Games for indoor and outdoor fun

There are lots of fun ways to get your family up and about. It’s so easy to make it part of your daily routine and habits. Here are a few suggestions:

The lamp-post game

When going to school or the shops, a simple race game between the lampposts not only gets them to the destination quicker and passes the time, but it also keeps them fit! (Make sure your kids are road aware.)

Recycle bowling

Play this with 6 or 10 empty plastic bottles or milk containers. Line them up and throw a tennis ball or rolled up sock at them to see how many you can knock over!

Treasure hunts

Treasure hunts are great fun, easy to organise and the kids can do them in lots of different places. For example:

Things to find in the park:

• A buttercup
• A long stick
• A leaf with more than one colour in it
• A very long piece of grass

Once they’ve found all these, help them tie the objects to a stick to take home. Why not help them find other things to tie to the stick?

Things to find in the supermarket

• Something yellow
• A kiwi fruit
• The fish counter
• Something from your shopping list

Remember to take this with you next time you go to the supermarket. If you have two or more children, why don’t you have a competition to see who can find things the quickest?

More things to do with kids

Here are some more ideas for things for the kids to do:

A dance routine

They’ll need:

• A clear area of space with no breakables near by!
• A CD player

What to do:

They can play their favourite song and listen to the rhythm of the music and start dancing! Encourage them to think of different moves to the music. Have they seen a pop star do a dance move they’d like to try? Keep replaying the CD until they’ve perfected the moves. When they’re ready, get them to put on a performance!

A fashion catwalk

They’ll need:

• A long clear space, like a hallway or a lounge
• Some music
• Lots of clothes!

What to do:

Let them pick out some of their favourite outfits, style their hair and put some music on. Now it’s time for them to strut their stuff! Suggest they try to change as quickly as possible between outfits! Maybe you could introduce them as the walk down the catwalk.