Hobbies And Interests
Obstacle Course
Build your own obstacle course, indoors and out, and watch your kids push themselves to meet the challenges it brings. In the yard, set up a variety of activities for kids to practice, from climbing over chairs and crawling under tables to going down a slide and using a jump rope. Inside let them hop over pillows and complete forward rolls on the carpet. Make it a race against friends or siblings or time them to race against themselves and beat their finish time each time they race. Add new levels of difficulty each time they beat the obstacle course to build on the fun.
Traditional Games
Play the games you used to love as a child to get your kids up and moving. Try "Red Rover" if you have a large enough group of children to make two lines, challenging them to run across the yard and break the line of the opposing team. For a smaller bunch, play "Freeze Tag," where anyone who is caught must freeze in her spot until a teammate tags her to unfreeze her position. Try "Mother May I;" line your kids up a short distance away from you and have them ask you if they can move forward in creative ways, such as hopping or leaping. Another popular favorite is "Red Light, Green Light;" for this game the parent acts as the traffic light and shouts "Green Light!" when it's time to run toward him and "Red Light!" when the children must stop. The child to reach the parent first is the winner.
Sporting Challenges
Let your children learn a sport; even preschoolers can begin to build basic athletic skills like kicking, throwing and running. Set up a small baseball or kickball field in your yard, using old T-shirts as bases. Play soccer with your kids, setting up goals between two trees. Teach your children to throw a football and have them practice moving farther and farther away from you to improve their catching skills. These types of activities build a foundation for your kids, teaching them athletic skills they can use in organized sports teams when they get older.
Fun and Fitness
Build basic fitness skills and turn it into a game at the same time. Set up stations in your backyard or inside your home and have the kids perform a different physical feat at each station. One station might involve jump ropes, another sit-ups, jumping jacks at another and push-ups at the next. Use a stopwatch and a whistle to time them for 30 seconds at each station and have them run around the room to see how many items they can perform at each station before time is up.