Running Around the House

We are always looking for ways to keep the kids entertained in the winter, but also looking for ideas to keep active as well. You can always go out and play in the snow, but that is a lot of work as well and sometimes you just don’t feel like going out to play in the snow. Playing in the snow is probably our favorite fitness activity in the winter though, and you can really get the blood flowing out there.

Regardless, if you need an activity to do indoors and you want to get your blood flowing, then running after your kids inside is a fun activity. We’ll often have our Echo Dot turn on one of the kids favorite songs, and then run around the living room and kitchen chasing each other or playing games that they make up. Honestly, the kids want to play this game way more than we’re able to keep up.

The game is literally a tag like game where the kids are out front, and we chase after behind them. While the kids will often go all out in terms of running, we’ll follow behind at a moderate pace simply chasing after them. It’s pretty impressive how long the kids can go. We’ll often spend 15 minutes straight running around after them while they seem to be running at a non-stop pace.

You obviously need the space to be able to make this work in your house - you don’t need a ton of space, but you’ll need at least enough where you can run around or at least move freely from room to room fairly easily. Having lived in four different places, we’ve only had one where this would not have been possible at all. The other 3 places (one apartment) were totally fine for this type of game.

Yes, we played this game in an apartment as well. We generally would walk behind the kids rather than run, but the kids were small and could run around without real issue. We’d simply turn on the music, run around the apartment for several minutes listening and chasing the kids - it really is that basic. If you’ve got neighbors below you, you’ll just have to move a little bit slower than if you didn’t

If your child doesn’t just like running around like that, then turn it into a game of tag or hide and seek with running. Tag is the natural way to play the game, and it can tire you out even faster as you’ll have to get your speed up to match that of your kids which is often faster than you. Hide and seek also works well in this type of game though where you let the kids hide and then you find them by running from room to room.

The only thing that’s hard about this activity is on days where you’ve already worked out your lower body, you may feel a bit too tired to be able to run after the kids. On my leg training days and long bike ride days, it’s actually pretty tough to chase after the kids while they’re running around - I’ll get tired out far faster than they wheel. It’s a lot of fun regardless.

If you need a simple way to get your heart rate up and get your kids moving, running around the house is a perfect activity.