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I am wondering if we need to purchase more outside play equipment. We have a swingset, bikes, and scooters. I am thinking about a larger playset, a pool, a trampoline. Could you share with me what kind of activities your children engage in when they play outside? I feel like we are lacking in this area and I would like to figure out how to have a more productive recess time.

We have a YMCA homeschool gym program not too far from us, but it isn't very doable with 6 children when 3 of them are not of age to participate yet.

Thanks for any suggestions you can offer!

Terri

I think you are doing pretty well with a swingset, bikes, and scooters. LOL. Some of the things we do include...

Fit Deck Jr. http://www.fitdeck.com/56_cards_junior.php

Running races against their own times (mine are too far apart in age to race each other)

Go to the park frequently and enjoy the climbing equipment.

My kids climb our tree.

Outdoor chores are great exercise. Pulling weeds, stacking wood, brooming cobwebs & dirt off the house, etc.

Mini trampolines

We want to get a basketball hoop.

Simply Charlotte Mason has "The Swedish Drill Teacher" for free download. It is a physical education program (from the late 1800's) that doesn't require any equipment (or not much anyway).

http://simplycharlottemason.com/books/s ... l-teacher/

I personally think that the equipment you already have is sufficient. You may want to throw in a few balls to kick around, catch etc. The important thing is that they are moving!

We have a problem with heat much of the year where I live. It's really hard to get them to stay outside, and I really don't blame them. We use Wii fit for "PE" during the hot days. It's really helped me to get them moving!! I also have a recommendation from a friend for 2 kids yoga dvds by giame kids...ABC Yoga and Animals Yoga. She got them at Target. We have to get creative around here or my kids will be swinging from the ceiling on days that we can't play outside!! Of course, days that the weather isn't triple digits, I scoot them out the door.

Dirt...which easily can be transformed to mud ...is a big hit around here! Our dogs and cats/kittens are also favorite things to play with. Climbing trees (or in Grant's case barns and sheds). We have a running stroller (which means the tires will turn on our gravel road), and I love to take the kids on a "bike ride". Usually Alli and Garret ride in the stroller, I push, Grant rides his bike and we head over to the farm a mile away. But now, Allison can ride without training wheels, so I may be helping Garret ride his bike (with training wheels) for our walk.

I don't know if I'm much help to you or not. My kids are incredibly active, and would be outside all day every day if I let them. (Which sometimes I do. ) We even haul our school books in backpacks to the pasture occasionally to do school by the pond. Both my husband and I are the same way about being outside, too. My husband loves to hunt, and some or all of us like to go along...depending on what's being hunted and how covert the operation is. Bowhunting deer - maybe Grant can go. Rifle hunting deer - either Grant or I can go. Pheasant hunting - the whole troop plus dogs gets to walk and be as noisy as we please. Dove hunting - we all go and wear camo...the little 2 and I sit a ways away from Mike and Grant. Turkey hunting - Grant gets to tag along.

In the spring and fall, we love to call up another homeschooling family and hang out at the park for a few hours. We'll do this several times a week at some times of the year.

We also have a circle in our house, so my kids love to run laps and chase each other. Kitchen, dining room, living room. This occasionally drives me a little crazy , but my husband thinks it's a great feature of our house so we chase each other daily. It also works well for scooters....but the kids are responsible to clean them to my standard before they "scoot" on the carpet. No mud.

We're headed out to pick sweet corn now, and my husband's home for lunch so I better go.
Kathleen

Speed-clean! Kidding...but I think it's a good idea. They love to clean.

Our boys ride scooters, play in the sandbox, and chase each other around the yard. They play a little frisbee, baseball, football, and soccer. We have a ton of balls of all kinds. We don't have a swingset but do have a few larger plastic pieces of play equipment. Our boys love to fight with the foam swords, which are a huge hit around here.

They ride their bikes around our cul-de-sac (and go on bike routes on Saturdays with their dad). When it's too wet in our backyard, they ride their scooters around our driveway for recess. Our boys love to use sidewalk chalk to draw complicated tracks on our cement pad in the backyard to ride their scooters around. The little one has a plastic pickup truck (which we've had 10 years) that everyone takes turns pushing him in. We love having a fence!

