Family Fun and Learning Time: Indoor activities for the whole family to play

When in school, or any formal learning environment, young kids engage in numerous fun and playful activities. When attending child care in Silver Spring MD, for example, teachers and caregivers may have young children participate in sports and games indoors and outdoors too. And while those activities are entertaining and engaging, they also help shape young minds, bodies, and spirits. But, there’s no reason why such constructive activities shouldn’t continue beyond the playgrounds and walls of the day care, kindergarten, or school.

Beyond Fun and Games

Young children have plenty of energy – often, more so than the adults who care for them or supervise their activities. And, unless teachers, parents and caregivers find safe and constructive outlets for the kids to expend that energy, life for youngsters can be dreary and irritable. While children at a day care in Bethesda MD may run outside and jump on a swing or run around the playground to release pent-up energy, not all homes have backyards or outdoor play areas. 

Exercising the mind and the body is critical for young children. But what do parents do when the weather isn’t great for outdoor activities? The answer: Substitute outdoor activities with your children, with those you can safely engage in indoors. This does not mean young children won’t have an opportunity to also do physical exercise or play fun games and enjoy themselves. It just means choosing a different set of indoor activities.

Family Bonding, Play and Learning Time

If the weather isn’t cooperative, or if your home doesn’t have large outdoor play areas, like a child care in Rockville or Bethesda might have, here are some fun indoor activities for the whole family to participate in:

1. Home-made Zoom Karts: Attach a rope to a sturdy box, and put things inside it. Have the kids toe the box around the house, making “stops” to simulate “deliveries” to each family member. Alternatively, you can have one child sit in the box, while another pulls it around. This is not just fun, but it’s great to develop strength and gross motor skills.  

2. Blowing Bubbles: Using nothing but liquid dish detergent, and a jar (or any other container), parents can create an in-expensive apparatus for kids to have endless fun. To notch it up a bit, crank open a window and have them blow the bubbles outside – and watch the wind carry their creations across the skies. Extra points for the biggest or highest-flying bubble!

3. Playing Hopscotch: Use chalk to draw hopscotch squares on a floor, and have the whole family participate in a friendly game. Not only is this a great sport to have family fun and develop muscles, but it also improves hand-feet-eye coordination in children.

4. Rock Painting: While the weather is good, collect differently-shaped rocks (and other natural items, including pine cones) and have them ready. Then, engage in a team sport with the entire family, and paint the items with imaginative colors and patterns. Families can spend hours unleashing collective creativity in this activity.  

Educators and teachers at a day care in Silver Spring often reward children for participating in such activities. Parents can fashion home-made badges and ribbons, and even start a family leader board on your refrigerator to make things more competitive.

Tags: