Age-appropriate activities for adolescent

The current blogspot will be based on the question “What are age-appropriate activities for adolescents?”. We will discuss the various age appropriate activities for adolescents and also elaborate on the effectiveness of  each age appropriate activity in detail.

What are age-appropriate activities for adolescents?

Adolescence is a time period that is marked with drastic growth and development of human bodies. Inorder to keep up the anxiety and emotional security at a balance, adolescents need to get involved in a number of age appropriate activities that can help them channelize their negative energies and get off their negative thinking. 

The adolescents need to have an activity level that enables them to have a healthy body. The adolescents health is dependent on strengthened bones, strong muscles, active brain and a physically charged body. 

Since adolescents are going from childhood to adulthood, their carefree nature needs to get converted into responsible and active nature. They need to learn to channelize their impulsivity and be more responsive instead of being reactive in life.

The age appropriate activities for adolescents are divided into various categories as the adolescent holistic health is also based on various components in life. 

The age appropriate adolescent activities are planned to enhance the adolescent’s subjective and psychological wellbeing in life. Involving in the age appropriate adolescent activities makes the adolescents more responsible, mentaly strong, physically healthy and socially active. They seek autonomy and enjoy their little achievements in life. 

As a result of participating in age appropriate activities,  adolescents are able to learn various coping skills in life. They learn being leaders, they learn working in teams, they learn achieving goals, they learn organization, they learn time management in life and they also learn being active by maintaining a balance across various life spheres.

The age appropriate adolescent activities also enable them to get involved in healthy competitions. Adolescents learn that it is alright to lose in a game and winning everytime is not a necessity. 

Participating in age appropriate activities also enables the adolescents to live in here n now. They learn active problem solving and thus are able to manage stressful situations well. The adolescents as a result of getting engaged in age appropriate activities are away from sedentary lifestyle.

Adolescents after engaging in age appropriate activities are less prone to get involved in substance use activities and are usually less vulnerable to fall prey to drug abuse. 

The age appropriate adolescents activities include the following :

• Aerobic activities
• Muscle Strengthening activities
• Bone strengthening activities
• Mind mapping activities
• Play and art activities
• Recreational Activiites

Aerobic activities

Aerobic activities for adolescents are age appropriate as the adolescents are on a surge of biological and physical development. They need to be physically active and involved in moderate to vigorous physical activity at least three days a week. 

The moderate activity aerobic exercises include the following :

Active recreation, such as hiking, skateboarding, rollerblading

Bicycle riding

Brisk walking

Whereas the aerobic activities that are age appropriate for adolescents and are vigorous include :

• Active games involving running and chasing, such as tag, soccer, and basketball
• Bicycle riding
• Jumping rope
• Martial arts, such as karate
• Running
• Sports such as soccer, ice or field hockey, basketball, swimming, tennis
• Cross-country skiing

Muscle Strengthening activities

The age appropriate muscle strengthening activities for adolescents include various strength building exercises that enable them to gain muscle strength. Three times a week, an activity of 60 minutes is recommended for muscle strengthening. 

The examples of age appropriate muscle strengthening exercises for adolescents include the following :

• Games such as tug-of-war
• Modified push-ups (with knees on the floor)
• Resistance exercises using body weight or resistance bands
• Rope or tree climbing
• Sit-ups (curl-ups or crunches)
• Swinging on playground equipment/bars

Bone strengthening activities

The bone strengthening activities are age appropriate for the adolescents as adolescents are developing physically and need to have strong bones. The bone strengthening activities include various games and exercises that are recommended to be done for 60 minutes three times a week.

The various examples  of  age appropriate activities for adolescent’s bone strengthening exercises include :

• Gymnastics
• Basketball
• Hopping
• Jumping
• Skipping
• Jumping rope
• Running
• Racing
• Jogging
• Playing hopscotch
• Volleyball
• Tennis

Mind strengthening activities

The mind strengthening activities for adolescents are considered age appropriate as the adolescents are in a phase where the brain develops at a rapid speed. The mind strengthening activities help the adolescents to develop and use their creativity, logic, analytical skills and higher cognitive functioning that enhances their executive functioning and enables them to be better at judgment, decision making, brainstorming and moving in life with better career choices. 

The adolescents can have better functioning with regards to memory, learning and language as a result of mind strengthening exercises. 

The mind strengthening activities that are age appropriate for adolescents include the following :

• Quiz 
• Brain teasers
• Solving analytical questions
• Reading case studies for moral learning
• Doing problem solving exercises
• Meditation
• Visualizing
• Playing games
• Playing memory card games
• Practicing crossword puzzles
• Completing jigsaw puzzles
• Playing sudoku
• Playing chess

Play and art activities

Play and art activities are considered to be age appropriate for adolescents as they provide adolescents with an opportunity to channelize their feelings and their emotions. Play is a technique to get the unconscious mind and the anxieties related to adolescence.

The play and art therapy includes the following activities:

• Drawing
• Coloring
• Scribbling
• Balloon bursting
• Play dough playing
• Bubble making
• Clay moulding
• Story telling
• Sining
• Dancing
• Fun karaoke
• Simone says
• Musical Chairs
• Making timeline of life
• Painting
• Dumb charades
• Feeling drawing
• Sand play
• Story telling
• Role playing
• Playing student teacher
• Playing doctor 
• Hat on a hater
• My body activity
• Mirror talk activities
• Phone talking activity
• Rating your fear activity

Recreational Activities

The recreational activities are activities that are based on enjoyment and fun. The main aim of recreational activities is to provide stress free time to adolescents. Age appropriate recreational activities provide fun, joy and pleasure to the adolescents.

Recreation is based on doing activities that are not time bound and that allow adolescents to do activities that they want to do with their favourite people. The pleasure felt as a result of recreational activities enables the adolescents to be more positive in life.

The release of endorphins as a result of age appropriate adolescent activities in the life of adolescents enables them to have decreased levels of stress, anxiety, depression and mood swings in life.

The various age appropriate activities for adolescent age are as below :

• Enjoying a get together with friends
• Bonfire activities
• School trips
• Playing with pets
• Going to places on vacations
• Visiting historic places
• Going for long cycling sessions with friends
• Chatting with a friend

Conclusion

The current blogspot was based on the question “what are age appropriate activities for adolescents?”. We learned that it is imperative for adolescents to have an active lifestyle. We learned the types of age appropriate activities that are necessary for adolescents. We discussed aerobic activities, bone strengthening activities, muscle strengthening activities, mind strengthening activities and play and art activities that are used for adolescents as age appropriate activities. 

Frequently asked questions : age-appropriate activities for adolescent

What are age appropriate activities?

Age appropriate activities are the activities that are generally considered acceptable for all the individuals within the same age group and are considered to meet the developmental needs of a particular age group.

What are the activities of an adolescent?

The activities of an adolescent include the following:

• Playing indoor games
• Playing outdoor games
• Playing quizzes
• Doing strength exercises
• Playing music instruments
• Listening to music
• Dancing

How do you know if an activity is age appropriate?

The best way to know if an activity is age appropriate is to observe the children of the same age do a particular activity. If they all are enjoying the same activity then it is age appropriate and meets their developmental needs.

What type of play do adolescents engage in?

The adolescents often engage in dramatic play, in various indoor games, in technological games and in various outdoor games.

Citations

https://www.familyeducation.com/school/best-toys/play-different-ages-developmental-stages

http://centerforchildwelfare.org/kb/Prgprac/Age%20Appropriate%20Activities%20and%20Responsibilities.pdf

https://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/physicalactivity/toolkit/youth_pa_guidelines_families.pdf

https://food.unl.edu/physical-activity-youth