Tag Archives: indoor

Make Your Own Play Dough

Play dough is the perfect modeling material for children. Their small hands can pat, poke, pinch, roll and knead it into many shapes. Keep it in an airtight container to use another day, or let it air dry into favorite shapes.

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Measure 2 cups of flour, one cup of salt and 4 teaspoons of cream of tartar into a bowl. Add 1/4 cup of oil to one cup of water in a separate bowl then add the mixture to the dry ingredients. For colored play dough, squeeze 10-20 drops of food coloring into the water before you add it to the mixture. Cook the dough at low heat in a wide pan, stirring constantly until it becomes rubbery. Remove the dough from the heat and knead it for a few minutes. When it cools the kids can play too!

Photo: Kevin Jarrett (Flickr)

Inside games to play

It’s difficult when the weather is too hot for kids to play outside and get all of that great kid energy out.

JuggleGirl

Here are some indoor physical activity ideas:

  • Create an indoor obstacle course in the largest, kid safe room in the house (playroom, basement, family room, etc.)  Use large cushions and toys to create places for kids to climb over and under.
  • Turn on some music (kid music or other music that is appropriate) and dance.
  • Play freeze dance. Tell the kids to dance when you turn the music on and to stop dancing when the music stops.  Let the kids take turns being the leader,  controlling the music.
  • Do the limbo dance.  Play music and challenge the kids to go under the limbo pole as it gets lower and lower.

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  • Make paper airplanes and see how far they can fly.  Remind the kids not to throw them at other other people.
  • Mark small squares on the floor and challenge the kids to see who can stay on their spot the longest.  Make it tougher for older kids by having them stand on one foot.
  • Play ball toss games with soft items like rolled up socks.   The younger the children the larger the container they are tossing into should be.  For very young kids, use a laundry basket.  For older kids, use something smaller like a box, basket or large plastic mixing bowl.
  • Build a fort using blanket and furniture like chairs and tables.  Or if the kids have a small play tent put that up.
  • Play sports charades.  Charades is a game where you act out something while people try to guess.  You can do this with sports actions, using no equipment, just making the actions.  For example – hitting a golf ball, pitching a baseball, serving a tennis ball, bowling, etc.)
  • Jump rope. Jumping_rope.
  • Play with a hula hoop.
  • Try juggling, top spinning, or yo-yo contests.
  • Play hide and go seek.
  • Play “keep the balloon up”. Use one balloon per child or one balloon per small group. The group may add additional balloons as they gain control and awareness. *

* Safety Note – Balloons are a choking hazard, supervise children when playing with balloons and make sure to find and throw away any pieces of popped balloons.

September 3rd is Skyscraper day!

bulding blocks by Ella Novak

Take out the blocks and see how tall you can build a skyscraper.

Or try this…

Make your own large size blocks:

  1. Wash the inside of half-gallon size cardboard milk or juice containers
  2. Carefully cut off the folding top portion of each container
  3. Put one container completely inside the other with the two closed ends facing out.  These are strong enough to stand on!

Photo by: Ella Novak (Flickr)

Let’s make play dough!

play dough

Play dough is the perfect modeling material for children. Their small hands can pat, poke, pinch, roll and knead it into many shapes. Keep it in an airtight container to use another day, or let it air dry into favorite shapes.

Measure 2 cups of flour, one cup of salt and 4 teaspoons of cream of tartar into a bowl. Add 1/4 cup of oil to one cup of water in a separate bowl then add the mixture to the dry ingredients. Squeeze 10-20 drops of food coloring into one cup of water and add it to the mixture. Mix well to make it smooth and to spread the color evenly. Cook the dough at low heat in a wide pan, stirring constantly until it becomes rubbery. Remove the dough from the heat and knead it for a few minutes. When it cools the kids can play too!

Photo: Gina Guillotine