Animal Exercises for Kids – Free Printables

If you need a quick and simple brain break activity that encourage movement and self-regulation, check out these animal exercises for kids! There are three free printables you can download at the bottom of this blog post.

Benefits of Physical Activity for Kids

Yes, of course, exercise is important for the healthy development of children. As a quick reminder, here are 10 benefits of physical activity for children:

Improves cardiovascular endurance and heart health.
Improves respiration and breathing.
Improves muscle strength.
Increases the flexibility of the muscles.
Prevents fractures, encourages bone growth and protects against osteoporosis.
Prevents obesity.
Impacts brainpower.
Increases self-regulation skills.
Associated with improved cognitive skills including executive functioning, attention, memory, and verbal comprehension.
Improves self-esteem and attitude.

Sure it is important, but at times it is not so easy to get children to exercise. They would prefer to watch television or play video games rather than get up and move around. Using animal exercises for kids can help to make physical activity fun and engaging. Children are familiar with animals and how they move. This is especially beneficial for children who struggle with gross motor and coordination skills. They already have an idea (otherwise known as a basic motor plan) for how the animal moves so they can try and make their body perform the same actions.

Three Free Printables to Get Kids Moving and Breathing

Here are three free printable to encourage children to start moving and regulating their breathing. This can help to get children to calm down or get their energy out and be ready to work.

The animal exercises for kids freebie includes text with picture images to perform the following:

jump like a grasshopper
breath in to get big like a pufferfish
walk like a porcupine
roar like a lion

These freebies are from the Complete Animal Walks Bundle. The Animal Walks Bundle are no-prep calming tools that encourage self-regulation, exercise, and deep breathing to help students succeed in the classroom!

Get your FREE printables below. Sign up to receive the weekly email newslettter from Your Therapy Source along with other announcements. You will be redirected to download the freebie. A new tab will open the three page PDF document. If you can not view the sign up box, email info@yourtherapysource.com and reference this blog post and we will send it to you.