Summer in Swing
Ah, summer.
For many of you, it is an idyllic time of pleasant weather and fun outdoor activities. If you happen to be "outdoorsy" and near some mountains, it is the glory time for camping, hiking, fishing, kayaking, rock climbing, whatever else you people do. But for us here in the desert, it is the beginning of the "nocturnal" season.
If you want to go outside, you do it a) before 7am or b) after dark.
Now J and B are out of school, and M only has a few days left. So I've been desperately racking my brains for ways to entertain my children indoors without resorting to eight hours a day of video games. Ideally, these activities would get my children moving a bit, so that at bedtime they are actually tired.
Luckily for me, on Tuesday at the gym I found a Parenting magazine article with some energy-expending kind of activities that could be done inside with kids who are a little older. We played game after game-- I made them dance, crawl like crabs, carry spoons of cotton balls in their mouths, jump on colored construction paper squares, and oh, several other things. Still, my full repertoire only took up two hours. That leaves another ten hours or so I have to fill up somehow. Some of it I can fill up with swimming, but that's tricky because I also need to keep K out of the sun as much as possible.
So if you have any bright ideas for indoor activities that don't require me to spend much in the way of cash, please share!!!!
(Also, my new poll is posted. Explanation to follow in a few days....)
For many of you, it is an idyllic time of pleasant weather and fun outdoor activities. If you happen to be "outdoorsy" and near some mountains, it is the glory time for camping, hiking, fishing, kayaking, rock climbing, whatever else you people do. But for us here in the desert, it is the beginning of the "nocturnal" season.
If you want to go outside, you do it a) before 7am or b) after dark.
Now J and B are out of school, and M only has a few days left. So I've been desperately racking my brains for ways to entertain my children indoors without resorting to eight hours a day of video games. Ideally, these activities would get my children moving a bit, so that at bedtime they are actually tired.
Luckily for me, on Tuesday at the gym I found a Parenting magazine article with some energy-expending kind of activities that could be done inside with kids who are a little older. We played game after game-- I made them dance, crawl like crabs, carry spoons of cotton balls in their mouths, jump on colored construction paper squares, and oh, several other things. Still, my full repertoire only took up two hours. That leaves another ten hours or so I have to fill up somehow. Some of it I can fill up with swimming, but that's tricky because I also need to keep K out of the sun as much as possible.
So if you have any bright ideas for indoor activities that don't require me to spend much in the way of cash, please share!!!!
(Also, my new poll is posted. Explanation to follow in a few days....)
M ponders how to reach the kitchen following my impossible rules.
B (in full dancing costume) celebrates reaching K in one of the games.
Comments
there's a blow up jumpy place down the street that cole likes, and the library (story time) is decent sometimes. but that could be difficult with lots of children to keep track of.
i guess i'm just not creative. but if i think of anything that you might find useful i'll let you know. sorry not much help.