Family Fitness and Winter Olympics: Activities Inspired by Olympic Events

Have your kids been hopping on their sled lately and pretending they’re participating in a luge event? Or emulating their favourite Olympic figure skater? Winter can be a tough time to keep kids active and healthy. Now that you’re no longer glued to the TV to watch, take advantage of this opportunity for family fitness and Winter Olympics inspiration at home in response to the Sochi Winter Olympic Games!

Family Fitness and Winter Olympics: Activity Ideas

Ice Skating

My two children absolutely loved watching the Olympic ice skating events during the Winter Games! Ice skating can be a fun way to fight childhood obesity in the winter. Encourage your whole family to get those ice skates on and head out for a skate at a local backyard rink, or pond, or an open skate at your local arena. You can also check if there’s a spring session to sign your child up for ice skating lessons, whether it’s speed skating or figure skating. Some arenas even offer ice skating lessons year round.

Hockey

And how about those amazing Olympic hockey games?! If your child is swelling with Canadian hockey pride, send them out on that local ice with a puck and hockey stick for some pickup hockey fun with the neighbourhood kids. Of course, you could always check out when the next hockey team sign-up is at the local arena. And the fun can continue year-round, either at the arena or on the pavement with a ball instead of a puck.

Skiing and Snowboarding

Pile into the car and go snowboarding  or downhill skiing at the local ski hill once a week. If you’re a scaredy-cat about skiing (like me), check out these 5 Tips to Tame Your Skiing Fear. And if you’re worried about the cost of skiing, check out these tips to hit the slopes for less.

Cross-country Skiing

If you would rather stick to flatter terrain, strap on some cross country skis and go skiing as a family. I have warm fuzzy memories from when I was a kid, of my whole family skiing on park trails every winter. Perhaps the local park or wildlife park near you offers ski rentals. If you would rather have your own equipment, give your local Kijiji or Freecycle sites a try for low-cost or no-cost used equipment.

Curling

Do you enjoy curling? Did your child enjoy watching Olympic Curling with you? Learn more about curling together with the Curling for Dummies book. Then give your local curling club a try – some curling clubs have curling for children and families available! Or how about getting curling introduced to your child’s class at school? Show your child’s teacher and/or principal these programs which bring curling right to the school:

• Tim Hortons Getting Started in Curling for Youth
• Canadian Curling Association Rocks & Rings Program

Whether we like it or not, winter is still here. Enjoy it and take advantage of your child’s fascination with the Winter Olympics while it lasts!

What family fitness and Winter Olympics inspired sports do you enjoy as a family? Let us know in the comments below!