Active Kids Indoors

So first, I feel the need to announce to my non-existent followers of this blog that I'm back! It has been quite a long time since my last blog post... So long in fact, I have since had another baby. And he just turned two! What?!? I'm thinking blogging consistency may not be my thing. While I never plan on striking it big in the blogging community, I have decided it would still be fun to record fun random parts of my life with the hope of sharing helpful ideas along the way.

Here in the beautiful Pacific NW we tend to get just a little bit of rain. Fall has officially started, which means it will rain almost continually until next summer. In years past, it hasn't been too much of an issue. Jenna is very laid back and loves to do quiet indoor activities. With the addition of our now two year old BOY, I'm realizing they have a bit more energy to burn! So I'm on a quest to come up with ACTIVE games to do indoors this fall/winter and I will share them on my blog for any other mom's who need a hand.

Alligator Pond

Items Needed:

Dish towels

Balls

Basket for each child

Set Up:

Lay towels around the floor close enough that the kids can jump from one towel to the next. If playing on a hardwood floor you will probably want to substitute towels for something that won't slip. After laying out the towels, toss small balls all around the room. You could also use stuffed animals or whatever you have on hand.

Directions:

Give each child a basket (or bag) and tell them that they are at an alligator pond. The towels are logs they can jump on to stay safe from the alligators and they have to collect all of the turtle eggs (balls) to keep them safe. To encourage more energy getting used up, we would race to see who could collect the most eggs and count them at the end to find the winner.

Notes:

Connor was a bit young for this game. He LOVED jumping and running around, but didn't quite grasp the concept of collecting the balls while doing it. After a few times collecting eggs, the kids were quite happy to just jump around from towel to towel. We will definitely play this game again as it's quick to set up and we always have the supplies on hand. The biggest downside to the game was having to wash all the towels when we were done. But nobody wants stinky kid feet all over their dish towels!

Making a flying leap to safety!

I just had to throw this picture in because it cracks me up. He looks like he's walking down the runway or something!