Need Tips 4 Mag. Article-In House Sports
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| Fri, 10-01-2004 - 11:31pm |
Kids can go stir crazy when they’re stuck inside because of the cold. Have you set-up a room so your kids can run off some energy? What specifically did you do?
Has anyone used a garage or basement as an indoor sports ��field”?
What sports or active games do your kids enjoy playing most in the house? What equipment do you think is essential to have in the winter for use in the house?
Has your family invented an easy to play game for indoor wintertime fun or tried something new (like yoga, Pilates, martial arts, dance, etc) to stay active at home?
Also, has anyone set-up an indoor family gym? What were the best pieces of equipment you included? How did you make the gym fun for all ages? Is there anything you would do differently in regard to the design and equipment in the gym?
Please include your full name, city, and state with your reply.
Send your stories, suggestions, and tips to me at jcr145@hotmail.com. But hurry, the article deadline is very soon, so I will need you replies as soon as you can email them.
Thank you so much for your help. I look forward to reading all your sporty solutions! And remember, please include your full name, city, and state in your reply.

1. Hallway bowling--you can either buy one of the plastic kits, which aren't terribly expensive, or make your own...if you make your own, you can avoid that hard plastic ball that could potentially put dents in your walls or somebody's cranium. The cardboard round containers with plastic lids like Quaker Oatmeal, or large containers of powdered drink mix come in make great pins. You can even put some dry beans inside them and then then make cool noises when they get knocked over. Use a hot glue gun to secure the top so it doesn't pop off when they're hit, then let the kids decorate them--we printed out pictures of silly faces and they glued them to the outside and made them look like little people. Use one of those inflated play balls that they keep in big tall net bins in the toy department--we let the boys go and each pick out their own "bowling ball"--they're usually only a couple of dollars each. Arrange the pins at one end of the hall, put the kids at the other, and let the games begin...
2. The Rubberneck Pass--All you need for this game is a package of latex balloons. There are two versions of this game--one for large groups, and one for small. For the large group, split the kids into two teams (even numbers are good). Line up each team, in two parallel lines. Put a laundry basket at each end of both lines. The basket at the front of each line is filled with softly (not too full) filled balloons. At the signal, the first kid in line grabs a balloon out of their teams basket, and stuffs it under his chin, holding it without hands--he then passes it to the next child in line, who grabs it with their chin, and turns and passes it to the next child, who grabs it with their chin, etc., etc., until it gets to the last kid, who drops it from their neck hold into the empty basket. As soon as the first balloon starts down the line, the first child keeps grabbing balloons and passing them, until all of their team's balloons are in the end basket. If a balloon gets dropped, it has to go back to the beginning basket to be started over... The team to get all their balloons in the end basket first wins. (Oranges also work, and are actually a little easier for kids to hold onto than balloons as long as they aren't those huge naval oranges that are sold around Christmas time...) For a little added difficulty, and make sure there isn't any "hand assisted passes" make the kids put their hands behind their backs. If you only have a small group, first of all Congratulations! You aren't outnumbered yet! To play this game with a small group (at least 4 people), you put the four baskets in place as if there were a whole line, then pass the balloons back and forth to each other after splitting into two teams by passing the balloon, then running to the other side of your teammate that you gave it to to receive it again, thus making your way down the race course towards your end goal basket. Somebody always ends up getting confused and going in the wrong direction which is sort of funny....
3. The Mummy Mommy (or Mummy Daddy) Race--Go to the local dollar store and stock up on really really cheap toilet paper. It doesn't matter if it's not cushiony soft :) The kids are going to split into at least two teams. Each team has a roll or two of toilet paper. Each team also has their selected Mummy (it's fun to make it a Mom or Dad, since typically they're going to be taller than the kids, and make it much harder for them to wrap up). The teams circle around their Mummy, and at the signal, begin wrapping them up in toilet paper to completely mummify them. The mummy has to be totally covered, no uncovered bits showing (hint--it works best to have them stand in a circle around their toilet papered victim and pass the roll around and around...). The race can end either when the team gets to the top of their mummy and the head is gone, or as we sometimes like to do, after their mummy is completely covered, it then has to do the Mummy Waddle without breaking free of the new TP bandage job over to the other side of the room and claim the "Pharoah's Staff" first. The kids absolutely love this one, probably because they get to cover up Mom or Dad in TP, which is just hilarious for some reason.
4. Turkey calling--imagine an inside version of the summertime pool standard, Marco Polo, where the blindfolded kid (the turkey farmer)has to call "Here Turkey Turkey", and the Turkeys have to "gobble" back to be found... The last one to be found gets to be the Farmer the next time, all the rest stay on the Thanksgiving menu... Rules are that Turkeys Can't Fly, so no jumping over or on the furniture, and Turkeys Don't Run, They Strut, so the kids can only move as quickly as they can do the Turkey Trot (we make them stick their hands on their sides like wings and waddle like a turkey...mean ain't we) (also means that frequently the turkeys are located by the giggling as much as the gobbling) This one is particularly great around the holidays when Turkeys start appearing on the table...
5. Balloon Bounce--Take your kids, and depending on how many there are, they can either just do one circle and play until the balloon drops, counting passes, or they can split into two circles, and with each team trying to keep their balloon in the air the longest. You put the kids in a circle with their bottom ends planted on the ground--rules are that they have to keep it there, so this game is good for areas that you don't want the kids running around. (All you need is a few latex balloons, so this game is good for kids in a waiting room too--it keeps them entertained and seated on the floor. It's amazing how long you can keep little guys entertained if you just keep a plastic baggy of balloons in your bag...) Blow up a balloon (or two or three for large groups)really full for each team. The object is to gently bounce the ballon, passing it across the circle to each other without taking your hinies off the ground. You can stretch, you can lean, but you can't get up. The balloon has to stay in motion (no grabbing it, only bouncing/passing) and it can't hit the ground. The team that has a balloon in the air last wins.
6. Slow motion sports--This can be played with about any sport equipment--all you need is enough people to be the slo-mo atheletes, and for added fun, a kid or two to be the sports announcer calling out the slow motion play. The kids really get into this, doing the bionic man routine, and simulating bone crushing plays.
*7* The wildest thing we do indoors is our Summer in the Winter Beach party. We empty the furniture out of our living room (no carpets, all sealed hardwood) once a year in the winter, put down a couple huge tarps, and put two or three kiddy pools in the living room, then dump play sand (yes you heard right, play sand) all over one of the tarps, with a two by four to make a border to keep it from running all over. We put an attachment on our sink that hooks a hose to it, fill the pools with warm water, crank up the heat in the living room, and all of our family and friends bring their kids over for a beach party. The grown ups get into it too, making sand castles, and the kids LOVE playing in a kiddy pool in their bathing suits in December or January. We put beach chairs all over the living room and dining room, play summer beach music, and break out the hawaiian shirts that have been packed up since warm weather. When everything is done and over, we use the hose to drain the pools out into the yard, and the grown ups help lift up the tarps and dump the sand into wheel barrows to go out into the sand box in the back yard. It's not that bad to clean up, strangely... We figured we have to buy sand once a year for the sand box anyway, we may as well do it when it's cheap in the winter, and let everybody have a winter reprieve too... :) Our oldest son was born December 7th, so he always has a cold weather party, this way he gets a chance to do the kinds of things his brothers get to do for their birthdays every year lol! We are thinking about renting a concrete floored community center building and doing a really big one this winter LOL!
Angela
Love your ideas Angela..I have added some of my own.
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