Raising Kids in a Digital Age : Going Old School with indoor play
There are a million ways to spend a day - especially in the beautiful summertime weather and glorious environment we have here in Colorado! With amazing trails, parks, rivers and, of course the mountains, we have an endless number of outdoor activities we can participate in all year round. Even though we do enjoy beautiful weather most days, we certainly have some interesting summer storms.
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before everyone had a computer in every room, a fancy schmancy phone or cool tablet.” |
On those stormy days, or even warmer days that you just wanna spend some time hanging out inside, we have some great indoor activities for you and the kids to do that don't involve sitting in front of a screen of any kind. In fact, we’ve decided to turn things back a few years to before everyone had a computer in every room, a fancy schmancy phone or cool tablet. These activities are probably considered pretty
old-school, but they’re still super fun for everyone.
Make Jam- Yep…we said make some jam! This is a fun activity and guess what…it’s got a super awesome bonus because not only do you get to have fun making it, you get to have even more fun EATING it! You can’t compare the utter yumminess of homemade jams and jellies to a store bought version. So, grab yourself some fresh fruit at your local farmer’s market, some sugar and some lemon juice and a few mason jars, then Google a quick recipe. Easy (and tasty) as can be!
Sew By Hand - You don’t need a super techy, complicated sewing machine! Get yourself some thread, soft fuzzy and snuggly fabric, some fluffy stuffing and a couple of needles. Draw out a simple pattern of what you’d like to make. One of the folks here at Spindaroos decided to make a stuffed avocado, and her 8 year old son made one, too! It takes several hours, but that just means you have lots of time to chat and catch up with one another. Or, break the project up so that you work on it every day for an hour each day until the project is done. And when you’re finished, you have a couple of soft pillowy stuffies to snuggle with! We hear they make great pillows for a Saturday morning book reading session!
Make a Board Game - There are so many creative ways to come up with the actual game. Sit down as a family and decide what type of game you want to create. Then, you can use part of an old cardboard box and make up the board itself, drawing and coloring in the spaces and details you want to include. Next, make your spinner or dice, depending on what you want to use for your game. Finally, write up the rules of the game on a piece of paper. Then, spend the afternoon playing and laughing at your creative awesomeness!
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boxes and paints, along with blankets and other stuff from around the house.” |
Write a Play and Put it On In the Living Room -
This can be an all-day-fun activity. You’ll need to sit down at the table,
write out what your play will be about, then write out the basic script. Give
everyone a role and lots of lines. Once your play has been written, create your
set with old cardboard boxes and paints, along with blankets and other stuff
from around the house. Next, rehearse your lines, then put on your play while
you’re recording it! Watch it back and
crack up! It’s really fun if you incorporate a dancing scene or particularly
‘dramatic’ scene where you really do some excellent over-acting and ham it up
good. If you do this one, we’d love to see it!
Play Music on Random Things Around the House -
You say you don’t own a musical instrument? No worries!! You can still create
some incredible music with stuff that’s laying around the house! Get some pots and pans and a couple of
markers and you’ve got yourself an awesome drum set.
WOOHOO! If you want to
take some time doing something really rockin’, make your own musical
instruments. Grab an old tissue box, some rubber bands and a few markers to
decorate with and make a sweet guitar. Do you have a few mason jars laying around
the house? Fill each one with a different amount of water then gently tap the
rim with a spoon to make a pretty sounding chime. Each jar should make a little different note
depending on the amount of water it’s holding.
How about some cool maracas! Go
retrieve that Easter basket and get a few plastic eggs together. Fill the eggs
with rice or beans (or both) and close the egg up. Next, tape the egg all
around so that it doesn’t leak - then start shaking! If everyone in the house
makes an instrument, you’ll have a sweet band!
These are activities you can do all year round - on the weekends or during school
breaks, or even at night if you find yourselves getting stuck in the ‘everybody
is sitting around looking at their phones’ mode. Family togetherness has been
precious throughout time. Now more than ever, we seem to spend a lot of time in
the same room detached from one another as we become more and more distracted
by technology. Let’s change all of that
and bring back some good, old-school
family fun!