Help Kids Play Outside More
Our Kids Play blogger series is continuing to illumine and inspire new and fun ways for kids to get outside and play! The NFL Play60 Invention Contest for kids (they could win $5000) is motivating kids play too - check it out!
An easy way to make outside play even more fun and exciting is to teach them about games of the past, well in your past. Fad games that you played with your friends for hours or the whole neighborhood joined in… competitive, exciting, or addicting activities. Join in with them and get their friends involved too.
Hopscotch
As a 50 year old who grew up the Bronx, most of the outdoor games of the past I played were with groups of friends. I’m not sure which was more exciting, being with friends or challenging myself. Some of the games I played were stickball, hopscotch, potsy, and paddleball. I also was a fan of roller-skating and jump rope.
Read Connie's Entire Post HERE
And Suz Lipman of SlowFamilyOnline.com is rockin' a jumprope with game ideas and very interesting history (did you know jumprope dates back to Ancient Egypt?!)!
Jumping rope has gone in and out of fashion since ancient Egypt, when both men and women jumped over vines. It wasn’t until the 20th century that jumpers incorporated the sing-song games and rhymes that many of us associate with childhood and particularly girls.As a fan of simple and inexpensive games and equipment, as well as the origin and continuation of playground games that are passed down through the generations like oral history, I love everything about jumping rope. As inspiration, here are three fitness benefits to jumping rope. It can be easy to fit jumping rope into your 60 minutes of daily fitness. Below are some fun jump rope games that will keep you singing and laughing as well as help keep you fit. They are games my mom taught me and I taught my daughter. Who knows, you might invent the next jump rope or other fun game.
Read Sue's Entire Post HERE
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One of Sue's Jumprope Game Ideas:
A My Name is Alice
This is a fun add-on game that also calls for a little creativity and is different every time
The first jumper starts with the letter A, and fills in the blanks in this sentence, however he or she chooses:
A my name is ____ and my husband’s name is ____ and we live in ____ and we sell ____.
For example: A my name is Alice and my husband’s name is Al and we live in Albuquerque and we sell Apples.
If the jumper hasn’t tripped up, he or she moves on to the letter B, such as:
B my name is Betty and my husband’s name is Bob and we live in Boise and we sell Beans.
Jumpers move through the alphabet as long as their turns last. New jumpers usually start with A (that makes it easy to compare how far each gets) and choose new names.
