Yes, we know it’s not yet Easter, but its not that far away either! Parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles will be making their trips to the local candy specialty shops all over the country for those special treats that are only created at this time of year. From chocolate bunny’s, to molasses coconut eggs, and don’t forget the peanut butter eggs as well as the unique treats that are common to so many local areas. Why the frantic journey to those candy kitchens at this time of year? Because we have been conditioned to get out and purchase an abundance of Easter candy to give as presents to our kids, friends and family!

Now don’t get us wrong, we are in no way saying to stop buying those candy treats, we’re not saying to cut out surprising the children with their long looked for Easter baskets. But what we are saying is to cut back the abundance of sugary goodies that nest within those baskets.

What you can do is to try to fill your children’s baskets with more toys than candy and hide the jelly beans, and chocolate kisses soon after they find them. No matter how much work you put into hiding the sugar, the kids still seem to find it and eat it as fast as you can bury it again.

At a time when tech-type activity often supersedes our children’s physical activity, and unhealthy food choices are marketed directly toward younger age groups, we as adults and parents must work even harder at improving our children’s healthy choices,” says Kurt David, an elementary school counselor and fitness enthusiast. Since you can’t be there to stop every sugary treat from getting into their hands, you can make a plan to incorporate fun activities into your Easter routine that emphasize having fun and staying active.

Below are some great Easter activity ideas to keep your kids moving this holiday.

Easter for a lot of families means having an Easter egg hunt. Whether it’s outside in the yard, a local field, that’s maybe sponsored by an organization or just hiding some plastic or even colored hard-boiled eggs around the house like we did when I was a kid. What you can do to turn this into a healthy activity that will get the kids, and maybe the adults can join in as well to find those eggs and see what’s inside the plastic ones or written on the old-fashioned hard-boiled eggs. When the kids find them, they are sure to be looking at you with an expression on their faces that screams: “What’s Up With This” or, “What’s Going On”? Where’s the candy or cash?

Easter eggs that one would normally fill with candy or money, can now be filled with pieces of paper inside with exercises written on them. These don’t have to be deadlifts and shoulder presses, you can make these activities fun. You can make these exercises unique to your home, garden or nearby park. Here are some examples of what you can put inside the plastic Easter eggs:

Hop like a bunny for 30 seconds
Jump as far as you can 3 times
10 Jumping jacks
Run backwards to the end of the grass and back
Climb up the tree
Swing from the tire swing
Touch your toes then reach for the sky 10 times
Hopscotch
Jump as high as you can 3 times
Balance on one leg for 20 seconds (both sides)

When the kids are done searching for their eggs, they should find a mix of exercises and candy in their plastic Easter eggs. As you can see from reading the list, these activities don’t really seem like exercises. They are just fun ways to get your whole family involved, moving more and having fun, together!

Now you're saying this is a great idea for the younger kids, but how do you get the older ones active during the Easter holiday season, and for the rest of the year as well? Well, instead of having them find a large chocolate bar or video game in their basket, how about an activity watch?

One that tracks their distance, the pace they're moving at, even their heart rate as they're moving and the calories they're burning up while doing these activities. Heck, it will even remind them when it’s time to move! One such activity tracker is the Garmin Forerunner 25 GPS Running Watch  For the price, it packs a lot of features into this little wrist-based monitor with a built-in GPS that when they get finished with their workout, that you create for them, they can upload it to Garmin Connect and if their friends are into getting fit, they can compete against one another to see just how well each of them are doing. And you can also keep tabs on them as well if you join the Garmin Community. How good is that to help them stay motivated while getting fit, instead of eating a couple of hundred calories of sugar?

So, now that we’ve given you a few ideas on how to keep the kids motivated, from the age of 3 all the way up to seventeen and beyond it could be a game changer for getting them motivated to move instead of playing video games or watching a couple of hours of cartoons.

It’s your call this Easter Holiday, so what is the bunny going to put in your basket? Candy or a protein bar?

