I remember my childhood summer as endless play in our street. We would play from morning to night. It is great to see the same games now being played by my daughter and her friends. Let your children play in your community and make sure that you give your kids some great summer memories. Here are some of our favorite activities to play this summer.
Let’s Play …
Marbles
Do you remember steelies and cat eyes from your childhood?
I remember when I was little we could play for hours. This game is not suitable for children under three years old, or a child who tends to put things in their mouth. My favorite marbles game was this.
Make a hole in the playing field. Make a line with a stick on the playing field. Each child throw a marble to get as close as possible to the hole. The closest person gets to go first at flicking the marbles into the hole using the tip of the middle finger or the side of the pointer finger. If the first person misses, the person who was second closest will then go. This will go on until all marbles are knocked in. The person to knock in the last marble in the hole wins the marbles.
Chalk on the sidewalks
Use the sidewalks as a canvas for art with children let them be creative. You never know what they will come up with. One of my daughter’s favorite things is to lie down and I will use chalk to outline the shape of her body.
Hopscotch
We all remember Hopscotch from when we where small, but did you know that it started as a training regiment for Roman foot soldiers that trained in full armor and field packs? They thought this would improve their footwork, and it probably did. Roman children started to imitate the soldiers and voila, a new game was invented.
Remember skipping outside for hours?
Children all over the world still seem to be fascinated with jumping rope. We were quite surprised to see our kid’s early fascination with this game.
We like this skipping game
“Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear” While jumping, kids chant the rhyme as they perform the actions at the same time: Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, turn around (Turn around.)
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, touch the ground (Touch the ground while skipping.) Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, climb the stairs (Pretend to walk up stairs while skipping.) Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, say your prayers (Join hands to say prayers while skipping.) Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, turn off the lights (Reach up to turn off a light while skipping.)
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, say good night. (Wave and say “good night” as you skip out of the rope.)
