Friday July 31st /
 Leaping Lizards, Krazy Kangaroos, or Fearless Frogs

Toddler and Preschooler:
Rearrange your furniture. Place all couch cushions on the floor. Make tunnels. Stack Pillows.

Pick the title of the game.
Leaping Lizards must leap and not touch the floor. Kangaroos jump, and frogs hop from lily pad to lily pad. Use imagination and get moving inside on a rainy day!

How do you decide who is first??

As kids get older, suddenly who is FIRST matters.
Here is a short list of ideas for picking who is first.
Have any to add?

Coin toss
Which hand is holding the coin?
Rock, Paper, Scissors
Draw the High Card
Draw the Low Card
Count off
Pick a Number
Dice Toss High / Low
Draw Straws

Thursday July 23rd / Riding the Rails
Another sidewalk chalk activity.

Make a road or rail road tracks for your kids to ride the bikes or push the push cars on.

We park our cars on the drive way and make a figure eight road around them. The kids push their cars forever around and around. You can also make a raceway, highway, or circus ring.

Wednesday July 22nd / Variety of Tag Games
This is another preschool activity.

You need:
three or more people

Easy version:
One person is "it" and chases everyone else. The person who is "it" tags another person and runs away. Now the person who was tagged is "it".

Stoop:
Players can crouch down for 5 sec. at a time and avoid being tagged. The person who is "it" must stay away until they are up and running again.

Tree Tag:
The tree is the "safe zone".

Flashlight Tag:
Must be played inside or outside when it is dark and you can see teh light of a flashlight. You shine light on others to tag them.

Shadow Tag:
(My favorite) You must step on the person's shadow to tag them instead of touching them!

Friday July 17th / Move Like the Animals

Toddler and Preschooler:
Play this game like follow the leader and call response

One person yells the animal "Kangaroo" every one else yells "Hop" and then they hop!
While the kids make the noises be sure to remind them to move like the animal too!

Continue through all animals you can think of!
Snake -Slither
Turtle- Crawl
Monkey -Swing, Jump, Act Crazy
Lizard- Slither
Fish -Swim
Spider- Crawl
Cat -Pounce, Jump, Walk
Bird -Fly
Elephant -Stomp
Frog -Hop
Meerkat -Stand on Hind legs arms tucked in "Peek"
Lion -Run, Sleep, Walk
Rabbit -Hop
Chicken -Chicken Strut
Dog - Run, Walk, Run in circles

Tuesday July 7th / Slap Jack Card Game
Preschooler

You need:
One deck of Cards
Show your child which cards are jacks.

Deal the cards evenly.

Pick up your piles and flip them over one at a time.

While you turn over each card look for the jack.
If you see it, SLAP IT!

If you slap a non-jack, you owe the other person a card.

If you have more than two players and one person runs out of cards they can still play and slap a jack to get back in the game.

--You could call out what cards you flip to practice numbers.--

Wednesday June 24th / Flour Tag

This is for preschoolers. My toddler had no luck with the socks at all.

This started as a game of tag from my memory of a game we played at camp when I was a camp counselor. My three year old had a hard time with the concept of tag and turns. So, we ended up just running around and hitting things with the flour socks. It makes a fantastic powdered effect. He loved it!

You need:
old socks
flour

Take old socks, they will get stretched out, so don't use good socks! Fill them with flour. I used about a cup. If you play tag, the players tag each other using the socks (GENTLY). It leaves a flour mark like a chalk mark.

Todddler and Preschooler

You need:
Sidwalk chalk
Large Space

Make a game board in your driveway!

First draw the spaces

Now fill in spaces with things you have to do.
Ideas: Jump up and down 4 times, Mooo like a cow, say the ABC's, Sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Give Mommy a kiss, whisper "I Love You" to your sister, Run around the car, Touch your ears, etc.

Decide how you will move forward.
Ideas: Use large dice or draw a card from a deck of cards (I suggest using only 1-10)

Now play the game! You are the game pieces and you need to actually move through the game. You can use a rock to hold your place while the other person takes their turn or you have to run around the car.

Carnival Duck Game

Toddler and Preschooler:
Gather all your rubber ducks and empty squirt bottles. This can be an indoor or outdoor game.

Option one-
Fill the bathtub with a few inches of water.
Load it with floating ducks, frogs, etc.
Show your child how if you squirt the animal it moves.
Our ducks wouldn't tip, but that did not stop us from trying.
I filled the bottles when they were empty and we added food coloring.
This was entertaining to them for 45 minutes (I consider that success!)

Option 2 -outside
Fill your kiddie pool.
Same game, except provide another bucket for children to fill their own squirt bottle.
It was not warm enough this week to try this outside, but I think I would let them try the house with the attachment on it, to see if they can squirt and flip the ducks.

Tips-
I never knew an empty Heinz ketchup bottle could be so fun! Try it!!
My toddler could not squeeze the ketchup bottle but she could squeeze an empty joy dishsoap bottle.