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!

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

Monday July 13th / Parade

We have seen quite a few parades because of July 4th and local fairs.
This gave me the ideas of having our very own parade!

Toddler:
Our toddler loves to pull things behind her. We gathered all her pull along toys and tied them together. Then we dressed her up like a princess with a gown, tiara, and a little make-up. She was super excited.

Preschooler:
With him we gathered different instruments. He started with the drum that goes around his neck and drum sticks. We put maracas in our pockets, just in case. Then he put on clown make-up and mismatched clothes!  He had obviously been watching marching bands because he even tried to spin the drum sticks and made all these funny poses!

Lastly,
Get outside! March down the street. You can push a stroller or wagon with the extra instruments and any stuffed animals that would like to join in. Feel silly? Call some neighbors and make it a big deal! (Too much for you? This can be done in the basement or backyard as well)

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.

Tuesday June 16th / Let's Get Movin'

Toddler and Preschooler

How many exercise videos do you own? Do you happen to own any "How to.." dance videos? Country western line dancing maybe? Well, take them off the shelf and dust them off, we're ready to move it!

You need:
videos
Open space!

We watched a few different types of videos this week. I started with the yoga one for fun with them. This wasn't wildly successful with mine, but I would certainly try it before deciding with yours. Then we hit the library and got a selection  of country western line dances. This was a hit!! They had such a good time and I got a great work out too! Lastly they watched break dancing videos. They actually screamed in excitement when the kids spun on their heads! My toddler has been asking to "spin head" "spin head"! (No, she can't actually do that, but we pretend)

Saturday June 13th Large Motor / Texture Dances


Idea #1 Bubble Wrap
Line your hallway floor with bubble wrap.
Run across it, stomp it, dance, find as many ways to pop the bubbles as you can!

Idea #2
Roll out a sheet of contact paper with the "sticky side up".
Run, walk, and dance across it with barefeet.
Tape the edges down so it does not roll up.

You need two people, toes, and the ground

Lay down in the grass feet to feet with barefeet.
Touch toes.
Try to roll and keep your toes touching.
Good Luck!!

Have friends over? Match up by twos and everybody roll!