The lockdown of March 2020 really put into perspective for me how much exercise my kids got from outdoor play. In March 2020 my boys were two and three. We regularly went to mums and tots groups, we walked every day, we went to the park every other day and spent many days on the beach or at soft play places and they attended a kids gymnastics class once a week.
To be told we couldn’t go to any of these places for a minimum period of 12 weeks was a shock to our routine and obviously to the amount of physical exercise we got on a daily basis. We thankfully were still able to walk around our local neighbourhood and had access to a playing field.
The long days at home and the reduced amount of physical exercise had me really worried : what effect would this lockdown have on my young kids? What could I do to help them? How could I get them to move more? How could I make exercise fun? This is how I came up with the idea of Cube Fun.
I was right to be worried as the evidence is now becoming clear that our children’s activity levels were severley affected by covid as its now being reported by Sport England.
My jungle themed cube was my first theme and from there came the exercise theme. Deciding what exercises to put on the cube saw me researching the best exercises for kids. I also took direction from my own kids. What exercises they enjoyed doing and which exercise could be easily conveyed from an illustration.
This research led to me learning all the benefits of each exercise and I thought it would be good to share it on my blog.
Skipping: A great gross motor strengthening skill, also helps with kids concentration levels which helps improve focus.
Toe Touches: A Great stretching exercise which helps improve flexibility.
Push Ups: Helps boost metabolism
Frog Hops: Helps strengthen core muscles and aids posture.
Knee Highs : Good for improving strength and coordination as well as flexibility
Star Jumps : Kids just love Star Jumps, well my boys definitely do but they are fantastic because they are so versatile and are an easy at home exercise that helps build stronger muscles.
These exercises together create a kid friendly home workout but it is also exercise disguised as fun. Doing Fun activities is when kids get the most benefit and since launching my business I have discovered that the physical benefits of my product are only 1 feature. The learning benefits include Colour recognition, turn taking, helps with development of communication skills and many more, you can read about this on my other blog post; the benefits of play with cubefun.
6 Simple Exercises for Kids | Cube Fun 2021