There are many October activities that are fun and incidentally, great exercise. Corn mazes, haunted houses, harvest festivals, pumpkin patches, scavenger hunts and colored-leaf-scouting all provide great reasons to get outside the house and get moving. Let’s be real though, for many kids Halloween is still all about the trick-or-treating. A lot of parents dread the night of walking up and down the block, endlessly taking step after step. The attitude there is all wrong. Trick-or-treating is the perfect family outing! This year, maximize the time you spend taking your kids door to door. Make it fun and make it active. Here are a few ways to do just that:
- Trick-or-treat in an area where the homes are farther apart. More walking equals more calories burned.
- Whenever it’s a viable option, use stairs.
- Instead of walking, try jumping rope from house to house. On second thought, that sounds a little dangerous. However, you could make a rule that each person has to do 10 hops with a jump rope before walking up to the door. You could do the same thing with hula hoops, but they aren’t as easy to carry around the neighborhood.
- Do squats while you wait for the little ones to collect their candy at each house. Other parents might think you’re crazy, but who cares? We’ll see who’s laughing when you still fit into your skinny jeans!
- Turn your night of trick-or-treating into an all-out fitness game! Recruit some other adults (or maybe even your kids) and have a contest to see who can fit in the most exercise during your Halloween adventure. Use pedometers to compare steps-taken at the end of the night. Try creating a points system. You could assign one point for each step taken and add bonuses for doing extra activity. Incorporating sprints, lunges, yoga, weight-lifting with pumpkins and pushing a stroller could all give bonus points. Carrying a child in your arms or on your back provides an ultra-bonus!
Also Read:
Start a Healthy Trick or Treat Revolution in Your Neighborhood