🌞 Keep Them Moving!

August means back-to-school schedules, busy mornings and plenty of restless energy! The Keep Them Moving Challenge gives families one simple activity for every day of the month. No expensive equipment, complicated rules or perfect athletic skills required—just a little movement and a willingness to have fun together.

Most activities take 10–30 minutes and can be adjusted for different ages and abilities. Take water breaks, choose a safe space and adapt any movement to fit your child’s needs.

August 1: Family Walk & Talk 🚶

Time: 20 minutes
Take a walk through your neighborhood and let everyone answer a fun question, such as “Where would you travel if you could go anywhere?”

Adapt it: Walk, roll, use a stroller or choose a smooth indoor route.

August 2: Animal-Movement Race 🐻

Time: 10–15 minutes
Race across the room or yard using bear crawls, crab walks, frog jumps, bunny hops and penguin waddles.

Works on: Coordination, balance and strength.

August 3: Balloon Volleyball 🎈

Time: 15 minutes
Stretch a piece of tape or yarn between two chairs and hit a balloon back and forth without letting it touch the floor.

Indoor-friendly: Yes!

August 4: Freeze-Dance Party 🎶

Time: 15–20 minutes
Play favorite songs and dance until someone pauses the music. Everyone must freeze in place!

Extra buzz: Award silly titles for the funniest, fanciest or most dramatic freeze.

August 5: Sidewalk-Chalk Obstacle Course 🌈

Time: 20–30 minutes
Draw lines to balance on, circles to jump into, arrows to follow and spots for spinning or touching toes.

Cost: Free if you already have chalk.

August 6: Alphabet Workout 🔤

Time: 15 minutes
Assign movements to different letters. Try five jumping jacks for A, five squats for B and a ten-second balance for C. Spell each child’s name using the exercises.

August 7: Backyard Water Relay 💦

Time: 20 minutes
Use a sponge to carry water from one bucket to another. Run back, hand the sponge to the next person and see which team fills its bucket first.

Adult note: Closely supervise children around all containers of water.

August 8: Family Hike 🌲

Time: 30 minutes or more
Choose an age-appropriate Colorado trail and enjoy a nature walk. Look for birds, flowers, animal tracks and interesting rocks.

Remember: Bring water, sunscreen and layers for changing Colorado weather.

August 9: Superhero Training Academy 🦸

Time: 15–20 minutes
Create stations for leaping over “buildings,” crawling through a tunnel, balancing across a “bridge” and rescuing a stuffed animal.

August 10: Hopscotch Challenge 🔢

Time: 15 minutes
Create a traditional hopscotch board or add directions such as spin, clap, roar, hop backward or name an animal.

Indoor option: Make the squares with painter’s tape.

August 11: Playground Circuit 🛝

Time: 20–30 minutes
Complete a lap that includes climbing, sliding, swinging, balancing and walking around the playground. Repeat it two or three times.

August 12: Yoga Story Adventure 🧘

Time: 15 minutes
Tell a story that incorporates yoga-inspired poses: stretch tall like a tree, crouch like a frog, arch like a cat and rest like a sleeping butterfly.

Keep it gentle: Never force a stretch or position.

August 13: Laundry-Basket Basketball 🏀

Time: 15 minutes
Roll up clean socks and toss them into a laundry basket. Move farther away after every successful shot.

Math buzz: Keep score or calculate shooting percentages with older children.

August 14: Family Bike or Scooter Ride 🚲

Time: 20–30 minutes
Ride together on a safe trail, park path or quiet neighborhood route.

Safety: Wear properly fitted helmets and follow local traffic rules.

August 15: Pool-Noodle Fitness 🏊

Time: 15–20 minutes
Use pool noodles as hurdles, balance beams, relay batons or limbo bars.

No pool required: These activities work perfectly in the yard.

August 16: Follow-the-Leader Fitness 👟

Time: 15 minutes
Take turns leading the family through marching, skipping, reaching, balancing, hopping and silly dance moves.

