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View Full Version : Ideas for activities that use up extra energy?



Karenn
05-19-2004, 11:53 AM
Lest I become bored, Colin is re-arranging his sleep schedule again! Currently, he won't nap unless he's had an especially active morning. I'd be fine with no naps except for the fact that he's an absolute mess by around 5 without that nap.

So, I'm trying to make sure we do at least some sort of extra stimulating activity each morning. Currently, we're touring all of the different neighborhood parks. Any other ideas on energy draining activities? Swimming lessons don't do it for him- I think because I hold him the whole time. He really seems to need some sort of physical activity. I'm thinking of enrolling him in a gym class at the Y, but I hate the idea of filling up so many of our weekdays with "scheduled" events.

I'd welcome any suggestions. We're running out of "safe" parks to visit, and I'm getting bored with the same ones!

AngelaS
05-19-2004, 12:36 PM
We tend to stay home a lot so we do lots of things to burn energy here. We make big piles of pillows to jump into, I let them jump off the step stool into the pillows, we play ball in the hall (mommy at one end, kids at the other), we play chase (our house is a circle), we put masking tape on the floor and practice walking the line, hopping the line, hopping over the line, hopping on one foot and so on.

Our city also has an indoor play pals where they fill the city gym up with Little Tikes toys and for $.50 your child can go play all morning while you chat with your girlfriends. :D

egoldber
05-19-2004, 01:46 PM
Parks are good, but if your summers are especially hot or humid though (ours are), I find the parks unbearable in July and August. We join a local neighborhood pool that has a fantastic baby pool. It is very large and only about a foot deep, so she can run around and splash in it. There's nothing like the post-pool nap. :) If you don't want to join a pool, maybe a local Y or community rec center has a pool with a nice baby area that you can use on a fee per use basis?

We also just play a lot outside in the driveway. Sidewalk chalk, bubbles, kicking balls, etc. Taking walks in the neighborhood are great too. Have him pull a wagon of stuff and he'll tucker himself out.

HTH,

atlbaby
05-19-2004, 03:52 PM
Last summer, I often took Arielle to a local indoor playground (Party & Play, not sure if they are national) if it was too hot for an outdoor playground. I also took her to a Mommy&Me "camp" for 1.5 hours twice a week which had little wading pools set up so she could "swim". Being pregnant with a toddler in the summer isn't fun, so I relied on those afternoon naps and wanted to do everything to lenghten them! :)

-Rachel
Mom to Arielle, 10/30/01
and Daliya, 10/27/03

christic
05-19-2004, 04:53 PM
We also do the walk around the neighborhood thing. I was getting very frustrated at first though because Alice never wanted to turn around and go back, so I'd get stuck a decent distance from home and have to carry her back. So I started taking an empty umbrella stroller as well as her toy stroller for her to push. Now we walk and walk until she's tuckered out, and I don't have to worry about how far from home we end up. Eventually she goes into the big stroller, I fold up her stroller, and we walk back home. This seems so obvious now, but I remembered being pretty pleased with myself when I thought it up ;).

Chris

hjdong
05-19-2004, 05:11 PM
Jamie and I found a local, cheap, really small children's museum. It's great because a year's pass for me is $25, he's free, and it's usually empty, which means he can just run around and I don't have to worry about "the big kids." It has a toddler room, but mostly he likes to run through the place. And there's the free a/c.

Hallie_D
05-19-2004, 06:38 PM
I second the idea of a museum pass. We recently joined the science museum which luckily is very close to where we live. There are big open areas where we can let him run and a great place for little kids to play. Perfect when it is too hot, too cold, or too wet to play outside.

Jeanmick
05-19-2004, 11:34 PM
AngelaS' house sounds a lot like our house! We use tons of pillows to make pyramids and mountains to climb in our living room. Fortunately, our living room-dining room area has a lot of open space, so that helps. There is one thing my DD is a fan of at the moment. It's the Musini. My parents bought it for her about a year ago and she initially didn't show any interest, but now she enjoys it. She LOVES to jump up and down and make music with it. Unfortunately, the company that invented this toy is out of business now.

I've currently got my DD and my DS enrolled in a gym class at our local Y. The classes are held at our local rec center's gymnasium in the AM. My DS LOVES to run from one end of the gym to the other, as well as climb all of the slides and soft equipment they have. I know what you mean about scheduled events, but I bet your DS would enjoy it tremendously. My DS usually ends up having a lengthy, peaceful nap in the PM on the days after he's taken class! Now, if only my DD would go down too... :)

Karenn
05-20-2004, 11:58 AM
Thanks for all the ideas- I'm sure we'll end up trying every one of them before the summer is over! I just wish we had some sort of indoor playground here (besides the mall!) All of my friends in other cities talk about indoor playgrounds all the time, and I have yet to discover one around here. A big room full of Little Tikes toys could keep him busy for hours!

He actually slept much better yesterday after playing outside in our yard both morning and afternoon. (One of the local pediatricians here says there's research that kids who spend at least 20 minutes outside each day sleep better- that's starting to seem true!)

August Mom
05-20-2004, 06:10 PM
Do you have any community centers near you run by parks/recreation departments? We have several here that have indoor play equipment (balls, some LT/Step 2 toys and lots of padded area to run, jump, climb and slide). If you are a member of that community, it's a cheaper price, but you can still go if you live outside the community. It's $3 here.

RhondaSue
06-03-2004, 10:33 PM
I just wanted to tell you that your idea is BRILLIANT. I have a pass to the local zoo, which we go to fairly often, like 3 times a week. It has been so hard to get my dd to walk and not request the stroller (hello, the whole reason we're going is so she will get tired). And when she did walk, I would have the stroller to manage, plus chasing her around.

When I read your idea, I couldn't wait to try it out. Bingo!! She loves pushing her stroller around with a baby in it and it slows her down enough that we walk side by side. AND, I get my desperately needed 2 hours afterwards for me.

Thank you, that's why I love this site. Moms are so smart!!

Momof3Labs
06-08-2004, 10:28 PM
Sometimes my mom takes Colin into Chuck E. Cheese before the lunch rush, and he can play in the toddler area for a while. It is free!!