These attention-grabbing fun, functional and feasible games will help pilot the high-flying octane baby burners as they zoom around the backyard landing deck. Keep reading and prepare for throttle up to hyper drive. Welcome aboard Cadets. This is TOP TOTS AND TODDLERS Training Academy.
From Sprawl to Crawl.
Time flies, doesn’t it? What was once your gently cooing finger grabbing angelic cherub suddenly woke up insisting on demonstrating a supreme sense of independence through ribald rifts of inattentive boredom with what was their favorite toy just 24 hours prior. I rarely, if ever, use the term “terrible two’s” as I find that phrase to be negative. Children, from 1 to 4 or 5 are at their “spongiest” and require bright, bold, and focus setting games and interactive play times to keep all their facets on a smooth flight path. The less turbulence the better. The following lawn games will hopefully inspire you to jump in with both feet and grow with your toddler. Never to old to learn, right? Might as well enjoy the inflight film before the tandem leap out the doors to free falling freedom.
WINGS and SWINGS: The Free Flyer Miles
How can I incorporate my child’s slide and swing set into other lawn games?
- Depending on structure size and style, an onsite swing set can easily be transformed into play tent for your little Prince or Princess with a colorful sheet as a wall drape and roof with pool noodle flag poles.
- Color a bucket full of ping pong balls and have a go at “color and count down the slide.” Have your toddler find the correct amount of colored and numbered balls to drop down the slide as quickly as possible. Great for eye hand coordination, counting and balance/speed.
- By nestling a storage container, small clean trash can or even a paper grocery bag into the swing seat and giving it a push or two, your child can now have a moving target practice toss. Try providing tossing objects of different sizes and weights; ping pong balls, bean bags, nerf balls or even a few sets of outgrown rolled up socks.
- Break the gravity and imagine the swing set as a Moon Base. Have your “astrotots” walk as slowly as possible in and around the Space Station; where the swing now barely moves (due to parental muscle power of course) and the slide is no longer a warp speed tunnel through time. Encourage them to slink down the ramp as slowly as possible.
MINI ME’S: Co-Pilot Play
Why do kids love their own “grown up” versions of stuff?
Simple. Anything that CAN be a toy, will be. Your kids will mimic you because you set the example. If you sing a silly song or do a funny dance when outside mowing the yard or weeding the garden, toddlers want to have just as much fun. That’s why toys like:
- Bubble lawn mowers
- Molded plastic rakes
- Working kid sized water sprinklers
- BBQ’s/Kitchen sets
- Hand tools
are still some of the number one lawn games groupings ever. Let your kid get down and muddy in the kitchen with a mud-pie bake off challenge, ( get funky and provide a plastic bucket of chocolate pudding and cookie crumble gummy worm mud for this one ) or enjoy using a sand box as a garden plot. When it’s time to take a break from all the “hard” lawn and yard work, enjoy some cool down time under the sprinkler and rehydrate with a snack from the bbq kitchen. Don’t forget to wash the dishes! A few bottles of blowing bubbles and clean up is done in no time flat.
INTERNATIONAL DELIGHT: Catching A Connecting Flight
Do I have to spend a fortune to provide entertaining lawn games for my kids?
Absolutely. NOT!!!!!! As time progresses, you might want to consider upgrading a swing and slide or a power trampoline if you have smaller ones now ( or have neither ), but for the first few formative years, enjoy the simple, bold, bright and interactive growth times. Bonding and trust are gained and will set your wee ones on a solid foundation as they discover independence through play.
Let’s settle in for a quick itinerary of world-wide proportion beginning with a Safari Sojourn.
- Hide stuffed animals all over the back yard and with a set of toy binoculars (empty paper towel rolls in a pinch) and a “canteen” of jungle juice, try to find all of the Serengeti dwellers in this version of a hide and seek scavenger hunt.
Next stop is Rio Carnival.
- Toss on a few strings of beads for fashion flair and hula hoop hopscotch the way to the Carnival where weighted and painted potato chip cannister bowling and frisbee stepping-stone follow the leader set the stage.
OI! Welcome to the Down Under Obstacle Crawl, Mate.
- Pool noodle step overs line the racetrack.
- A toss away plastic tablecloth marked out with paint tape squares in a random pattern offers a warmup to the hula hoop hop.
- The same tablecloth can be flipped into a bean bag target toss.
- Slithering Snake Slinky provides wriggles and giggles of delight with a few collapsible mesh laundry hampers with the bottoms cut out and all secured with a good wrap of sturdy tape.
- Finally, a down time at the Sandbox Beach where participants can invoke an inner mini Michelangelo and create a statue of epic imaginative proportion.
Well, we made it through Basic Training. I hope you had as much fun as I did. The key takeaway souvenirs should always be as vast as your child’s imagination; that and with a nurturing presence, there is no telling how far a simple lawn game will grow. Until next time….Flight Command, request permission to land.