Physical activity is important for several reasons: to learn, develop and discover our limits, and also to maintain good health!

This is why today we offer you a musical chair activity with a twist. It is super fun and it will get you moving. You will work your muscles and develop your endurance, without even realizing it.

Physical activity is not just about training or doing sports. Whenever our heart beats faster, we are exercising. Prepare to laugh and have fun!

 

Step 1 : Prepare the game

First, you need to prepare activity cards, 10 cards will do. These cards will serve as chairs in the game.

On each page, write down a physical exercise. You can adapt the cards according to the age and physical abilities of the participants.

Here are a few examples:

  • 5 jumps with your feet together,
  • 3 push-ups,  
  • 10 circles with your arms, 
  • Jump 4 times on one foot…

Step 2 : Set up your game

For this activity, you need an open space, such as your living room or outside in your yard or driveway if the weather is nice.

Place each card on the floor, face down, in a circle. You can use tape to secure the pieces of paper to the ground. You can also make markings on the ground (with chalk for example if you are outside) or use chairs if you have as many as the number of pages you have created. Each card or page represents a chair.

Step 3 : 3, 2, 1... GO ! 

Start your favourite song or playlist and let’s go! You can take turns to turn the music on and off or ask an adult to take care of the music. When you hear the music, you must jump from one card to another until the music stops.

When the music stops, you have to stop on the nearest card, read it and do the exercise marked down. You can add or remove cards as the game progresses.

Do not forget to hydrate yourself, and have a good game!

Diary

On today’s logbook page, kids can document today’s activity. For example, by drawing each step of the recipe and its ingredients. The possibilities are endless!

We invite parents to ask their kids questions about today’s activity to feed and improve on their journal entry as well as to engage them in a nice conversation. Here are some questions you can ask:

  • Which exercises were the most difficult/ easy?
  • What exercise did you prefer to do?
  • Make a list of exercises that you could do next time.

Did you know...

  • ..  Physical activity makes you learn better in school? It predisposes children to learn by improving their attention span, concentration and memory.
  • … Sports encourage divergent thinking? It is the ability to formulate new ideas and multiple solutions to a given problem. Physical activity improves blood circulation in the brain. In addition to increasing the oxygen supply, it feeds the gray matter responsible for formulating new ideas and stimulating reasoning. A simple walk, for example, boosts by 60% the flow of divergent thoughts and creative inspirations.
  • …Does physical activity help fight colds? Light or moderate physical activity, such as walking or biking, helps strengthen your immune system and, therefore, fight cold symptoms.

For other surprising facts about physical activity, click here! 

To take this activity further, you can try this similar activity, with a die. Each number corresponds to an exercise. Throw the die and off you go! Click here for more details. 

 

Activity by Van Bam Bam.