Garmin Forerunner 25 GPS Running Watch

Anyone looking for a great gift for someone getting started in a power-walking/running fitness program can’t go wrong in latching on to the Garmin Forerunner 25 GPS Watch It's a solid no-frills running watch for new runners that provide the basics of data information, has a long battery life, is waterproof so you don't need to worry about being caught out in the rain while wearing one and best of all, since it's been around a while the price-point is inexpensive!

This is the perfect smart-running watch for anyone looking to begin a training program to tackle a running regimen. The Garmin Forerunner 25 ($99) is a no-frills running watch. The screen is black and white, there's no heart rate monitor (HRM), and it tracks only runs. But the Forerunner 25 gets the basics right and is a solid option for someone new to running who doesn't want or need a lot of bells and whistles.

The Forerunner 25 comes in four color combinations: white/pink, black/purple, black/blue and black/red (the version I reviewed). The black/blue and black/red versions have slightly bigger watch faces (1.57 x 1.85 inches) than the white/pink and black purple versions (1.38 x 1.73 inches); both sizes are 0.55 inches thick. The larger watches also come with a longer-lasting battery.

Like most other Garmin devices, the Forerunner 25 is easy to set up. After creating a Garmin Connect Mobile account, the watch syncs to the app via Bluetooth. Once connected to Garmin Connect, you enter your height, weight and birth date, which the Forerunner 25 will use to estimate the number of calories burned during your workouts.

The Forerunner 25 has a basic design. The 128 x 128-pixel screen is black and white, and though the large numbers have curves, making it easier to see at a glance. It's an upgrade over the Forerunner 15's 55 x 32-pixel screen, which is smaller than most of today's fitness trackers. The Garmin 25 has four buttons: an Activity button (which is a different color than the others) and a down-scroll arrow on the right side, as well as a back button and a backlight button on the left side. Every time you press a button, the watch beeps, which is handy when you're running, but if you like, you can turn this function off as needed.

Like other Garmin devices, the Forerunner 25 features a Move bar that encourages you to get up for a quick walk if you sit for too long. About 250 steps will clear the Move bar. Hitting the back button in the watch's main screen cycles through your daily activity stats: steps taken, daily step goal, miles walked/run and calories burned.

The Forerunner 25 is water-rated to 5 atmospheres, which means you can wear it swimming, though the watch doesn't track swim workouts. If nothing else, you can wear it in the shower without worry.

The basic simplicity of the Forerunner 25 stood out during our test runs, again cementing the fact that this basic running companion is a great gift for anyone looking to get fit and track their progress as they begin their journey into the sport of distance running.

To start a run outside, you hit the Activity button, wait for the watch to get a GPS signal and then hit the button again. Having reviewed devices that require quite a bit of scrolling or touch-screen swiping just to start a simple workout, you can appreciate being able to just press a button twice and go. Plus, the Forerunner 25 typically picked up a GPS signal within 1 minute, and often within 15 seconds. The Forerunner 25 will also track indoor runs, which the Forerunner 15 couldn't do unless you used a foot pod.

The Forerunner 25 supports a few other run types. For example, you can opt to run for a specific distance, time or number of calories burned, and the watch will count down until you reach this goal. You can also use the Virtual Pacer option, set up a series of run/walk intervals or receive heart rate notifications if paired with a heart rate monitor. These are helpful features for users new to running who are using a program such as Couch to 5K, which includes both run/walk workouts and runs that focus on hitting a time target as opposed to a distance target.

The Forerunner 25's menus are set up so that you select these types of runs after telling the watch to look for a GPS signal. This is a nice touch because it means you can pick your workout while you wait for a signal. The GPS was accurate, measuring several runs within a few hundredths of a mile.

Bottom line is, if you’re looking for a gift that will help incent that friend or special person to go after their vision of beginning a running activity program then the Garmin Forerunner 25 GPS watch is the perfect Christmas present to put in their stocking. And what about you, after all, it’s a proven fact that it's much easier to begin and stay committed to a new activity program, like running if you do it with a friend. So why not pick up a Garmin 25 for yourself as well, this way you can both hit the road and trails together, and compare your daily, weekly and monthly stats with each other and use that information to keep pushing yourselves on towards a newer distance and time goals!

Merry Christmas from your fun-running friends here at HeartRateMonitorsUSA.com!