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Outdoor games for little boys???
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What are your favorite outdoor things for little boys to do to wear them out – we have some serious pent up energy that needs letting out. They are all too young to understand and be able to do any type of organized sport thing (trying to get them to play soccer or t-ball just doesn’t work well), but when I send them outside they’d rather look for bugs and pretend to be on safari 🙂 I feel like I need to give them more direction to do something more active and wear them out a little more. Ideas???
Tag is usually simple enough for the youngest kids to grasp and even if they don’t, running around the yard as fast as they can will wear them out pretty well. Some other ideas…
races
pretending to be certain animals and then doing those movements that the animal would do ( cheetahs run fast, monkeys are goofy and do silly twirls and jumps and climbing, birds fly, etc.)
treasure hunt ( this can expend energy if you have a big enough space to make them go far in between items)
simon says ( if you are simon you can get them to jump, run, hop on one foot spin until dizzy etc.)
I don’t know if this will work for you but we have one of those little rebounder trampolines in our back yard and sending them out to jump for a while is good excercise.
Just some thoughts, hope some will help you out!
-Miranda
A fun thing to do is send them on short obstacles – such as “Run to that tree, run around it twice, and run back.” When they return, “Jump to that line in the sidewalk, walk along it like a balance beam, and run back.” You get the idea. Little kids love to do things like that (and the mom can sit while coming up with the commands, lol!).
Once this they get this spurt of energy out of their systems, I notice that many kids can then settle into their own games and explorations. If they bore of playing on their own, then pull out another activity such as, “Who can find something red?” “How many trees are in this yard?” “Are there any critters under that rock?” “How many acorns can you gather?” This game is less active than the first one, but still engages the little ones outdoors, and is good for a lapse in attention or to wind down before heading inside.
A simple game of catch is great for boys, too. My son could play for hours and hours at a young age, just tossing the ball back and forth. For the very young, roll the ball. Sometimes I added a variety to the game of catch, such as start out tossing the ball really close to each other, then take a step back at each turn. Or add a bounce or hand clap when you throw the ball.
I am currently working on just what Esby posted about
If your kiddos can read…i am putting things on index cards in a jar: little scavenger hunts (i.e. find three things that are brown, find something about the size of your foot, find something that is more than one color), small obstacle sequences (i.e.climb up the rock wall and slide down the slide, ring the bell 5 times in the tree house, ride your bike twice around the house). If they’re on cards and in the jar, it just becomes part of their day…it’s easier for me that way…After our lessons are over and they’ve had a break and a snack, it’s time to dip into the jar and get goin! Some days we do it, some we don’t…it’s as needed! My need for this formed out of my two having a little trouble getting along a couple of weeks in a row while playing outside. These things give them something to work on together! Then they trot off and come up with other stuff to do and play!
p.s. i have 2 boys…we have a bike riding break after reading and a ‘snack and wiggles break’ mid-morning…and sometimes a walk is part of our morning excercise!
Have fun!
Melissa
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