School is wrapping up, which means summer is right around the corner. You might be planning a family vacation at this point, or you might just be looking for ways to keep your kids occupied when they’re out of school. When kids have free time, they may be tempted to lay around the house and play video games or watch TV for hours on end, resulting in unhealthy summer weight gain. With that in mind, we’ve put together a list of seven ways that you can keep your kids healthy and active all summer long. When you want a cool and fun way to beat the summer heat, bring your kiddos to Rebounderz Trampoline Park here in Rohnert Park. Not only will they get some exercise, they’ll have a blast doing it!

-Limit Screen Time

Whether your kid loves watching TV or is all in on playing Fortnite, it’s important to set limits on how much time they spend in front of a screen. Experts recommend keeping screen time to about two hours a day to keep them from falling into a sedentary lifestyle. You can also incorporate physical activity into their television time. Have them do jumping jacks during commercials or push-ups during loading screens to get them off the couch while they have fun. You can even make it into a game or contest, such as how many jumping jacks can you do before your show comes back.

-Make it a Family Activity

An easy way to make sure kids are staying active is to make it something the whole family does together. Go for a walk around the neighborhood after dinner, play some basketball together, play catch — really anything that gets everyone up and moving works great. Kids are more responsive to activities when they get to participate with their parents, because it gives them the feeling of being involved in something.

-Give Them Structure

While we’re not suggesting you put your child in some extreme CrossFit routine that dictates every exercise they need to do, giving them a bit of structure can help them maintain focus when they’re getting physical activity. This can be anything from enrolling them in a summer recreation league for baseball or just setting a specific time each day to go out and play. Try to schedule their outdoor play for when the sun isn’t at its peak, because it’s much harder to have fun when you have the sun beating down on you.

-Free Day Camps

Check around with local organizations to see what type of programs and camps are offered for kids in the summer. This is a low-cost and often free way to keep kids active while giving them a chance to make some new friends in a safe place. Boys & Girls Clubs of America and the YMCA are both great organizations that put on many programs for this reason, and they will also have adult supervision so you can trust that your children will be safe.

-Don’t Forget the Fun

One of the biggest things that gets kids to tune out of physical activity is when it feels like work. If you want to foster a desire to stay physically active, it’s important to find things your child finds fun. Try out a variety of different activities and sports to see what they latch onto. Kids can learn a lot of life lessons that they’ll carry with them for years to come through participating in a local sports team. When you find an activity they have fun with, ask them why they like it. If there’s an activity or a sport they don’t enjoy, see why they don’t. Not only will this engage your child and get them to think critically about what they’ve been doing, it will also help you think of more ideas for activities they will like.

-Give Them Options

Whether you work full-time or you’re a stay-at-home parent, there may be times where you aren’t able to be fully involved in your child’s physical activity. Keeping toys and equipment somewhere that’s easily accessible to them will help them take control over their exercise and activity. Have a stash of balls, rackets, jump ropes, hula hoops, and other stuff like that available to them in the garage so they can easily grab something and go play when they want to.

-Get Friends Involved

Nothing makes exercise feel more like a chore than when you’re forced to do it alone. When you get your child’s friends involved, they’re more likely to enjoy physical activity. They’re probably going to ask to stay out playing even longer than their scheduled play time when they have friends around. Just remind them to keep out of trouble while they’re out and about!

Keeping your kids active through the summer will help them stay healthy and engage their body and brain in ways that will help them a lot when they go back to school. Make sure they’re getting at least an hour of aerobic, muscle strengthening, and bone strengthening activity every day and you’ll have a happy and healthy kid on your hands. When you want to give your child a fun opportunity to be physically active, bring them to Rebounderz in Rohnert Park. Whether they’re just jumping in our safe trampoline park, living out their daredevil dreams on the JumpXTREME Tower, practicing for the slam dunk competition on the SlamBall court, or testing their might on the Ninja Warrior Obstacle Course, we know they’re going to have a blast at Rebounderz. We hope to see you here soon!