When you are at home with kids, having a handy list of parent-approved YouTube channels and videos that coach your kids through a fitness workout is an awesome use of screen time and technology!
I had already put together two articles last year about the best free online dance tutorials for kids and for toddlers and preschoolers and more recently added one for teens, but have been exploring even more channels and games with my kids recently that have just got us moving and active rather than just dancing and I wanted to share them with you, but if you want to check those other ones out just click on the links!
One more note, there are heaps of videos out there that you could search yourself on Youtube, but I find these are a lot of one-off videos and so what I have tried to curate for you are channels with a lot of content that you can follow on and do rather than do one video and then realize the channel has no other fitness videos for kids other than the one you just did!
The Best Free Online Exercise Fitness Workouts for
Not sure which one to choose? Read on for our review of each!
1. Move Dance Learn
Click here to go straight to a playlist on Youtube of dance classes by Move Dance Learn. Don’t forget to subscribe to get notifications when new tutorials go up!
GENERAL INFO
When the pandemic hit in 2020, I wanted to help in some way. I knew a lot of people were going to be stuck at home with their kids and would need some quality and educational screen time that also go their children moving. As I wrote, researched, and published this particular article in early 2019, about a year before the demand was actually there for it, I knew that there really wasn’t a lot of quality content for kids out there that fit that purpose.
And so because I love teaching and was a professional dancer, a dance teacher and a primary school teacher before becoming a mom to 4 kids (some of who you get to see in the videos) I decided to create a series of free online dance and movement classes for kids. They were first aimed at toddlers and preschoolers, but when I tested them on my kids, they all loved to join in. The lessons involve a warm-up and cool down and in between, I explore creative dance and movement and even play a game at the end to go over what we have learned.
The lessons were originally part of the Dance Parent 101 Youtube Channel, but I have since rebranded them to Move Dance Learn, and am in the process of moving them all to the new channel, so if you enjoy this lesson and go through all the lessons on Move Dance learn, try the Dance Parent 101 youtube channel where you may find a few more!
OUR REVIEW
These lessons are based on movements and activities you would find in a one on one live, creative movement dance class and are similar to what I would teach in an educational school or classroom setting. Children learn to improvise and create movement with their bodies based on themes that have been selected to ignite the imagination. Learning outcomes are provided as well as an article on www.movedancelearn.com with extra educational links and ideas for learning that can be explored from just this one online dance class!
Best for all toddlers and preschoolers.
I do these lessons with my 2-year-old after I create them and he loves them. I have also had many parents email me and thank me for creating the lessons and tell me how much their children love them.
2. Patty Shukla
Click here to go to a playlist on Patty’s channel of action and movement songs
GENERAL INFO
Patty Shukla describes her songs on her website as being Early Childhood Development Songs. She started her channel in 2006 and has also created a website and membership so you can easily access all her resources categorized into curriculum and skills.
OUR REVIEW
Patty’s songs are fun and perfect for toddlers and pre-schoolers to move and keep fit to whilst also learning. Kids and how they listen, learn and follow directions are at the core of how she creates her music and this means her videos are easy to follow. Her videos use kids to help demonstrate the movement which is always a winner as kids love to watch other kids and are motivated to keep going when they see other kids moving as well!
Best for toddlers and preschoolers
Patty makes it easy to follow along, keep fit, and have fun whilst moving. She has a vast library of content!
3. Workout Hotel
Click here to go to a playlist on Karen’s channel of action and movement songs
GENERAL INFO
Karen Vizueta is a mom of 3 and has been a fulltime fitness professional for over 15 years having been trained to take classes in a huge variety of workout styles from pilates to barre, step and body pump. She created Workout Hotel as a place for people to access free workouts that they can do anywhere.
OUR REVIEW
I chose to include this channel in the toddler and preschoolers page for workouts because she does do a few workouts aimed at getting the little ones moving as well as the adults. She explains the exercises for the parents but then makes the exercises interesting for kids to want to follow along as well.
Best for toddlers and preschoolers
Karen does these workouts with her kids and tries to make them cater for both parents and kids so everyone can workout together.
4. Little Sports
GENERAL INFO
Little Sports is an animated channel that has had over 11million views since it’s creation in October 2019! It is basically two animated characters, a boy and a girl who go through an exercise routine.
