Parenting Today brought to you by Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic
Help your child bust boredom and get moving with these free and easy activity ideas. Share the list with them and join the fun!
Play Tag
Gather a few friends and play a fun game of tag. Try mixing it up a little bit – instead ofalways running, choose different ways to try to tag each other like skipping, jumping,crawling, walking backwards, lunges, hopping on one foot, galloping or other fun ideas.
Boot Camp
With a buddy, sibling or family member, try to do as many jumping jacks as you can in 1 minute. Next try it with push-ups, sit-ups, frog jumps, running in place, etc. Take a breakin between sets and then start again with a different set of exercises.
Dance Party!!!
Turn on your favorite music and dance. Be creative! Use props or dress like your favorite music star or character. Let your imagination and dance skills shine.
Neighborhood Exploration
Walk around the block for 30 minutes. See how many laps you can do. Each time you go around, notice something new in your neighborhood like how many blue cars there are, how many trees, how many people you see or how many different colors of houses. Keep track of how many laps you do this time and compare it to later in the summer. Make sure you follow pedestrian safety rules.
Stair Challenge
How many times can you go up and down the stairs at your home or somewhere outside in 5 minutes? Take a break and try it again. Try walking on each step. Try skipping steps. Which way do like better? Which way is harder?
Mindfulness Walk
Take a silent walk (no talking) in your neighborhood or a park. Notice the sounds, smells, different trees, flowers, etc. How long can you walk without saying a word?
Bean Bag Toss
Use a bean bag or make one with a sock filled with rice or beans tied off at theend. Set up different targets using buckets or make your own on the sidewalk with sidewalk chalk. Throw a bean bag to each target then run to collect them and tossthem back to your starting spot. Each time you go to collect them, try a different way to collect them like skipping, bear walks, lunges or frog jumps.
Jump Rope Challenge
How many times can you jump rope without missing? Try one foot, then the other. Is one side harder than the other? Try it with a friend and see who can jump the longest. Come up with different ways to jump, like crossing your feet or jumping like a frog.
Sprinkler Fun
Cool off on a sunny day and get a little exercise in the water. Turn on the sprinklerand dash in and out of the water with family or friends. Try different options, like going around the edges to see how close you can get without getting wet or going straight through the middle.
Sidewalk Chalk
Create an obstacle course with chalk. Make several stations by using chalk to write different activities on the ground. Here are some ideas: spin around, touch your toes, jump in place, draw a squiggly line to follow, jump on one foot to 5 different spots, jump over 3 lines, skip along a straight line, jump as far as you can forward. Then try it different ways- reverse order, going backwards, as fast as you can and as slow as you can.
Take Your Dog (or Someone Else’s) for a Walk
Take a nice walk with your dog. If you don’t have a dog but have a neighbor that may need to take their dog on a walk, offer to help while you (and the dog) get some exercise. Make sure you keep the dog on a leash and pick up after their bathroom breaks.
Hide and Seek Tag
Play hide and seek with some buddies, but when the seeker finds the first person hiding, the hider yells “everybody run!” All other hiders will run from their hiding spots while the seeker tries to tag them. (The hider can’t be tagged for 10 seconds to let them get away.) The person that gets tagged becomes the next seeker.
