8 After-School Activities For Primary School-Aged Children

Exercises are essential to human lives. They’re even more critical for primary-aged children. Apart from helping promote physical health, allowing children to do activities that can stimulate brain growth will help them focus and concentrate which is significant in a learning environment. 

So, if you want your school-going children to boost their cognitive and physical well-being, stick here for a few minutes. Why? Because you’re going to learn essential exercises your children could participate in after coming from school. Read on. 

Exercises For Primary School-Aged Children

There are loads of excellent activities you can encourage your children to do. Some of these exercises include;

1. Swimming 

As a parent, swimming is often one of the best after-school exercises you should encourage your children to learn. It’s a practice where children propel themselves through water in the pool using their limbs.  

Swimming can contribute to children’s development in various ways. For instance, it can help improve their heart and lung, which allows them to have better breathing. Besides, due to the vigorous body movement during swimming, children can boost the development of their minds, helping them to concentrate.  

Some other benefits of swimming include helping children improve their social skills and safety skills. Also, it allows them to develop their confidence or self-esteem.  

However, for your child to enjoy all these benefits, they should enroll in swimming lessons for kids. Doing this involves researching and finding the best school in the region where you can take your primary school-aged children for swimming lessons. When choosing a swimming school, some of the things to check include safety, location, the experience of trainers, and much more.  

2. Running 

Running is probably one of the simplest exercises for school-going children. It’s a situation where children move or travel faster on land using their feet. Children who participate in running activities can develop stronger muscles and are unlikely to suffer from obesity. 

In addition, children who like running are likely to do better in school. This is possible because running can boost the cognitive well-being of a child, which makes them concentrate in class. So, if you want your child to improve in school while maintaining their physical fitness, allow them to run for a few minutes after coming back from school.  

3. Skipping 

Skipping is another simple exercise that can help boost your children’s physical and mental health. It’s one of the best exercises for any child looking to work out their whole body.  Skipping is a game of jumping over a rope that’s held and swung by two other children. 

Besides boosting physical fitness, skipping can help boost and improve children’s brain function, coordination, and focus. It’s therefore important to encourage your children to engage in skipping activities each day for about 30 minutes before taking supper. 

4. Ball Games 

It’s no doubt that every child likes balls. So, it makes sense to encourage them to play ball games after school.  

Playing ball games have many benefits for children who play them. For instance, it can help promote their balance and improve their coordination and concentration.  

Some of the common ball game activities for children include hitting balls using legs, tossing balls using hands, rolling balls against the wall, and much more. So, you need to do your research and find the best ball game appropriate for your children.  

Though your children can play ball games inside or outside the house, you should ensure that the place is clean and safe. This helps prevent your children from getting hurt or injured by sharp objects and other dangerous items.  

5. Bear Crawl  

The bear crawl is an activity where children walk with both legs and hands while their belly facing down. It allows children to use all their body muscles while burning extra calories which helps boost their metabolism.  

Bear crawl also helps promote the heart and lung systems of children. In addition, a bear crawl can help improve a child’s mental health, which allows them to do well in school.  

6. Crab Walk 

Crab walk is the opposite of bear crawl. It makes your children move using both of their hands and legs with their stomachs facing the sky making them walk like a crab. Crab walk is one of the best children’s activities that can help strengthen their joints to help promote their stability. 

In addition, walking like a crab requires a lot of focus and concentration. This exercise can help your children to boost their agility and focus. It’s one of the most cost-effective home exercises because it doesn’t require any special equipment.  

7. Squats 

Squats are another example of simple exercises you can teach your primary-going children at home. It involves sitting in a crouching position with legs in front of the body and can help your children build muscles while burning extra fats.  

In addition, squats can help promote blood circulation, which helps transport nutrients to the brain, thus boosting the cognitive well-being of your children.  Some types of squats include box squats, wall squats, goblet squats, lateral squats, and pistol squats.  

8. Stretching 

Stretching is the practice of releasing tension from joints, tendons, and muscles, thus keeping them flexible, strong, and healthy. Apart from promoting the flexibility of body tissues, stretching can help reduce anxiety and stress in school-going children. Doing this will help them concentrate in class, enabling them to improve their performance.  

Takeaway 

Exercises are essential for primary-going children. They can be done either as indoor or outdoor exercise. Doing this can help boost both their physical and mental well-being. So, it’d be a good idea to identify and encourage your children to participate in some exercises immediately after they come from school.  

As you’ve seen above, there are several simple exercises your school-going kids can participate in. Some of these exercises include swimming, running, skipping, ball games, and bear crawl. Other activities include squats, stretching their bodies, and doing crab walk activities. Participating in these exercises and others allows your children to live healthily and remain focused in school, thus improving their grades.