll need to create treasure hunt cards. The first step in doing this is to count how many rooms you have in your home that have enough space for you and your children to move around. Then multiply the number of rooms by 4 so if you have 5 large rooms then times that by 4 and you get 20. Then create a list of all the furniture you have in each room including: dresser, bed, armoire, chair, table, nightstand etc… Cut out 20 cards and on each card write the description of one activity that will burn calories.

Here are some activity examples that you can write on the treasure hunt cards:

* Goofy Jumping jacks
* Squat down and up 5 times
* Jog in place as you sing row, row, row your boat
* Run around the room and around the furniture
* Hop from chair to bed or dresser and back
* Skip around the bed
* Do pushups against the dresser while standing
* Place foot on chair and stretch then switch legs
* Lift knees as high as dresser top 10 times
* Do 5 kicks higher than the bed mattress with each leg
* Stretch up to the ceiling and down to the floor 5 times
* Hop around the table or chair on one foot then go back around on other foot
* Sit in chair then stand up over and over again doing this 5 to 10 times
* Pick up a pillow and toss back and forth 5 times
* Crawl around the outside of the room from corner to corner
* Stand with heals off edge of bed mattress and try to balance for 30 seconds
* Take turns rolling from one end of the bed to the other, back and forth 5 times
* Sit on one end of the couch and slowly scoot over and over till you reach the other end
* Sit on chair, couch or bed and lift and hold legs straight out to the count of 30
* Open and close every dresser door, armoire cabinet, nightstand drawer in the room.

Feel free to use any or all of the above or make up your own fun exercises. Then decide which 4 exercises go well with items in each specific room. If you do an exercise that requires a bed, then you should put the name of a room with a bed on the blank side of the card. Only choose 4 cards for each room. Then have your children get a quick drink of water while you go from room to room hiding the exercise treasure hunt cards in sneaky places.

Then head back to your kids and say “Go” and all of you head to the first room. Your kids need to hunt for the 4 cards and as they find them they should give them to you. After all the cards have been found read the first card out loud and have everyone do the fun activity. Go through each activity on all four cards in that room then head to the next room for more treasure hunting and fun exercises.

Continue this treasure hunt exercise game until all cards have been found and all fun activities have been done and the entire family has worked up a silly sweat.

Author Bio

Kim Proulx, a Certified Parent Coach, strives to help parents create a happy and healthy home for their children. The first step is designing a comfortable home environment by getting the right kids furniture for their room and playroom. Next, it’s important to do fun things together as a family to strengthen the family bond.