Think creatively and use a playground for your workout.

As the national nonprofit KaBOOM! kicks off its 2012 Summer Playground Challenge — which challenges families to explore as many playgrounds as you can this summer and offers prizes for your playground visits – Yahoo Sports blogger and playground enthusiast Tavia Fuller Armstrong explains why school playgrounds are the perfect place to enjoy a summer workout. Thanks to Tavia for sharing this post with us. You can use schoolyards as a family, and be a great role model for your kids. I look forward to publishing more family fare

School is out for summer, and that means many of your local school playgrounds will be sitting unused for the next couple of months. That’s good news for you, because the school playground is a great place to work out. Even buff celebrity, Zac Efron, was recently spotted working out on the playground on the set of “The Paperboy” in Louisiana. You, too, can take your summer workouts in a whole new direction by using the equipment and amenities available at your school playground in fun ways.

Standard Equipment
From the swings to the monkey bars, there are lots of ways you can use the standard equipment at the school playground to tone up. You can use monkey bars for chin ups or just practice climbing them back and forth to build upper body strength. Try hanging upside down and bring your head up to your knees in an intense hanging sit-up that will strengthen your core. Some playground systems have fireman poles you can climb hand over hand, and you even tone your abs by controlling your speed and height on the swings.

Get motivated to visit more playgrounds with your kids this summer by joining the 2012 Playground Challenge! The three top Challengers will win a trip for two to DC and all participants can win great prizes throughout the summer.

Tavia is a busy wife, mother, and educator from Oklahoma. She left her career as a biologist behind to be a full-time mom when her twins were born and began homeschooling all three of her children in 2009. Tavia enjoys spending quality time with her husband, teaching her children, traveling, reading classic literature, mentoring new homeschoolers and having fun with her friends.