How to Play Spud

Spud is definitely on my top 10 list of games to play with a large group of children in an outdoor space or indoor gym. All you need is a soft ball to toss around and one adult or child who is not playing.  To start, the person who is not playing, whispers a number into each player's ear.  If you have 8 people playing you will whisper any number between 1-10.  If you have 10 playing whisper any number between 1-12.  Once you get a number do NOT tell your number to anyone.  There will be two leftover numbers which are called ghost numbers.

One player is 'IT' and will start with the ball.  Everyone stands in a circle around the player with the ball.  The player throws the ball up into the air and calls a number. Everyone runs away unless it is your number that was called.  

If your number was called, you grab the ball as fast as you possibly can and yell "SPUD."  Once "SPUD" is yelled, everyone must stop running.  The person who grabbed the ball, takes three giant steps towards any player.  This person then throws the ball at the player and the player can NOT move their feet.  You can not throw near the player's head.  If the ball hits the player, the player gets the letter 'S'.  It the player catches the ball, the thrower get the letter 'S'.  

Now, the player who had the ball thrown at him/her is 'IT' and throws the ball in the air, calling a number, yelling "SPUD", taking the three giant steps and throwing the ball at a player.

If the person throwing the ball up calls a ghost number (no one has the number) then the thrower get a letter in SPUD.

If you spell out the word SPUD, you lose.

If you want to make it easier, just call the children's names and don't bother with the numbers.  If the children are running too far away make the boundary lines smaller where they can run.  

Head outdoors and go play SPUD!  

If you need a super, fun low prep group game for indoors try Set the Record.   The Set the Record download is a collection of 25 different finger testing, singing and physical activity challenges.  Pick a challenge and see who can set the record for the fastest, longest, most, shortest and tallest skills! Write down the top scores to keep track of who holds the records for each challenge.  Print as full size pages or smaller cards for travel size. You will need some household items to complete the challenges such as paper, pencils, coins, etc.  Download a free challenge page and try to be the fastest.

Only $1.99.  Add to the shopping cart and check out.  You will receive an email with a link to download the games immediately!

Check out all the other game ideas!

Amusement Park Boredom Buster Activity

I am soooooo excited to announce our latest freebie from Boredom Busters Volume #1.  If you have school aged kids you know that feeling when boredom sets in.  Here is a new activity pack that will absolutely be a boredom buster!  To start, check out this freebie from Volume #1 - One Minute Challenge Amusement Park.  Can you complete all the activities in under one minute?

You can download the activity from Growing Play.    

  

Boredom Busters Volume #1 is a HUGE download collection of 20+ activities to keep the kids busy. It includes mazes, activity challenges, puzzles, board game, quizzes, silly stories and more!  Almost all of the activities can be done with just one person!  This is not your usual puzzle book.  It is perfect for rainy days, road trips, camping, hotel downtime and anytime a child needs to unplug.  

Boredom Busters encourage: executive functioning skills, logic, memory, physical activity and more.

You can get more information here.

Outdoor Puzzle Race

Here is a suggested activity for older children that combines physical activity with visual perceptual skills.  Trace around a bunch of small objects or toys on a large piece of paper or folder.  Place all the small objects plus a few extra that you didn't trace in a large container. 

Head outdoors or a large play space area.  Put the folder with the traced outlines at least 20 feet away from the container with the objects. 

Explain to the child that they will have one minute 30 seconds to try and match up as many objects as they can.  Only allow the child to bring one object at a time to match up. 

The kids enjoyed repeating this race over and over again to see if they could beat the amount of objects they matched up each time.  The record was 17 objects matched up in 1 minute 30 seconds.

Choices Increase Physical Activity in Children

If you want to increase physical activity time in your children here are two simple tips. Provide choices and encourage mastery of a skill. A recent study indicated that providing children with a choice of active toys increased physical activity time by nearly 200% for girls and 42% for boys. The active toys that were used included mini hockey, bean bag toss combined with tic-tac-toe, mini indoor basketball and jump rope. In a second study researchers looked at the intrinsic motivation in children for physical activity time. Using exergames (ie Wii), the researchers concluded that combining choice with mastery of a game resulted in the greatest increase in physical activity time.

