What free online exercise classes are there for kids?

If you've been wanting to find out what free online exercise and physical education classes there are for kids you've come to the right place. The answer is - there are loads. During the lockdown and quarantine stages lots of newcomers have provided fresh new content to complement the older and established favourites. In this post I want to share my and my kids favourite free online resources for kids physical exercise - there are lots of ideas for a variety of ages, from nursery age to early teens. 

During lockdown I've insisted on two topics - P.E. and maths. We have done other topics too of course, but less regularly and led by my daughter's interests, as I've explained in my unschooling homeschooling post.  If we stay indoors, then for P.E. we often go for one of these videos below.

Fitness

P.E with Joe - Joe Wicks started doing daily 30 min P.E. sessions for the kids on his YouTube channel. Monday to Friday, 9 AM (BST). All the sessions are available to watch on his channel so you don't have to join in on time. They are best for older kids, such as later primary years and secondary schools, and of course parents often enjoy joining in too. 

He's also got a selection of five minute workouts for kids if you want something quick! These hold the attention of the smaller ones better. 

Andy's Wild Workouts - This is done by the children's TV CBeebies presenter Andy and better suited for the younger ones, six and under, than Joe Wicks. Lots of fun and magical videos, with dinosaurs, sea creatures and like. 10 videos, available on YouTube and BBC iPlayer. 

Les Mills on Demand - Les Mills on Demand has a Born to Move section for kids, which includes a limited selection of free videos for a range of ages, 4-5 years, 6-7 years, 8-12 years and 13-16 years old kids. They are around 20 minutes long with music and fun exercises. Limited to two free videos per age group. 

Get Kids Moving - these videos are computerised workouts and seem to be popular with P.E. teachers who are setting lockdown workout. Work well for some primary school kids, particularly those that love Marvel and other comic book heroes! I personally prefer ones with a human instructor, but I can see these videos suiting well some kids.

Dance

Lots of great dance resources out there! 

Go Noodle - short and active dance videos and exercise challenges on YouTube - perfect for the little ones in primary.  

The Ballet Coach - great selection of ballet classes for a variety of ages. Classes available for guide ages of 2-5 years, 5-7 years, 8-12 years, and 13+ years - although total beginners would probably want to start from the earlier years. 

The videos are cleverly colour-coded so you can find the relevant class quickly from the stream of them and are streamed live Mon to Fri, 9.30AM to 5PM if you want to join in. There are adult and grandparents videos too, so even us oldies can try our plie ha ha. 

Oti Mabuse - the Strictly Come Dancing judge does live streamed dance lessons for kids from her living room. Lots of great dance videos for kids, based on popular pop songs or kids films like Moana or Tangled, or Frozen. These are very energetic and great exercise, very fun to do. Better for kids 6+ as some moves can be a bit challenging and tiring. 

Kidz Bop - Aimed at primary school age kids and tweens, these are fun pop songs performed by kids. There are two main exercise related playlists, Dance Along videos and Kidz Bop Fitness. Great ideas to spice up a dance routine with current pop songs. 

Bounce Patrol - for the youngest of kids, in nursery and early years. Short educational songs and little dances, about washing hands, vegetables, colours and so on. Very colourful and children's TV style videos, very fun for the little little ones. 

Yoga

Cosmic Kids Yoga - the favourite YouTube channel for lots of nursery and early years teachers! These are so fantastic, gentle but do get the kids moving and also calming down and practicing mindfulness, particularly great for these trying times. 

They are founded on play and incorporate story-telling and imagination, and there are many all-time favourites such as Frozen yoga, or Moana yoga for Disney fans. Great for young kids, probably 8 and under. My daughter is a great fan of Cosmic Kids and often chooses this as her first choice of P.E. 

Yoga for Kids - more of basic yoga moves, rather than story telling, but suitable for kids. This will appeal to kids that have outgrown Cosmic Kids but still enjoy yoga and could do with calming activities.  

Have you got any other tips for physical exercise online resources for kids? Would love to hear new ideas!

You might also like:  How to talk to your child about coronavirus and What I've been thinking about the lockdown

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