Active play is good for all of us, and it’s fun too. The physical benefits — burning up calories, getting fit, building up strength and learning balance — aren’t the only ones. For children, play has emotional and psychological benefits, such as building up confidence in their own bodies, using their imagination, making friends and learning to get along with others.

Enjoying the great outdoors

“Children need active outdoor play — they need to jump, run and skip, and do a bit of ‘rough and tumble’,” says Adrian Voce, director of the Children’s Play Council. “Free, unstructured play is incredibly important — that’s how children learn to enjoy physical activity.”

All they require is a bit of space — a local park will do fine. Or if you’re feeling a bit more adventurous, make a trip to a beach or woodland and set them free! As long as you keep them within sight, they can enjoy outdoors fun safely.

“My kids build dams in streams, make dens in woods, collect bugs in little boxes and paddle in waterfalls,” says Laura, mum of Xavier, six, and Esme, four. “We also spend a lot of time at the beach. Last weekend, they spent hours putting pebbles in piles and shooting them down an old tube.”

How to get them going

But what if you take your kids outside and they’re still not very enthusiastic about being active? For those who aren’t used to making up games, take a ball to get them started.

“In the park, they can pretend to be dogs and you throw a ball and shout ‘Fetch!’,” says Jay, mum of Ella, eight, Sam, five, and Becky, four.

“You could turn an outdoors walk into a treasure hunt for a yellow leaf, a Y-shaped stick or a pine cone, so they are forced to forage about. Or make it into a ‘colour walk’, where they have to find a red thing, yellow thing, green thing and a blue thing. You can turn it into a race to complete a full set of colours.

“In the woods, encourage them to be bears and let them chase you while you scream! If it’s raining, a puddle stomp is the biggest fun of all.”

Home sweet home 

Active play needn’t be off-limits at home. If you have a garden, you have one of the best sources of exercise available — for you and for your children. “In summer, I find watering and digging work best in the garden — but do tell them which plants are the weeds,” says Dan, dad of Miriam, five, and Naomi, three.

Indoors, get them dancing by putting on your boppiest music; using a dance video or DVD is a good tactic for kids who don’t want to move from in front of the TV. You could even add fancy dress and hold a concert if you feel up to it!

DON’T FORGET...

...It’s supposed to be fun! If everyone starts grumbling, give it a miss. But try it again soon — just don’t tell them it’s good for them!

Find out more

• Getting Your Kids Active: How to Have Active, Healthy Kids by Claire Gillman (£12.99, A & C Black)
• Get Your Kids Fit: The Parents' Guide to Healthy Happy Active Kids by Kelly Holmes (£14.99, Virgin Books)