Need ideas for active play?  Check out this collection of ebooks with active play ideas.

Reference: Medical Express. Kids get more active when given more toy choices, studies show. Retrieved from the web on 4/18/12 at http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-kids-toy-choices.html

DIY Rope Ladder for Indoor Active Play

 

Make this rope ladder for a couple of bucks using duct tape and rope.  Watch the video at GrowingPlay.com to learn how to make the rope ladder and some suggested activities to get kids moving.  Great for indoor play on a rainy day!

FREE Spring Coupon Book

Download this FREE Spring Coupon book to encourage children to get moving and making memories.  Great addition to an Easter basket.  Download it at GrowingPlay.com

Posted this over at FunFrugalMommy

Keeping it Simple - Real Simple

It doesn't get much more simple than this.  Using painter's tape, we put up a rectangle on the wall, about 8 feet high, for the kids the shoot the ball into.  This simple box has truly created hours of entertainment.  The kids practice throwing the ball into the box, dribble and shoot and play one on one.  It has expanded to horse and games of knock out.  They play it before school, after school and after dinner.  It provides short bursts of physical activity in a small amount of space.  Here's to keeping it simple! 

Going Outdoors to Improve Attention Span

An article in the Journal of Attention Disorders, reports on the benefits of walking in a park to increase attention span. A small group of 17 children with ADHD, participated in a study comparing walks in a park, downtown and a neighborhood. The walks in the park resulted in a significant difference in concentration as scored on the Digit Span Backwards (DSB).

The article also discusses Attention Restoration Theory (ART). The basics of this theory is that interacting with nature results in a type of restoration for the body and the brain. Try to remember a recent event when you spent time outdoors in a natural environment. You may walk slowly and attend to all of your visual surroundings - a bird chirping, a sunset, the green grass of Spring. When you return indoors, you feel relaxed and calm. Now to try to remember that last time you were outdoors in a busier environment, perhaps a city. Your attention may be focused on planning when to cross a street, avoiding cars and other city obstacles. These two environments rely on your brain to use two different types of attention - involuntary and voluntary. Concentrating on topics that interest you or something that grabs your attention involves involuntary attention. Concentrating on blocking out distractions to focus on the topic at hand involves voluntary attention (which can fatigue easily). When the brain experiences involuntary attention it allows voluntary attention to rest and recover.

The authors of this study question whether children with ADHD experience deficits in voluntary attention resulting in the fluctuating attention span that you see in children with ADHD. Therefore, the Attention Restoration Theory when applied to children with and without ADHD can perhaps be very beneficial. Walks in nature are simple to carry out on a daily basis. The "restorative" action of the walks which call upon involuntary attention can possibly help to improve voluntary attention.

With the amount of television and computer time that children are exposed to daily, more time spent outdoors is essential. Here are several ideas to encourage increased nature time for all children:

1. Take hikes and short walks in the woods.
2. Go letterboxing - Letterboxing is a great family activity for people of all ages. You can go to www.letterboxing.org for a list of clues throughout the USA. You print off the clues, walk to find them and stamp a marking in your log book. Try geocaching if you have a GPS or smart phone.
3. Gardening - plant a garden with children. Plant seeds in pots so that all children can assist.
4. Go on scavenger hunts for outdoor materials - check out Scavenger Hunts e-book for ideas
5. Allow children to play outdoors in dirt, mud and puddles.
6. Go on a bug hunt - see how many different bugs you can identify
7. Start a nature collection such as rocks, acorns, leaves or pine cones.
8. Go fishing, frog hunting, horseback riding or birdwatching.
9. Build a structure out of natural materials i.e. fort, collage made out of sticks or leafs.
10. Encourage teachers to plan lessons outdoors.

Fresh air makes everyone feel healthier, relaxed and perhaps improves attention. It is a simple way to improve concentration with no side effects (except skinned knees).

