Yoga Ball

Yoga balls are great pieces of equipment for anyone to have at home, but even more so for parents. Yoga balls make for a lot of fun with kids. While they’re generally used for working out, kids just see a great big ball that they want to play with. Thus, your yoga ball likely won’t go unused, whether or not you use it to work out.

There are a few different games that you can play with your yoga ball and kids. Just bouncing the ball back and forth is a simple but fun game. A big ball is simply more fun for little kids for some reason. If your kids aren’t old enough to bounce the ball yet, they can also just push the ball along the ground. Be sure to keep it away from any stairs though as it’s really easy to push the ball down the stairs and go tumbling after it.

Kids will also like to do a bit of bouncing on the ball as well. Obviously, they won’t be able to jump on it like a trampoline. However, they can sit on it and bounce up and down, or they could put it up against the wall and run and bounce off it - they’ll literally be bouncing off the walls. Throwing a smaller ball at the yoga ball is also fun as well as long as the ball is soft and kept away from windows and electronics.

Yoga balls aren’t meant just to be a toy for kids though - they’re great for different use cases at home as well. One such use is to sit on them as your chair. A few years back, sitting on a yoga ball was all the rage - these days it’s standing desks. If you sit all day long, then using a yoga ball for part of your day can help force you keep a straighter back and better overall posture. By not having a backrest, your body is forced to keep your back straight - this will help strengthen your core a bit as well.

For working out, yoga balls can be used for a variety of exercises. Yoga balls are great for helping to build core body strength - strengthening your abs and back muscles. Similar to sitting, most exercises that you use a yoga ball will simply force you to keep your core tight in order to accomplish. Yoga balls are great to get deeper stretches, or to help keep your balance while stretching. Additionally, you can use them to add a bit of weight to different moves - for example you could hold them overhead while doing ab crunches or situps.

A yoga ball can also be used as a replacement for a bench press when you need. Assuming you have a pair of dumbbells, you can use the yoga ball for placing your back on to do different chest movements. Once again, it will force you to engage your core muscles in addition to your chest muscles. It takes a little bit of getting used to, but it can do an adequate job. I used a yoga ball for a couple of years for doing different chest exercises, and it worked sufficiently well.

There are a lot of choices for yoga balls, but they are all made pretty equally. Be sure to get one that is the right size for how big you are as a ball that is too small (or big) for you will make using it less likely - although your kids will play with it regardless of the ball size. I prefer a larger ball, but I’m also found sitting or laying on mine more than anything.

Don’t hesitate to grab a yoga ball - unlike other fitness equipment, a yoga ball is unlikely to be wasted in your household if you have kids. Even if you end up not actually using it for working out, your kids will have a new fun toy to play around the house with.