Tons of Fitness Activities for Kids With ASD
Outdoor and indoor activities
There are many activities that can be performed safely in the yard, in the driveway or in the neighborhood, including the following:
- Toss a Frisbee or ball back and forth with a parent or sibling.
- Create a hopscotch course with chalk on the driveway.
- Bowl using an empty two-liter cola bottle, a roll of paper towels or water bottles.
- Toss sponges or rolled-up socks into a large cooking pot or laundry basket.
- Navigate an obstacle course you create in the yard that includes going under, over and through obstacles.
- Go for a walk, bike ride or jog around the neighborhood with a parent or sibling. A simple walk/jog can be more interesting by making it a scavenger hunt. For example, a child has to identify something that is red, yellow, blue and green on the walk. You can add more colors or have the child find three things that are red to make it more challenging. Other ideas include identifying types of cars (find three Fords and three Chevys) or different types of animals (find three different types of birds and two squirrels).
Indoor exercises
There are many simple, safe activities that can be completed inside. Below are some suggestions:
- Create an exercise routine. Pick activities that you know the child can do independently or with little help. You can create a picture schedule for the child to follow, or you can create a video on your smartphone to help the child follow the routine.
- Create an indoor obstacle course. This might include walking a tape line on the carpet (walk backwards or sideways to make it more challenging), crawling under dining room chairs, jumping/hopping on a series of spots on the carpet (spots can be pieces of paper), lying on the floor and log-rolling from one part of the family room to the other. Ask the child to create some obstacles, too.
- Create challenges with equipment. There are lots of different challenges you can create with a sock rolled into a ball or a piece of rope. See below for some activity ideas with a piece of rope or string.
Sample challenges with rope:
- Put your rope on the floor in a straight line.
- Move over your rope. Show me different ways (crab walk, bear walk).
- Move around your rope. Show me different ways (gallop, jump, hop, skip).
- Move slowly around it. Move in a fast or medium speed around it.
- Move at a low level around it. Move around it at a high or medium level.
- Move backwards around it. Move sideways around it.
- Balance on your rope on two feet.
- Balance on your rope with one foot.
- Walk across your rope like it was a high wire in a circus.
- Walk across your rope backwards.
- Walk across your rope sideways.
- Jump across your rope. Did you make it across? .Jump farther.
- Make your rope into a circle on the floor.
- Jump into the circle. Jump higher. Higher!
- Jump out of the circle. Jump backwards out of the circle. Jump sideways.
- Walk around the circle without touching it. Gallop, hop, skip around it.
- Move slowly around it. Now move fast or medium speed around it.
- Move at a low level around it. Now at a high or medium level.
- Move backwards around it. Move sideways around it.
- Walk on the circle so your feet barely touch the floor.
- Pick up your rope and, standing in one place, turn around in a circle.
- Pick up your rope and wiggle it like a snake.
- Walk backwards as you wiggle your snake.
- Move at a low level and wiggle your snake.
- Move at a high level and wiggle your snake.
- Make your snake wiggle into another child’s snake.
Partner activities
- With a partner, make your ropes into a big circle.
- Move around the big circle keeping your feet on the rope. Now move backwards, then sideways.
- Move around the big circle while holding your partner’s hand. Now move backwards, then sideways.
- Jump into the circle then out of the circle. Hop into the circle then out of the circle.
- Jump into the circle then out while holding your partner’s hand. Jump out backwards.
- Hop into the circle then out while holding your partner’s hand. Now try hopping backwards.
- Hold one rope between you and the child and move around the space. Try going backwards. Try going sideways.
- Hold the rope with your partner and turn around in a circle together.