References:
Faber Taylor, Andrea, Kuo, Frances E. Children With Attention Deficits Concentrate Better After Walk in the Park J Atten Disord 2009 12: 402-409

Cimprich, B Attention Restoration Theory: Empirical Work and Practical Applications Retrieved from the web on 4/17/09 at http://www.umb.no/statisk/greencare/meetings/presentations_vienna_2007/cimprich_cost_pres_71007.pdf

Lack of Physical Activity in Preschoolers

USA Today printed an article entitled, Study shows preschoolers spend too much time on sedentary activities, in today's paper about the lack of physical activity in preschoolers. Some research shows that preschoolers only spend 2-3% of the day in vigorous physical activity! An analysis was done by holding focus groups with early childhood educators to determine what was influencing this decline in physical activity. The educators reported that the following barriers existed:

• fear of injury
• strong focus on academics
• budget constraints (lack of outdoor space or equipment).
  

Here is my comments to this story...
This is ridiculous. How can preschoolers only be spending 2-3% per day in vigorous physical activity??? This is shameful. Children need to move to learn properly. They need active free play for physical, cognitive, emotional and social growth.

In the United States we have a humongous obesity problem (no pun intended). The government seems to blame McDonald's Happy Meals for this and has essentially forced fast food restaurants to change their menus. Commercials for sugared cereal have had to change in an attempt to decrease obesity. This is so frustrating to me when no one will address the lack of physical activity. If children were moving more throughout the day, a serving a fries would burn right off.

Now to address the educators reported barriers -
1. Fear of injury. I understand that parents hover over children like never before. But really we can not promote physical activity in preschool for fear of a skinned knee? That too is shameful. One thing mentioned was that playground equipment has so many regulations that it is not challenging for the children (so then why would they get hurt). Not to mention, research has shown children move more with jump ropes and playground balls versus playground equipment.

2. Strong focus on academics - The push for children to learn to read at an early age just keeps getting stronger. Educators may want to slow down and read themselves. Research has shown time and time again, physically active children are smarter! Again, children need to move to learn. The brain body connection is amazing. Exercise gets children's brains ready to learn.

3. Budget constraints - Really? Really? Come on. A playground ball cost $1 maybe $2. Tag costs nothing (oh wait they may skin a knee). So how about duck, duck goose? Simon Says? Mother May I? Last I checked there were very few emergency room visits following these games. Children do not need a ton of space to get exercise. Move furniture to the perimeter of the classroom and you have some space to move around. Geesh, children can move at their little desks if necessary. There are so many physical activity ideas that require little to no equipment therefore cost next to nothing. This "excuse" makes me the most frustrated.

Now here is my humble opinion on why children do not move in the classroom. It is a lot of behavior management. It is easier for teachers to keep children seated than let them move. Teachers have told me that they don't like the kids to move around because it is too hard to get them to settle back down. I always recommend to establish a routine and rules for movement and it usual works. In addition, there is a rough time when you start introducing movement. If children are truly sedentary all day, then you let them move...yes they might go a little crazy. Can you blame them? Once the routine is established of movement time followed by a cool down time to getting children ready to work the behaviors decrease. I can not think of a better way to teach self regulation either - move, calm the body down and be ready to work. Oh yeah, research has also shown time and time again, that children who exhibit good self regulation in the early years are the most successful in life.

We need to get our children moving more from birth through adulthood.

Reference: Hellmich, N. Study shows preschoolers spend too much time on sedentary activities. Retrieved from the web on 1/4/2012 at http://yourlife.usatoday.com/parenting-family/story/2012-01-03/Study-shows-preschoolers-spend-too-much-time-on-sedentary-activities/52367890/1?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&dlvrit=205764

Active Game Using a Smart Phone

Here is a simple game that combines the fun of using a smart phone with physical activity. Print out the QR code hunt from GrowingPlay.com. Cut out the 8 QR codes. You will need to download any app that will read QR codes (just search the app store and some free ones will come up). Tape the codes in different locations indoors or outdoors. The object of the hunt is to find the QR code that states WINNER when scanned.

