Now that it's dark well before we get home in the evening, how are you guys making sure your kids (and you) get enough activity? I used to get an extra mile of walking in by taking the kids to the playground most evenings after dinner so we are all missing out on that. My kids typically spent the whole evening after dinner (so at least an hour) running around outside with no structure, and I'm not good at thinking of ways to keep them active inside so it's not long before they're asking to watch a movie or show. Some nights are more successful than others (indoor chasing games, just running around inside in general), but the winter is long so I'd like to have a few tricks up my sleeve!
-
We do a lot of wrestling/jumping/flipping/doing bootleg gymnastics on our master bed. The boys do rolls and somersaults and love getting tossed around and jumping and then we all dogpile in the bed and tickle fight and wrestle and they're pretty out of breath after about 20-30 minutes of it.
You can also take them to a park somewhere with a basketball court or tennis court and run them around there. Kicking balls around a tennis court is pretty great because its contained.
Its not great for every day, but we also make use of McDonald's with PlayPlaces, CFA, and our mall randomly has a little play area they can run around.
We also run them around Costco. Its huge, the items are too big for them to really try to snatch at, they get a kick of going into the very cold produce chiller, we look at toys, and then they can have some fro yo or some churro at the end. Sometimes we eat there too.
-
We play superheroes, which involves a lot of running back and forth. We have races in the hall. We jump off the couch into piles of pillows, and we have a mini trampoline.
-
We have a smallish bounce house that we blow up in the basement. It fills the whole room, but it has been worth every penny and we use it all the time.
-
we like to do dance parties. We have a google home so DS asks google to play a song and it puts on a playlist with similar music and we all boogie together, dance in circles, jump up and down. Good exercise for all of us!
-
Thanks for the tips! Last night my kids led the way with a marching band parade but I'll get more hands on with initiating activities.
-
We also do dance parties, usually to 80's music! Lots of family fun!
-
I'm guessing your playground doesn't have any lights?
What about your own yard?As a child we always played outside all winter in our dark backyard (only porch lights to light up). (in MA, so yes it was cold!)
-
I'm about to order a mini trampoline to put in the basement!
-
@jennlin821: Our playground is about a half mile away and too dark to walk to, and doesn't have lights. I think what I need to get over is being able to get anything done in the evening. Previously the kids could play outside while I was prepping or cleaning dinner up but even the older one is young enough that if she was in the driveway (which I can make part of it lit), she'd probably run away into the black abyss of the yard. If I go out with them it would work as there's enough light to see by when you're out there (but not enough for me to see them from inside the house). We live juuuust outside the village so benefit from proximity to the park but not street lights, and we're bordered by woods.
-
What about headlamps? I am actually thinking of getting a few so we can go to the playground down after I get home from work on some days.
Reply
Subscribe to our newsletter
- Google Plus
- Stumbleupon
- Twitter
- Facebook
- Pinterest
- Favorite0
10 comments