August 17: Nature Scavenger Hunt 🔎

Time: 20–30 minutes
Walk around looking for something smooth, red, tiny, tall, fragrant, rough and shaped like a heart.

Nature rule: Observe living things without picking or disturbing them.

August 18: Deck-of-Cards Workout 🃏

Time: 15–20 minutes
Assign one movement to each suit:

• Hearts: Jumping jacks

• Diamonds: Toe touches

• Clubs: Marching steps

• Spades: Squats

Draw a card and complete the number shown. Face cards can equal ten and aces can equal one.

August 19: Bubble-Chasing Challenge 🫧

Time: 10–15 minutes
Blow bubbles and have children chase, reach, jump and pop as many as possible before they land.

Best for: Toddlers through early elementary ages.

August 20: Indoor Hallway Bowling 🎳

Time: 15 minutes
Arrange empty plastic bottles as pins and roll a soft ball toward them. Retrieve the ball with a different movement each round—skip, crawl or walk backward carefully.

August 21: Jump-Rope Jam

Time: 15–20 minutes
Practice individual jumps, partner jumping or swinging the rope along the ground like a snake for younger children to hop over.

No rope? Jump over a line of painter’s tape.

August 22: Teddy-Bear Rescue Mission 🧸

Time: 15–20 minutes
Hide stuffed animals around the house or yard. Children must complete a movement challenge before rescuing each one.

August 23: Dance-Move Copycat 💃

Time: 15 minutes
One person performs a short dance move and everyone copies it. Add another movement each round until the family has created a complete routine.

August 24: Park Fitness Bingo 🌳

Time: 20–30 minutes
Create a bingo card with activities such as:

• Swing ten times

• Run to a tree

• Balance for ten seconds

• Climb safely

• Walk one lap

• Complete five frog jumps

Finish one row or challenge the family to complete the entire card.

August 25: Color Run Search 🌈

Time: 15 minutes
Call out a color and have children move quickly to touch something that color. Change the movement each round: walk, hop, crawl, tiptoe or dance.

August 26: Family Stretch & Reset 🌸

Time: 10–15 minutes
Slow things down with shoulder rolls, gentle side stretches, ankle circles, reaching toward the sky and calm breathing.

Goal: Recovery, body awareness and relaxation—not flexibility competition.

August 27: Backyard Field Day 🥇

Time: 30 minutes
Set up several easy events:

• Sock toss

• Spoon-and-ball race

• Standing long jump

• Hula-hoop challenge

• Short relay race

Celebrate effort with homemade certificates or high-fives.

August 28: Shadow Tag ☀️

Time: 15–20 minutes
Instead of tagging another person’s body, players try to step gently on one another’s shadows.

Safety: Play in an open area away from traffic and obstacles.

August 29: Family Kickball ⚽

Time: 20–30 minutes
Set up bases using cones, chalk, paper plates or jackets. Keep the rules simple and let younger children kick from a closer spot.

Small family? Play kick-and-chase instead of using teams.

August 30: Mystery-Movement Jar 🫙

Time: 15–20 minutes
Write movements on slips of paper and place them in a jar. Ideas include ten marching steps, five frog jumps, a silly dance, a bear crawl and a ten-second balance.

Take turns drawing challenges until the jar is empty.

August 31: Family Choice Celebration 🎉

Time: 30 minutes
Let everyone vote for a favorite activity from the month and do it again. Finish with music, a family dance party and plenty of celebration for completing the challenge!

Movement Belongs to Every Body 💛

Exercise doesn’t have to mean organized sports, long workouts or keeping score. Dancing in the kitchen, walking around the block, stretching on the floor and playing at the park all count. Celebrate participation, offer breaks and let children move in ways that feel comfortable for their bodies.

The goal isn’t perfection—it’s creating 31 opportunities to move, laugh and make memories together. 🐝💕