I recommend that you have the children find one code at a time. They must bring it back to the smart phone and scan it. If it is not the winner, they must return the code to its original location. Obviously if it scans as the winner you win the game!

You can give a small prize for finding the winning code.

Homemade Straw Rockets

Today the kids had hours of fun with a bicycle pump and some straw rockets. All we did was cut a plastic straw to about 6 inches. An adult used a glue gun to put a dab of glue on the top of the straw to seal it shut completely (make a few extra, each straw only lasts for a few launches). Now, pop the straw on the end of a bicycle pump (yellow nozzle) and watch it fly. After experimenting, we found out that the longer the straw (within reason) the farther it went in the air. We also found out that this project was better outdoors after we kept hitting the ceiling.

This was a super fun activity that encourages:

• muscle strengthening of the shoulders and arms
• science experimentation
• cooperation (you need one kid to hold the straw and one to pump)

After using it for awhile just to shoot off the straw the kids added on a racing game - who could get to the straw rocket first!

Watch the video here:



Stay tuned for tomorrow's post with another activity using a bicycle pump.

Sock Tag

This kids came up with this simple twist on tag. Ball up two socks or one missed matched sock. Head outdoors and start a game of tag. Run until you get hit by a sock ball. If you get hit you have to sit out for a count of ten and then you can join the game again. Or break up into teams, if you get hit you are out. The last team with any members who have not been hit is the winner.

If the weather is miserable outside you could play indoors. Each child should set up a fort to hide behind. The fort could just be as simple as a chair sideways - just something to hide behind. Ball up at least 4 socks per player. Start a snowball fight with the socks.

This activity encourages:

• physical activity
• eye hand coordination
• strategy
  

Have fun!

Indoor Physical Activity Fun

The days of running around neighborhoods freely and walking to school seem to be a thing of the past. Instead, children sit in front of a television or computer screen for hours a day. When the weather outside is bad, the television hours increase even more. Because of this, children lead more sedentary lifestyles than ever. Parents must make an effort to provide daily physical activity opportunities for their young children. Here are five fun indoor fitness activity ideas for young children using basic items from around the house. Remember, have fun and be safe!

1. Paper Towel Path: Place 10 paper towel squares in a line on a carpeted floor. The child can practice jumping from square to square. Separate the squares further. Jump again from square to square. Continue separating the squares to encourage the child to jump further distances. Try playing the game hopping on one foot.

2. Paper Cup Conditioning : Gather at least 12 small paper cups. On a carpeted surface, place 4 paper cups next to each other upside down. Several feet away, place 4 more paper cups in a line. Repeat. You have set up a small hurdle course. The child can practice jumping over the paper cups. Place the paper cups in a line with each cup about 2 feet apart. Try weaving in and out of the cups. Stack the cups in a pyramid shape and throw a soft ball at them. Use the cups as bowling pins. When done, try smashing all of the cups with your feet or hands.

3. Time It: Using a stop watch or kitchen timer, time how long it takes your child to complete various tasks. For example, ask your child to walk upstairs to your bedroom, come back down touch the couch and skip back into the kitchen. Go for the best time over three trials. Try different movements such as hopping, jumping, crab walk and crawling.

4. Dance Party: Crank up the music and dance. Here are some variations on just dancing: play freeze dance, invent a new dance and teach it to a friend and put on a dance show.

5. Shoe Box Trail: Gather up old shoe boxes. Scatter them around a carpeted floor. See if the child can step from one side of the room to the other only stepping in the boxes. Try pretending to skate or ski around the room wearing the shoe boxes as skates or skis. Use the boxes as targets and throw wadded up pieces of paper into the boxes.

6. Create an indoor obstacle course: Use couch pillows and chairs to create an indoor obstacle course.

7. Action Charades: Play charades acting out only sports or any physical activities. Play it as reverse charades. Someone who is not playing can write a sport on a name tag. Put the name tag on the person's back. The partner looks at the person's back and acts out the sport. The person has to guess. Play again with the guesser having the name tag on his/her back.

Allow your children to be creative with the activities. See what games they can create with the materials as well.