Kids Learning Activities | Children Activities

W still manage to find activities for kids to keep active even inside the house. I thought that maybe some of you are also stuck inside due to the weather (even if it's just the rain), so I thought I'd share a few of the ways that we've been keeping our bodies in motion this past month, even when we are stuck inside.
My kids are 4.5 and 2, so these are great for those ages, but you could use these ideas with other ages, too. A note of precaution and common sense: you know your kids best, so of course keep in mind what kind of precautions you might need to take with them and decide for yourself how to keep the activities for kids.

Obstacle courses: These can vary in so many ways. Crawling under blankets draped across chairs, hopping over small boxes, riding a ride-on toy across the kitchen floor, zig-zag running through pillow "cones," kicking a soccer ball through a goal. Use your imagination to come up with different obstacles that would work in your living space (or a space you have access to).
Hopscotch: After watching a Curious George episode where George plays hopscotch, my oldest child wanted to play, too. We used masking tape and taped down a hopscotch course on our carpet and used small blocks as rocks for tossing.

Dance party: Crank up some tunes and have fun.
Work out center: My kids have lately started making their own small exercise centers. Activities for kids after the ones that they see their dad doing on the Bow flex. They use different toys and items from the pantry as weights. They are quite creative.
Mini-golf: Here's another one that was inspired. George and Betsy make their own mini-golf course on the rooftop of their apartment building. My oldest started setting up own golf courses at home. Anything that has a space for a golf ball to travel under becomes part of his courses. So this includes baby doll cradles and baby doll changing tables, play furniture, blocks stacked together with books across them, lids of plastic bins turned sideways next to the bin.
Hide-and-seek: An oldie but goodie Activities for kids, my kids don't seem to tire of it.
Picture treasure hunt: I drew a bunch of pictures of different places/things in our house (a lamp in the living room, the chair at the computer desk, the washing machine, the kids' play kitchen, the booster seat in the kitchen, the kids' bunk bed, the shoe shelf in the hall closet, etc - about 20 of them). Then, I hide them throughout the house. I hold on to the first clue to give to the kids as their starting point, then I hide the next clue at the location pictured on the first clue. The last clue card simply has a star on it. I suppose you could hide some sort of treasure or prize along with the final card, but my kids are perfectly happy just playing the game - playing is its own reward. My oldest will play this over and over, and I'm surprised at the work-out that I get while playing it! I try to mix up the clues so that we are going from one floor to the next on every clue. With a two-story house and a basement, this means a lot of trips up and down, especially if we play it five times in a row. If you don't think you can sketch the different locations, take pictures of them with your digital camera and print them out. Just make sure that when you are hiding the clues that each clue really leads to the next location!

Some traditional sports: We've got a basketball backboard in our kitchen and we play with a small rubber bouncy ball. We play nearly every day. We also toss the soft football around a lot and play soccer in the unfinished basement.
Running and jumping into a huge pile of pillows and blankets: Simple activities for kids, but this is seriously one of my kids' favorite things to do.
I hope that you are finding lots of Activities for kids to keep active indoors, too!