Start by planning where you would like to go walking. Take a look at a map of your neighborhood. Are there any interesting landmarks or places quite close to your home?
Perhaps some shops or a park? A nice steep hill?
Week 1
Start by deciding on a place not to far away from your house. Choose a place about a block away.
This week you are going to walk to your chosen place and back again each day. Time how long it takes to walk there and back.
Can you speed up and walk the distance in a shorter time each day This way you are beating your own record. Keep a log of your times.
Week 2
Choose a another spot spot a little further away from your home. It should take you 4-5 minutes to walk there and the same amount of time to walk back.
Walk the new distance each day and time yourselves. Can you beat your time?
Week 3
This week see how far you can walk away from your home in 5 minutes.
Try to walk a little further in 5 minutes each day.
Week 4 and 5
Try to do a nice long walk lasting about 15-20 0 minutes 2-3 times a week. How far can you walk in 10 minutes?
Find some interesting places to walk near your home. Can you find a hill to walk up? Perhaps you can go for a walk in a park or some woods.
If it is cold and wet outside, perhaps you can go for a walk in a mall.
Ways to motivate a young child to walk
Children are not good at doing things without some sort of goal – so you will need to find ways of making your walks more interesting.
Timing how long it takes to walk a distance provides a good incentive and goal. It also discourages the child from stopping on the way – stopping to complain takes time!
Walks can be made more interesting in other ways:
Counting things on the way is one way to do this.
- How many people/dogs/ parked cars did you pass today?
- How many red parked cars did you pass?
- How many red cars passed you on your walk?
- Who is the first one to spot a dog?