OUR REVIEW
I have to be honest when I first saw this channel I was a bit like – aaghh another cartoon animation trying to lure kids into watching…. but the thing is the animations do keep little a one’s attention and they like to follow on with the actions especially the preschoolers. Toddlers kind of flit in and out of copying and watching and running around. And at the end of the day, I would rather my kids be watching a channel encouraging them to be active than to be idly sitting and zombied out in front of the screen and I mustn’t be the only parent thinking this as the channel has over a hundred thousand subscribers and the video above has been watched more than three hundred thousand times!
Best for toddlers and preschoolers
The animated characters engage children as they feel like they are watching a cartoon or a similar show.
5. Jack Hartmann Kids Music Channel
For a playlist of videos focused on movement check out his brain breaks playlist here.
GENERAL INFO
Jack Hartmann’s Kid music channel has been around since 2010 and has over 1 million subscribers. He has made over 45 albums for children and has a BA in child psychology as well as an MA in Clinical Pscychology! Jack works with his wife Lisa to bring music and fun to children all over the world.
OUR REVIEW
Jack is a lot of fun to watch his songs are catchy and fun. You can see he really loves what he does – create music and movement for kids and kids love moving along with him as well.
Best for toddlers and preschoolers
Kids will love moving along with Jack and will probably think it is funny to see an older man be silly and dance making it all the more fun!
6. Lucy Wyndham-Read
Click here to go to a playlist on Lucy’s channel for fun home workouts
GENERAL INFO
Lucy has over 1.23Million subscribers to her channel so she must be doing something right! Lucy is passionate about getting people fit for free and has been a trainer for 25 years. She does not have a lot of content for kids, but has tried to make what she has put out interesting and fun.
OUR REVIEW
Although there aren’t many videos for kids, I think there are few in particular that toddlers especially can follow, as she takes the kids through a story whilst keeping them active walking over tall grass, climbing up mountains and more. She is so sweet and gentle that I think if toddlers and preschoolers did watch any of her other videos such as the virtual indoor walk they would probably enjoy watching them as well!
Best for toddlers and preschoolers
Patty makes it easy to follow along, keep fit, and have fun whilst moving. She has a vast library of content!
7. Jordan Cornwell
GENERAL INFO
Jordan has a healthy living and lifestyle channel and is currently studying to become a yoga instructor. She has a small library of mummy & me workout videos which she does sometimes in cute matching outfits with her little girl.
OUR REVIEW
Although she doesn’t have as many videos she seems to be uploading content regularly to her channel and hopefully will add some new mommy & me workouts as well. The content she does have is short, but she is great to watch and her little one is a cutie.
Best for Toddlers
Great for those days you need to get a workout in but cannot get time for yourself to do one!
8. Erin Kendall Fitness
GENERAL INFO
Erin is a mom of two and a certified personal trainer. She started her channel in 2016 and has a good playlist of about 14 Mommy and Me fitness videos for you to follow along with your kids. Again, she is focused on giving you a workout whilst trying to incorporate the kids and the rest of her channel is full of home workouts without kids.
OUR REVIEW
Although she doesn’t have as many videos as Nancy and they all vary in length, her kids are a little older and she does have a few that might give you a few ideas on how to navigate working out at home with them and how to incorporate them climbing all over you as soon as you hit a yoga downward dog or a plank!
Best for Toddlers & Preschoolers
Great for those days you need to get a workout in but cannot get time for yourself to do one!
9. Bodyfit by Amy
GENERAL INFO
Bodyfit by Amy has been around since 2014 and her channel has over 68 million views! She is a certified personal trainer and fitness instructor with 15 years of experience working in the industry. She has 8 videos dedicated to mommy and me workouts which she does with her toddler son and she believes that ‘the best thing we can do for our babies is be the healthiest, happiest version of ourselves!’
OUR REVIEW
I felt really confident watching and listening to Amy and could feel her experience and professionalism shine through her videos. I loved that she also struggles sometimes to keep her little ones’ attention but that she shows you how to keep going and how to try and keep them engaged with the workout!
Best for Toddlers
Great for those days you need to get a workout in but cannot get time for yourself to do one!
10. Nancy Taylor
GENERAL INFO
Nancy is a mom, a teacher and a fitness trainer and she started her channel in May 2014. The workouts she provides on her channel are a little different in that they are primarily for you and not your toddler or preschooler, but she does the workouts with her own baby and toddler showing you how you can involve them in your workout.
OUR REVIEW
I love that she does these videos with her kids and that you get to see that it doesn’t matter if your child isn’t co-operating the whole time, you do the best you can and you can both have fun and get fit together
Best for babies and toddlers
Great for those days you need to get a workout in but cannot get time for yourself to do one!
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