book review

I was able to get an advanced copy of the new book Sneaky Fitness: Fun, Foolproof Ways to Slip Fitness into Your Child's Everday Life. This book is by Missy Chase Lapine, the author of The Sneaky Chef (New York Times Bestseller) and fitness expert Larysa DiDio. It's for parents who want to find "sneaky" ways to add exercise and calorie-burning activities into their child's daily routine. It also has 50 new Sneaky Chef recipes.

So what's this book all about? It breaks down a child's age into 3 categories: Preschooler (ages 2-4), Grade-Schoolers (ages 5-8) and Tweens (ages 9-12). Each activity is labeled with which group would benefit from it. I mostly paid attention to all the preschool activities. I think this book is great for the parent who wants to get their kids to do more, but has no idea what to do! Pretend play is hard for a lot of parents. There are activities like "Window Washer" where your child takes shaving cream or colored soaps and you let them draw on the outside of a sliding glass door. You then hand them a bucket of water, sponges and/or a squeegee to wash it off. By doing this activity your child will burn 27 calories in 20 minutes and they are moving and stretching. Each activity tells you exactly what you will need, what age group can play, how many kids you need (some of these are great for parties) and when the prime time is to do them. It also tells you the fitness factor, calories, sneaky supercharge and safety precautions (like don't use menthol shaving cream).

I know lots of really creative parents who already do amazing activities every day with their kids. But for a mom like me, It doesn't hurt to have a book full of ideas to keep my kids entertained. Plus, we don't want to be raising couch potatoes.

You can buy it here!