Boredom Busters and Brain Boosters

Guest post written by Mommy and Me Fitness New Charters Director, Jen. Jen is a mother of 4 and taught kindergarten for 4 years and first grade for 5 years. We are so thankful to have Jen on our team!

“Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful.  And since there’s no place to go, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.” Where I live it is cold and snowy which is typical for January.  After a mild start to the winter my family has been excited to see the snow, but I know the days still ahead…days of, “I’m bored!” or, “Can I watch TV?”  While we are loving the snowy weather now, some day soon we are going to get CABIN FEVER!  As a mom and teacher it is nice to have some activities to do with the kids that are both fun and deceptively educational, especially on those days where everyone just needs to run around and cannot go outside. Play is a great way to keep both mind and body fit!

Indoor Winter Activities

1. Crab walk Races

In case you wonder what I am talking about, crab walking is when a person sits on the floor, places his/her hands down facing away from the body and lifts themselves up on his/her hands and feet.  Have I confused you yet? See the picture and you will smile and nod! When I was teaching First Grade we had some students who were still struggling with their fine motor skills.  Our school Occupational Therapist told us that playing with play dough was great, but the best way to strengthen those fine motor muscles was to crab walk.  My co-teacher and I were surprised, but the next recess we took our students to the gym and had crab walking races. The kids loved it!  You can do this at home!  My children have crab walk races down our hallway or across our living room.  It is fun to watch, requires no equipment and helps get little hands ready for tasks like holding pencils and tying shoes.

2. Walking a Balance Beam

As a teacher we had balance beams on our playground at my school. I still remember the day our Physical Education teacher came back from a conference on brain-based learning and told us that there is a correlation somehow between the ability to walk across a balance beam and learning how to read.  She took our students out during gym class and almost all the children who were having some reading difficulties, also were challenged to walk the beam.  Needless to say, after that, I had all my students practice the beam at least once during recess for the next couple weeks. I do not have the room to have a balance beam in my house, but I can lay down a piece of wood and let my children walk across it.  Some other people have used masking tape and made a flat “beam” that their children can walk on; then they don’t try to pick it up and swing it around the room.  The first time we laid down the wood the kids started racing across only to discover that our youngest (20 months old) felt the balance beam was a good place to sit. My kids probably went on the balance beam for over 20 minutes just walking across, falling down or trying to run one after the other.  It was definitely good for a few laughs too!

3. Snowball Fight

While I am a fan of snowballs, I prefer to not have the traditional ones inside my house.  However, I do allow my family to have a paper snowball fight with a purpose.  The way this fight works is to write or type something you want your children to find/learn on pieces of paper.  The last time we did this I typed the individual letters in each of my children’s names.  These papers can then be crumpled up to become “snowballs.”  The kids crumple and then the fight ensues! After everyone is done tossing the paper balls, the kids open them up and try to find the letters in their names.  After the names are in order we can either be done or crumple and toss again.  In first grade we would write a math fact (i.e. 2+2=) and the kids would toss them; when they opened those snowballs they had to answer the math fact.  This could be done with letters, numbers, shapes, really anything.  At the end we also will let the kids toss them into a bucket or basket to practice aiming.  The truth also is, if your kiddos have a ton of energy, you can just crumple old paper and let them fly, even without an ulterior purpose!

~Written by Mommy and Me Fitness New Charter Director, Jen.

Thanks Jen for these great ideas!

About Juls, Author Of This Post

Hi! I'm Julie. I'm married and have 4 wonderful children. I love to keep busy with my active kids. Staying fit and eating healthy has become a part of our home as we raise our family. God has given us a body to take care of. I am continually learning how we can praise Him in our health and fitness everyday! Contact Author