Today’s guest blogger is Seth McNew, a fitness and exercise coach. He’s here to offer ideas about how parents can encourage children to become more active and stay fit.

Childhood obesity rates are growing at a dangerous rate, with one out of every three kids in America considered overweight. This is not just in the United States, this epidemic is in Canada, Australia, the U.K., and many other countries around the world.

Fitness and Exercise for Kids with Special Needs

Now apply this to the community of kids with special needs. With little research and nutrition data available specific to special needs exercise, and it being much harder for to participate in organized sports and group physical activities for many reasons, it’s no wonder that the rate of obesity is even higher among this population than in the general public.

However, through targeted exercise and play ideas, as well as healthy habit creation, we can change stereotypes and statistics and get our kids fit, healthy, and happy. This is not about special diets or one-stop cure-all exercises. This is about finding fun and motivating ways to exercise, with activities for special needs children.

Fitness and Exercise Sample Activity

Here is one example of a simple and fun exercise to do at home:

The Bear Crawl: Animal moves are a favorite for all kids and easy to learn. Start by bending forward and lowering the hands to the ground. Then, try to keep the legs straight as he or she shuffles back and forth across the room. Make it fun by growling like a bear! The more fun the activity, the more reinforced the movements will be. See similar activities for special needs children in this post.

Other Fitness and Exercise Activities and Resources

Do you and your child have favorite activities to encourage fitness and exercise? Do you know of other good resources on this topic? Please share them in the comment box!

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