Summer is always a huge opportunity for family members to spend more time with each other and have fun while beating the heat. It’s the season that everyone longs for, especially when it comes to having fun and engaging in outdoor activities. Well, during this season, bringing your family together through any kind of sport is a guaranteed way of keeping everyone fit while strengthening your bonds. But it’s not unusual to find yourself scratching your head over things to do with the family for pastime in summer. In this article, we explore a few family-friendly sports to try and most probably enjoy this summer.
1. Basketball
Apart from being a fun sport that all members of the family can participate in, basketball provides numerous benefits to its players. It helps burn calories, strengthen the muscles, build endurance, improve balance, enhance coordination, and heighten concentration. Kids who play basketball also tend to have better cardiovascular health, agility, and discipline. Since some games require the use of teamwork, basketball can help strengthen the ties between family members while cultivating better ethics.
For these and many more reasons, basketball makes an awesome sport for families to take up this summer. The best part is that you don’t even require much space to play basketball as a family. By investing in some basketball hoops, you can enjoy this family-friendly sport right from the comfort of your tiny backyard.
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Depending on your family’s specific needs and factors such as space available, you can go for in-ground basketball hoops, portable hoops, or wall-mounted. With portable hoops, for instance, you can enjoy the game away from home while with wall-mounted hoops; most of your games will be played where you choose to mount the rim.
2. Swimming
For kids, teens, and adults, swimming is fun and enjoyable. Apart from being a fun activity, it’s also among the whole-body exercises that engage almost all muscles in the human body. Amid all the enjoyment, it also helps in burning calories, building muscle strength, improving respiratory function, and boosting cardiovascular function. Whether you do it in your swimming pool, in a public pool, or at the beach, it can be a great activity to engage in with your family this summer. As a matter of fact, some kids love swimming to the point that at times, you may have to bring up a fight when getting them out of the pool/water.
As you may already know, swimming is even more fun if it’s competitive. This is perhaps the reason why it’s among the most popular sports in the Olympic Games. This summer, you can try to hold a swimming competition amongst family members, with awards for the best performers in various swimming techniques. You can select one of the family members to be the judge or pick one from amongst your family friends to make it fairer. You never know, it might as well become your next family tradition.
3. Cycling
Cycling is another common sports activity the whole family can engage in for a good dose of fun and exercise and you should check out BikingBro.com to learn more about it. It’s another total-body exercise that gets most body muscles moving, especially the lower body muscles. Apart from improving muscle strength and bone flexibility, cycling improves your cardiovascular function as well as circulation, energy, agility, and mental wellness. Effective in reducing stress and helping with weight loss, this family fun activity is suitable for both adults and kids, especially kids around 8 years of age and above.
You can even invite your family friends to join in and make it more fun by organizing competitions amongst yourselves with families who share the same interests. It can be interesting to see which family in the neighborhood takes the most trophies at home. Just plan the event early enough and research well on some of the best biking tracks near your neighborhood or your next summer vacation.
4. Walking
How beautiful can summer get than to hit the hiking trails with your family? Of course, not every member may enjoy hiking, but as long as everyone in the family knows the benefits of hiking and you’re well prepared to make it fun, they’ll sure look forward to the next event. For starters, walking is perhaps the simplest activity you can undertake with your family.
It can be enjoyed anywhere, anytime, and you only need to strap on some comfortable sneakers and a bottle of iced water in summer. As you walk, you can identify the different names of plants and flowers you find on your way. You can also make it more fun and competitive, with rewards for kids who manage to behave well and stay in the game throughout the walk.
5. Football
Remember, the trick is to stay sporty as a family. How about having two teams in the house, one team with dad, and the other one with mum? It doesn’t matter who wins or loses so long as the kids have fun and keep fit. Much like basketball, football can help improve speed, strength, alertness, and hand-and-eye coordination. It’s also a great way to spend time together while shedding some calories.
6. Bowling
Bowling is another amazing sport you can try this summer with family. Apart from creating a great bonding opportunity, bowling also improves balance, coordination, and motor skills. The kids can play against themselves, the adults, or individually against the pins. You just have to identify a family-friendly place where they provide bowling competitions and you’re good to go. Once you do this, all you’ll need to have the tickets or entry fee ready, plan for transportation, and you’re all set for some summer fun.
Needless to reiterate, summer is one of the best times of the year to let loose and spend some good time with your loved ones. While traveling and indoor activities are also common, sporting activities can be an amazing way to have some summer fun with the family. On this note, the above are just a few ideas you might find worthwhile on family-friendly sports activities you can try this coming summer. Exercising as a family is viable, and it will only help you as a family to achieve a healthier lifestyle.
