Q: What type of activities can I do at home with my child during the winter months to keep him or her active?
A: Children have the desire to move and explore their world regardless if it is 20 degrees or 80 degrees outside. Winter can be a difficult time for parents and children as the cold weather limits the outdoor activities we can engage in.
Listed below are ideas for 13 activities during our hibernation period in Ohio!
1. Take the pillows off the couch and build a mountain. Change the shape during play to challenge gross motor skills and motor planning.
2. Pull or swing your child around the house while seated on a blanket or sheet. You can place other sensory items in the blanket (balloons, pillows, light up balls, etc.).
3. Work together with your child to transport items across the room with various body parts (head to head, elbow to elbow, back to back).
4. Place painters tape vertically in a hallway at varying heights. Encourage your child to walk from one side to the other without touching the tape.
5. Play tennis, soccer, baseball or volleyball with balloons.
6. Skate across a carpeted floor with paper plates or shoe boxes under your feet. Play ice hockey with balloons.
7. Make gross motor movement cards and play Go Fish with them. When you make a match, complete the movement listed on card (bear walks, jumping jacks, toe touches, arm circles, crab walks, log rolls, bounce on exercise ball, etc.).
8. Play body bowling by setting up bowling pins (empty water bottles) and roll into them to knock them down.
9. Fill a bathtub with balls, stuffed animals, pillows, bubble wrap, etc. to make a sensory pit.
10. Have a snowball fight with crinkled up newspaper.
11. Catch a ping pong ball in a plastic cup and watch it bounce out.
12. Use a hula hoop in various ways: as a jump rope, jump in/out, jump through and onto pillows or spin it around your arms, waist or legs.
13. Items you may want to consider purchasing include: indoor trampoline, moon shoes, door basketball hoop, river rocks, teeter totter and scooter.
To contact Jen Knott:
Rec2connect@gmail.com
Rec2connect.com
330-703-9001
