Play outside this winter

In the promise to build a fort or a battle of snowballs, children do not hesitate to brave the cold and deep snow. What do you expect? Come out and be active with them! You'll be warmer outside being active and walking a bit. Neither you nor your children do not need to sweat to make physical activity. "Walking is good for the hearts of all ages and is an excellent habit to adopt as a child, walking activates the heart and muscles of children. "


Start to see winter as a winter wonderland, like when you were a child. Instead of taking children from their friends, school or park, walk with them. Resolve to use your car only when absolutely necessary. In addition, you will help reduce air pollution, another boon for the heart. When children and parents choose to walk instead of using the car, they engage in physical activity whose heart needs. These steps also teach us how easy it is to reduce air pollution that harms the health of the heart and is often caused by the use of the car when we could walk. "

Here are eight fun ways for you and your child to spend time walking this winter:

1. Join a guided bird winter. You will see many interesting birds such as chickadees, cardinals and snowy owls. What a great opportunity to learn about the nature and practice an activity outside;
2. Encourage greater to offer their services to dog walkers to your friends and neighbors. They could earn pocket money while practicing a refreshing activity;
3. Instead of going by car, then walk to the park to slide or skate with your child;
4. Organize a treasure hunt in a local park or even in your yard. Try to find and identify animal tracks and various species of trees;
5. Accompany children to school by walk. Ten minutes walk in the morning you will start the day off right. If you live far from school, park the car a mile or two and walk the rest of the way;
6. Create an obstacle course in your backyard. Build barriers to climb over with snowballs and mark the ground with a spray bottle filled with colored water to create a fun trail run and make your children;
7. Make a contest for the biggest snowball. Start by forming a ball in your hand, then pushing on the ground until it is too heavy to be moved;
8. Draw your own tracks in the snow. It's always fun to watch the tracks in the snow. At the local library, you could find a book on animal tracks. Then let your kids recreate these tracks using spoons, cups and other household items on your lawn snow.

Warm yourself by being active
It is especially important for children to stay warm and being dry while playing outside in winter. Dress your children in skins so they can remove them if they were too hot. Gloves or mittens are essential impervious to play outside in the winter. If your children have only knit mittens, make sure they have a spare pair if they get wet before children have finished playing.

Remember not to play outside for too long when the wind chill down to -28 ° C or lower. According to Environment Canada, the skin can suffer frostbite after 10 to 30 minutes of exposure to these temperatures. Strong winds affect the body's ability to retain warmth, even if only -10 ° C outside, your body reacts as if it were twice as cold. These conditions increase the risk of frostbite. But as long as the children keep their nose, ears and fingers covered, physical activity outside help them stay warm and happy.

Walking, great habit of life
The simple activities such as daily walking is a great way to teach your children the importance of physical activity. When you engage in physical activity instead of just talking about it, you give a good example by incorporating physical activity into your daily routine and this for a lifetime. "If good habits are learned early, it is hoped that children who become adults walk that walk. "

Beware of the winter blues
In winter, in our latitudes, is not an easy season for anyone. The weather is dreary, days spin like the wind, it's cold and exits to the outside gradually decrease and eventually cease altogether (at least here in Quebec).

There are several reasons for this change of conduct on the part of humans. Like many animal species, humans are susceptible to seasonal variations in the intensity of light. Many people experience sudden mood changes, concentration problems or have difficulty getting up in the morning. When these changes occur in autumn or winter, the syndrome is called the "winter blues".

We know of course that this may be a little cold outside in winter, but the best (and only) way to overcome this cold is to face going out to play! In the land of sun, winter is certainly no time to hibernate, rather, it's time you wrap up and enjoy the wilderness differently. These are not activities that are lacking elsewhere.

The benefits to the children to play outside
Let them go play outside, without specific purpose and to what they want without being forced to anything, this seems to fail our children. One of the direct consequences of this outdoor activity is not overweight observed in children is increasingly common. When we play outside, you're not watching television, playing console games or computer.

Playing outside is good for muscles, for sure, but it is also expending energy and reduce the tendency to obesity that affects more and more children who are too sedentary. On a psychological level, a child playing outside with other children without being dictated rules of the game will develop many skills extremely important: he learns to imagine a game to explain to his peers or the understanding, increase their social skills, to deal with other personalities, other desires, to organize, to enjoy relationships, to create links. Playing this way seems to reduce anxiety, insomnia and aggressiveness.

What are you doing this winter to enjoy the gift of heaven?
Tell us what you do for fun and enjoy the white carpet and joys of lakes and icy rivers that surround us?