There are only a few short weeks of summer left before it’s time to head back to school, and many parents, grandparents, and babysitters may find children are getting restless. If you frequently hear, “I’m bored,” and struggle with fresh ideas for engaging activities, help keep kids off the couch and reap the wellness benefits yourself during National Exercise with Your Child Week, Aug. 2 – 8. TOPS Club, Inc.® (Take Off Pounds Sensibly®), the nonprofit weight-loss support organization, recommends creating paper “fortune tellers,” filled with healthy to-dos that everyone can enjoy. Follow the attached directions (or just have a kid show you how) and fill your family fortune teller with eight of the fun suggestions below – or get creative and have the whole family brainstorm your own exercise activities to do together.

• Walk the family dog.
• Keep cool at an indoor ice-skating rink.
• Throw a softball.
• Take a bike ride through the neighborhood.
• Break out the yard games…croquet anyone?
• Have a freestyle dance party to whatever music makes you want to move.
• Go for a swim at your local pool, and see how many laps your family can complete together.
• Fly a kite.
• Walk as a group around the block after dinner.
• Jump rope – single or double-dutch.
• Create a nature scavenger hunt.
• Play a game of tag.
• Kick around a soccer ball.
• Check out an indoor rock climbing facility.
• Explore new terrain with a hike.
• Have a hula hooping contest.

TOPS Club Inc.® (Take Off Pounds Sensibly®) is the original weight-loss support and wellness education organization. Founded more than 66 years ago, TOPS is the only nonprofit, noncommercial weight-loss organization of its kind. TOPS promotes successful weight management with a “Real People. Real Weight Loss.®” philosophy that combines support from others at weekly chapter meetings, healthy eating, regular exercise and wellness information. TOPS has more than 125,000 members – male and female, age seven and older – in thousands of chapters throughout the United States and Canada.
To find a local chapter, view www.tops.org.