{"id":1010,"date":"2010-02-16T13:19:08","date_gmt":"2010-02-16T18:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/fcw\/?p=19"},"modified":"2010-02-16T13:19:08","modified_gmt":"2010-02-16T18:19:08","slug":"fun-activities-for-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/fcw\/2010\/02\/16\/fun-activities-for-kids\/","title":{"rendered":"Fun Activities for Kids"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><a title=\"Permanent Link to Snow Day Boredom Busters #2 \u2013 Indoor Physical Activities\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/mdf\/2010\/02\/10\/snow-day-boredom-buster-2-indoor-physical-activities\/\">Snow Day Boredom Busters\u00a0 \u2013 Indoor Physical Activities<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>By <strong>Christine Connally<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s difficult when the weather is too snowy, wet or cold for kids to play outside and get all of that great kid energy out.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Here are some indoor physical activity ideas:<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Create an indoor obstacle course in the largest, kid safe room in the house (playroom, basement, family room, etc.)\u00a0 Use large cushions and toys to create places for kids to climb over and under.<\/li>\n<li>Turn on some music (kid music or other music that is appropriate) and dance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Play freeze dance. Tell the kids to dance when you turn the music on and to stop dancing when the music stops.\u00a0 Let the kids take turns being the leader,\u00a0 controlling the music.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Do the limbo dance.\u00a0 Play music and challenge the kids to go under the limbo pole as it gets lower and lower.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p align=\"center\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Make paper airplanes and see how far they can fly.\u00a0 Remind the kids not to throw them at \u00a0other people.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Mark small squares on the floor and challenge the kids to see who can stay on their spot the longest.\u00a0 Make it tougher for older kids by having them stand on one foot.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Play ball toss games with soft items like rolled up socks.\u00a0\u00a0 The younger the children the larger the container they are tossing into should be.\u00a0 For very young kids, use a laundry basket.\u00a0 For older kids, use something smaller like a box, basket or large plastic mixing bowl.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Build a fort using blanket and furniture like chairs and tables.\u00a0 Or if the kids have a small play tent put that up.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Play sports charades.\u00a0 Charades is a game where you act out something while people try to guess.\u00a0 You can do this with sports actions, using no equipment, just making the actions.\u00a0 For example \u2013 hitting a golf ball, pitching a baseball, serving a tennis ball, bowling, etc.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Jump rope.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Play with a hula hoop.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Try juggling, top spinning, or yo-yo contests.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Play hide and go seek.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Play \u201ckeep the balloon up\u201d. Use one balloon per child or one balloon per small group. The group may add additional balloons as they gain control and awareness. <strong>*<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>* Safety Note<\/strong> \u2013 Balloons are a choking hazard, supervise children when playing with balloons and make sure to find and throw away any pieces of popped balloons.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"View all posts in Blog\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/mdf\/category\/blog\/\">Blog<\/a>, <a title=\"View all posts in Kids\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/mdf\/category\/kids\/\">Kids<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/mdf\/tag\/activity\/\">activity<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/mdf\/tag\/childcare\/\">childcare<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/mdf\/tag\/fun\/\">fun<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/mdf\/tag\/indoor\/\">indoor<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/mdf\/tag\/kids\/\">Kids<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/mdf\/tag\/physical\/\">physical<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/mdf\/tag\/school-closing\/\">school closing<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/mdf\/tag\/snow-day\/\">snow day<\/a><br \/>\nShare on: Facebook, Digg<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Permanent Link to Snow Boredom Busters #1 \u2013 New Ideas for the Same Old Toys\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/mdf\/2010\/02\/10\/new-ideas-for-the-same-of-toys\/\"><strong>New Ideas for the Same Old Toys<\/strong><\/a><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There are some toys that kids usually play with on their own while you watch on the sidelines. However, you can make those toys feel like something new and fun, by suggesting different ways to play with them.\u00a0 Another thing that will make it more fun is if you become actively involved rather than just watching.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Play Food\/Dishes <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Teach your host children how to say the names of some of the food and dishes.<\/li>\n<li>Using English and\/or your language play games where you are ordering food like in a restaurant. Take turns with who will be the waiter and who is the customer.<\/li>\n<li>Come up with silly food combinations.\u00a0 For example: Who wants pickles on their slice of cake?<\/li>\n<li>Play a guessing game where the kids have to figure out what food you are talking about.\u00a0 For example: I grow under the ground in the dirt.\u00a0 People eat me fried, mashed and baked.\u00a0 What am I? (a potato)<\/li>\n<li>Play a game with setting the table using your language to ask for the different items (plate, spoon, etc.)<\/li>\n<li>Ask the children to divide the foods up into the different food groups (vegetables, meat, dairy,\u00a0 etc)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Block, Lego Blocks and Other Building Toys <\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Divide all of the blocks up between the people playing by taking turns for each person to select block by block.<\/li>\n<li>Suggest specific things to build (robots, house, mountain) and build together.<\/li>\n<li>Challenge everyone to use all of their blocks.<\/li>\n<li>Sort the blocks by color or shape and make patterns with them (red, blue, red blue or square, triangle, rectangle.)\u00a0 You can create a pattern and ask the child to fill in what comes next to continue the pattern.<\/li>\n<li>Make the tallest block tower you can and let them knock it down (over and over again, if like most kids they like destroying things.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Mr. Potato Head <\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Teach your host children the names of the different parts in your language.<\/li>\n<li>Play a game asking them to put on the body parts by naming them in your language.<\/li>\n<li>Play the same game above, but using Simon Says.\u00a0 Simon Says is a game where the leader gives commands by saying \u201cSimon Says\u201d first. For example, \u201cSimon Says, put on the nose.\u201d\u00a0 The players are only to follow the commands when the leader says Simon Says.\u00a0 If the leader doesn\u2019t say Simon Says first and just says, \u201cput on the nose,\u201d\u00a0 and the player follows the command they are out of the game.\u00a0 Repeat the game multiple times, so all kids get a<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><a title=\"Permanent Link to Snow Day Boredom Busters #2 \u2013 Indoor Physical Activities\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/mdf\/2010\/02\/10\/snow-day-boredom-buster-2-indoor-physical-activities\/\">Snow Day Boredom Busters\u00a0 \u2013 Indoor Physical Activities<\/a> By Christine Connally It\u2019s difficult when the weather is too snowy, wet or cold for kids to play outside and get all of that great kid energy out. \u00a0 Here are some indoor physical  <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.aupairinamerica.com\/fcw\/2010\/02\/16\/fun-activities-for-kids\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kids"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - 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