Summer’s finally here; and for once the sun is out, so your Pulse Training Partnership team have pulled together some ideas for fun activities for your family so you can enjoy your free time this summer and at the same time these activities bring lots of health benefits too.
Cycling
Cycling is one of the easiest ways to fit exercise into your daily routine. It’s a low-impact type of exercise, so it’s easier on your joints than running or other high-impact aerobic activities. But it still helps you get into shape. On hot days cycling is a great way to keep you cool as there is always a steady stream of cooler air pass you as you cycle around. If you use cycling as a form of transport you can find green lanes which get you away from the nasty pollution of the car and can also act as a short cut beating the car, bus and the train.Walking and Rambling
What a brilliant way to give your cardiovascular system a boost. Beautiful scenery, fresh air, a lovely picnic and some real quality family time. There are some lovely walks along canal sides, bridleways, country paths, rivers, lakes, or even your local parks. You can even do a little bit of map reading with older children and give them a bit of a challenge. Walking is a great way to maintain a healthy weight and strengthen muscles and bones while improving your balance and coordination. Walking also helps to increase bone density, reduce the effects of heart disease, decreases the risks of developing high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes.Swimming and water sports
One of the best ways to cool off in summer is to get wet. Going swimming uses all the muscles of your body increasing flexibility, muscle strength and cardiovascular strength. All this whilst having very little pressure and stress on your body and limbs.Trafford water sports centre have activities for family fun .. click Here
Team sports
Team sports such as football, netball, rugby, cricket,cheer leading, tennis and many more are great ways for your children to interact with each other helping them build on social skills that will help them to build bonds, develop relationships and give confidence in later life whether at work or in leisure time.
Camping
Getting away from civilisation, i-pads and mobiles can be a liberating and refreshing experience. How long can we manage without the temptation of checking out facebook?? We wouldn’t recommend not taking your mobile.. you might need it, though hopefully not.. Grabbing tent and sleeping bag, trekking out to the middle of nowhere sleeping under the stars cooking over a camp fire Having a good sing song and bonding with nature. Bliss…. and it’s great exercise with plenty of fresh air.For camp sites in the UK click Here
Gardening and Foraging
There is almost a primal satisfaction in making things grow out of the ground. A lot of people plant gardens and you should too. You can grow flowers, vegetables, fruits, or even herbs and spices. Finding what to grow can be fun and weeding your garden can be oddly calming and therapeutic. Plus at the end of the season, you can pick what you grow and enjoy eating your produce and making lovely displays with your flowers.Scavenger hunt and geocaching
While the main goal of a scavenger hunt is finding the treasure, half the fun is embracing the journey as well. Being outdoors, whether it be on the streets or in the woods, is a great activity to help you become familiar with the area, allowing you to find new and interesting spots on your journey. It’s also a great activity to help with your sense of direction and to read the landscape. You can also add cryptic clues in to the hunt to promote your little sweethearts creativity.Geocaching is a global Scavenger hunt which dotted around the globe are items, or a container holding a number of items, is hidden at a particular location for GPS users to find by means of coordinates posted on the Internet.
For information on geocaching in the Manchester area click Here
Being close to nature
Allowing your children to roll down a grassy hill, playing in dirt and sand and climbing trees exposure them to naturally occurring microbes in soil, sand and wood will help build stronger, more disease-resistant children. It’s great for their immune system and will help them in later life. Also this can reduce the likelihood of some auto-immune diseases such as Asthma , hay fever, eczema, food allergies and many more. Fear is something we don’t experience when we’re very young, so if children are exposed to Spiders, Bees, Bugs, Caterpillars, dogs, cats etc in early life they are much less likely to develop phobias later in life.
Going to museums and art galleries
These places are a great learning environment for our children as it’s a very practical and engaging experience. Museums are interesting places for all types of learners whether they are Visual, Auditory, Verbal, kinesthetic or Logical thinkers everyone can reap the learning benefits in their own way. An added benefit is they tend to be quite cool inside, so can be a great break away on very hot days.