Spring break makes me so excited (i love to sleep in!)
but then i do this dread thing like how do i keep my kids entertained when the weather is iffy at best!
So i came up with some fun easy games that can be played indoor (or outdoor–weather permitting)
and all are made up of supplies you have around the house!!!!
jello dig
supplies:
You won’t eat the jello…cause the pennies are in it. So if you have some that expired than it would be perfect!
Make jello according to instructions and drop in some pennies.
you can use chopsticks or skewers. Let the kids try to dig them out.
after it was done (and since they were outside) they put their hands in and squished it around. they LOVED it.
******************
stand up
no supplies!
sit on the ground back to back….and link arms
try to stand!
(i also found a cute game where you stand back to back- arms linked on top of an open newspaper. the goal was to push the person off the newspaper–but my kids are too different in heights that it didn’t’ work for us!
********************
book  balance
supplies: books!
We had a race to see who could get from one side of the yard to the other.
(for my littler kids i told them if the book fell off they had to completely stop to fix them. as soon as their hands touched the book– their feet had to stop. But if you had bigger kids you could make them go back to the beginning!)
my eldest loved and it tried walking down the stairs and around the house without letting the book fall!
**********************
Pencil Poke
supplies:
this one will be played lots!
cover the mug with the kleenex and secure it with the rubber band. put the coin on top.
roll the dice and whatever number you get you have to poke the kleenex that many times.
the person who makes the coin fall on their turn loses! It actually takes quite awhile. I thought a few pokes and it would fall…but we went about 4 rounds each until it broke through!
********************
PENNY pitch
(okay. i watch cougar town so it’s also known as penny can!)
supplies are just a can (or cup or bowl) and pennies!
just a simple toss. I was going to give my kids some papers and have them draw a target on them and try to toss them onto the targets…but they thought the cans were fun.
*******************
bowling
this is greater than just setting up cups and knocking them over…cause then you have to go and set them back up.
supplies:
you need to cut the box and make it look like this:
so the box has a ramp. (i added some duck tape to keep the flaps in place
then you put the cups in the box and then stand back and roll the balls up into the box and try to get them into the cups!
(my son said it reminded him of Skeeball!!!!)
****************
balloon blow
supplies: balloon
this one is played at almost any party that has balloons! blow up the balloon and tie it off. Goal is to keep your balloon in the air the longest (little kids can use hands) but big kids have to only use their mouths and blow blow blow
you could totally use feathers too!
variation:
make some paper plate paddles and play balloon tennis
********************
house of cards
supplies:
i found these at the dollar store!
you go through the deck and cut notches on all sides…
then let you kids build a house of cards by connecting the notches…
and you can play boys against girls and if girls win they will buy a new tv…
one of my favorite episodes!
*********************
candy wrap
supplies:
bubble gum would be great for this too!
have kids place socks on their hands and try to unwrap candy.
(we found the socks to easy! next round will be with oven mitts for more of a challenge. If you have little little kids then socks would be PERFECT..)
*******************
Painter’s Tape!
Here’s the deal. give your kids a roll of painters tape
we have done  hop scotch and four square in the kitchen…
i’ve seen car paths.
your kids will go wild.
******************
Ball bounce
supplies:
We just had two bowls…and a bunch of balls…and my kids totally just went for it!
they figured out what balls worked best (the small bouncy balls)
they did it with one bounce and tried to get it in the bowl.
they tried to bounce and the other person had to catch it.
then they rolled it off the table and had to catch it!
***********
Paper plates–so many fun ideas!
*********************
dry erase nerf targets.
supplies: dry erase markers, nerf guns.
we do this often. draw a target on window and mirror and let the kids go at it. (so much better then shooting each other. it lasts about 3 minutes before someone is crying)
*****************
other super fun ideas:
we are currently eating spaghettios, corn and green beans so we can have enough cans to  try these tin can stilts!
anyone would love a balance board
there are so many paper airplane patterns out there…google it and give your kids a handful of scrap paper!
give your kids some paper towel rolls and let them make some fun mazes for marbles!
and grab some magnets and put them on the fridge
drawing with cars! we are doing this tomorrow!
Buy a giant pack of cups…and check out these fun games:
you can go here to see more kid funness
Follow Kimberly West (a girl and a glue gun)’s board kids craft crap on Pinterest.
and here
[catablog category=”kids craft” catablog-terms catablog template=”gallery”]
AND if you still have bored kids….go HERE for  minute to win it games!!! treasure trove!
capturing joy with kristen says
This gets me so excited for summer with my kids, pinning!
Deanna Metz says
We taped down a Hopscotch on the laminate floor in the hall. My son loved it and he hopped all the time through it as he headed to the living room. We learned several ways to play and then we even did some math. Even vs odd numbers. When you can’t go out and play in the fall and winter, this helps.