Written by Elena Kersey
With Malaysia’s MCO forcing us all indoors while we work together to #flattenthecurve, how do we keep our active kids from driving us stir crazy?
The Malaysian Dietary Guidelines for Children recommends 30 minutes of exercise per day for toddlers and 60 minutes for kids over 5. Getting kids their daily dose of activity is no easy task when playgrounds, swimming pools and parks are off limits.
To help our already stressed out ibus cope during this trying time, we’ve put together 5 (totally free!) ideas to keep your littles active during the MCO.
1. The Little Gym Malaysia Free Online Class
The Little Gym of Malaysia is offering a free online kids gymnastic class on Sunday 11th April, hosted by the ever popular teacher, Joseph.
Log on to The Little Gym Malaysia on Facebook or Instagram at 10.00am to join the classes, which are suitable for kids aged 4 months to 3 years old.
2. Free Kids Workout Videos
If Mum and Dad need a break, find an online workout class for your kids and relax while they work off some energy. A few of our favourites are:
P.E with Joe.
A daily 30 minute youtube workout hosted by U.K based personal trainer and P.E teacher Joe Wicks. Due to similar MCOs in the U.K, Australia and New Zealand, Joe’s P.E workouts have become immensely popular with over 1 million families tuning in live. Joe’s workouts are suitable for school aged kids and his channel also has adult workouts if mum and dad need to release some steam too!
Glen Higgins Fitness
Glenn Higgins is a Personal Trainer and Health Coach who creates fantastic workout videos for kids, all themed around super hero characters – from Avengers, to Star Wars, Joker, Halloween and more. These videos are suitable for kids from themed in their favourite super hero characters – from Star Wars, Spider Man, Avengers, Black Panther, Halloween & more. These workout videos are suitable for kids aged 8 and above.
Debbie Doo
Suitable for pre-schoolers, Debbie Doo gets kids moving with lots of fun, easy to follow dance videos for kids.
3. Big Spot Obstacle Course
Cut large circles out of coloured paper (or get your kids to paint or colour in white paper) and place these around the house. Challenge your kids to jump from one spot to the next without landing on the floor. Get creative and increase the difficulty as they get the hang of it.
4. Hopscotch
If you have an outdoor area or balcony, draw a hopscotch court with chalk or masking tape and play with your kids. If your kids are learning numbers or letters, draw these in the squares and get them to jump from to the letter or number you call out.
If you only have indoor space, create the hopscotch court out of pieces of A4 paper and stick them to the floor.
5. Indoor “Egg” and Spoon Races
We don’t recommend you use actual eggs for this game (these are a prized commodity at the moment. If you have extra eggs to spare, don’t waste a single one on this!). Try a ping pong ball, golf ball or even a ball of paper instead.
Using masking tape or chalk draw START and FINISH lines about 4 meters apart. Get the kids to race, with their “eggs” balanced on spoons from the START line to the FINISH line.
Dropping eggs sends you back to the START line to begin again. Get the whole family involved by creating a leaderboard and assign points for each successful attempt.
The family member with the most points over the course of the MCO period gets to choose a fun day out for when it is all over.
While we hope that that this will prove useful in keeping your kids active (and out of your hair!), it's certainly NOT meant to be another “To Do” on a list that's already bursting at the seams as you try to work, parent and school your kids at home.
The Covid-19 pandemic is a scary and challenging time for us all. On good days, you might manage to do a bit of work and keep the kids occupied for an hour or two. On bad days, it may feel like a constant battle just to get to bedtime.
Be kind to yourselves. Getting through the day – however you manage to do so – is a win. And even if your kids are bored and whiney all day, they will remember that these were the days when they got to spend 24 hours with the most important people in their lives.
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Originally from New Zealand, Elena Kersey moved to Malaysia in 2009 intending to stay for 6 months… and never left. She now calls Kuala Lumpur home and is an ibu to twin 3-year-old boys. She keeps busy by working in media rights sales and is an expert at building forts, making play doh and designing sticker charts.