Looking for Fun Winter Activities?

We know it's cold out there. Who really wants to go outside when you can stay warm indoors by the fire? It's around this time during the winter that families realize that the kids are starting to go nuts and that it's time to come up with some fun, healthy, outdoor activities for the whole family!

One great way for the family to keep in shape in the winter is by going ice skating. Ice skating burns up to 475 calories per hour at a leisurely pace and can burn up to 600 calories per hour at a vigorous pace! If you don't know how to ice skate, just learning to skate still burns about 360 calories an hour! If you don't have access to an outdoor area for ice skating, you can travel to an indoor rink to find some ice and have just as much fun!

Then, of course, there's the time honored winter activity of skiing. Here on the East Coast, there are fantastic ski areas everywhere you look! Since skiing uses so many different muscle groups, much like skating, you can burn up to 475 calories skiing per hour at a moderate pace. Then there's cross-country skiing, which can burn up to 550 calories an hour at a leisurely to moderate pace! Although the kids might not enjoy cross country as much as they would downhill, either is a great way to keep active and still have some fun.

How about snowshoeing? We live in an area that is perfect for snowshoeing and although it's a lesser known sport than skiing or skating, it is a fabulous workout and will really put your body to the test. Snowshoeing for an hour will burn up to 550 calories!

Another great winter activity that the kids will certainly enjoy is sledding! Sledding can be a lot of fun for the whole family. If you have children who are too young to ride alone, you can put them on the sled with you. Find the tallest hill that you can safely sled down. The walk up the hill is going to burn a lot of calories and every time you reach the top, you get the reward of flying down the hill. Not only can sledding burn up to 475 calories in one hour, but while you are having fun outside, the time will really fly and you won't miss that warm fire inside.

You can also be creative and turn fun, easy things like building a snowman or a snow fort into a great workout too!

All of these activities are a great way to keep you and your family active on a day off from the gym. The tendency in the winter is to want to stay inside and keep warm, but if you find an activity that you and your family really like, the desire to be inside all the time will quickly go away! Now that you see there's no reason to stay couped up indoors, get out there and have some winter fun!

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