Our boys also practice putting with their golf clubs in the backyard and golf once a week with their dad in the spring and summer. In the fall and winter they bowl in our local bowling alley one afternoon a week (just for fun).

Our oldest son now has an archery bow and sandbag target (which he may only shoot when the other boys are all indoors and the neighbors are at school, as it's dangerous)!

In the summer, we put up a pool in our backyard (which isn't huge) but my hubby has invested in a chlorine bucket, chemicals, and a motorized pump etc. to keep the water clean. Our boys swim every day in the summer. We also bag our grass, to keep the grass out the pool. Our little one has a tiny pool that he swims in. We put the plastic slide in the little pool for him.

In the winter our boys also take swimming lessons for a 4-6 week session.

We've had some interesting experiences with boomerangs and with kites in our backyard. Both worked o.k. but kept going over the fence. Boomerangs are DANGEROUS! We've also had to use a tee ball version (softer) of a baseball to keep everyone safe!

Blessings,
Carrie

Our sons all LOVE to be outside and would live there if we let them. My dh is an avid outdoorsman as well, so there are many things he does with them.

Little things: The boys enjoy the sandbox with toys. They also have bikes, scooters, big-wheel trikes, and little mowers and ride-on cars etc. for the toddler. Sidewalk chalk and the Draw Write Now books have been a hit, as well as bubbles and the football toss game (the one with the bars to throw and loop the footballs around for points). We got a cheap tetherball and have a ton of balls, bats, etc. from garage sales. The garden is totally my dc's baby. I showed them how to plant, weed, and water it, and what grows grows, and what doesn't doesn't. (This took me 3 years to let go of, but I'm happier now and so are they. ). Jump-ropes and pogo sticks are something we just got to try - we'll see how that goes. I showed my dc jump-roping forward, backward, and even pulled off a double-jump (though I landed on my bottom ). We also bought orange cones for them to set up and ride their bikes and 3-wheelers around. They love to dress up in coon-skin hats, army attire, etc. and use foam swords and nerf guns to have "war". We bought water balloon launchers and gave that a try with the cousins this weekend. WOW - do those fly far - that may be saved for special occasions. They also do just about every outdoor project my dh does right along with him. They also fish, hunt, and ride 3-wheelers with my dh.

Big things: We have decided not to invest money in video games, etc. since my dh and I both enjoy the outdoors, we live in the country, and happen to have all sons. So, instead, we try to save up money and buy 1 big thing a year for the outdoors. For equipment, we did save up money and invest in a big wooden play system. It has been one of the best investments we've made. They play on it every day. We also bought our middle and older ds's each a small 3-wheeler, and a "gator" battery car for our other son. We bought an above ground pool from Walmart at the end of the summer last year (a great time to buy it). They swim almost every day in the summer in it. We still have the tiny plastic pool for the toddler. So far, these are the things we've spent more money on.

In Christ,
Julie

FlyLady talks about a 15-minute time for dancing in the mornings. I thought it wouldn't be much exercise so have ignored the suggestion while I'm learning my Baby Steps, but I decided to have a bit of dancing fun with my 2-year-old tonight, put on some B-52s and Yazoo (showing my era, eh?) and let me tell you, I was rather pooped after four songs.

So, when the Spirit of the Lord is within your heart, you can dance as David danced!

Kat.

Wow I have gotten lots of great ideas myself. All three of my kids love to hula hoop. We were never big video gamers but when my dd16 was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at nine we invested in a Playstation so she could use Dance Dance Revolution. That is great exercise. We also have an exercise DVD by Billy Blanks called Tae-Bo Kicks.

Jeri

Jeri - you reminded me of another thing we do for exercise! The kids do Tae-bo Kicks as well as a bunch of other exercise videos I've bought slowly over time. Collage Video has a bunch of exercise videos for people of all ages, and the kids really enjoy these in the winter months when we're more cooped up. I like that you can usually watch a clip of the videos on the collage video site. That helps me rule out some and choose others.

In Christ,
Julie

my3sons wrote:We also bought orange cones for them to set up and ride their bikes and 3-wheelers around.

In Christ,
Julie

Oh, this is a great idea!!!! Thanks for sharing Julie !

Terri