There are so many ways to keep children active, to have fun and to learn inside at home when the weather is wet. And these tips are vital if you just need to get some grown-up things completed whilst the children play and learn together – giving you a little space.
What’s more, it is important for children to keep active, as shown in the guideline diagram “Physical activity guidelines for under 5’s”; children need to keep active for their health and wellbeing. And this improves bone health, cardiovascular health, social skills, coordination and more.
There are many ways to keep active even in small spaces. Here are our top three indoor activities at Edx Education:
MAKE AN INDOOR DEN
A favorite thing is to make a den. Making a dark corner and having a torch to read a comic; piling pillows and cushions as high as possible to be king of the castle. Even in smaller rooms children can get lost together – or alone – for quite some time. Of course we recommend keeping an eye on the den builders, but you don’t need fancy equipment. We use old cardboard boxes, a sheet or rug over the table and those cushions piled high. We helped our boys build a den together, played with torches and read a book for a while. And then the three year old went back in a bit later to have a little sleep.
The Early Years Alliance says, “The beauty of this play is that it’s good for mixed age groups, and even toddlers can play alongside older siblings as they create their own space. However, a toddler will have a very different experience inside the den to a three, four or five year-old.”
To read more on the benefits on building a den head over to Family Corner “Beautiful Benefits of Building a Den.” https://www.familycorner.co.uk/beautiful-benefits-building-den
OBSTACLE COURSE
Children love to jump, climb, balance and run amok. But inside this can make parents and caregivers anxious. We have learned to embrace these traits with a little structure using an obstacle course.
Here, little ones play and develop their foundation skills from gross motor, balance, coordination and so much more. You don’t need a lot of room just be creative with the area you have. We use colored tape or masking tape
With the colored tape mark Xs and lines on the floor and have the children:
- Jump like a frog from each dot
- Crawl along the floor
- Balance on one line on their tippy toes
Elsewhere
- You could climb over the cushions as a mountain
- Crawl under or over a row of chairs
- Crawl under a string stretched between two chair legs.
- Jump into and out of a Hula-Hoop five times.
- Walk on a balance board.
- Throw beanbags – or socks – into a laundry basket.
Run while balancing a beanbag on your head.
FLOOR IS LAVA
We love this game; and from our conversations, it seems to be trending at the moment with children around the world.
The floor is lava game is a simple, age-old activity where players pretend that the floor or ground is made of molten lava. They must avoid touching the ground. When we play this with our children they choose the obstacle course and we add safe bases for the three year old boy while the 10year old needs to jump further, higher.
Each week we will have more fun activities available on the play blog ready for family fun and adventures for children to play and learn together at home and in the classroom. I’ll be using my ten year old and three year old as guinea pigs for many of the activities we talk about here.
Edx Education
Edx Education