Pre-K Energy Busters

During this (cold, rainy, dark) time of year, I find that my kids get a little... koo-koo, if you know what I'm saying! I have really been testing my creativity to find activities to keep the little ones busy. Here are some ideas if you are looking for energy busters:

• Buy an inexpensive kids' rake, and go outside and rake leaves
• Buy a small broom (my kids love the push brooms) and sweep the leaves from the sidewalk
• Jump in the leaves
• Build pillow mountain: gather cushions, pillows, blankets from all over the house. Let the kids make a "mountain" in the middle of a clear space, and try to climb over it, crawl around with in it, etc. You'll be suprised at how many "games" they come up with here. A little tip: let the kids drag the pillows into the room- that uses quite a bit of energy by itself, and it gives them a sense of accomplishment.
• When it snows, take an empty kid's soap/shampoo bottle and fill it with water and food coloring. Let them "paint" the snow with their squirt bottles.
• Bring a few large bowls of snow into the empty bathtub, and let the kids sit outside of the tub and make mini snowmen.
• Decorate the house for the holidays. Cut strips of green and red (or whatever colors match your decorating scheme) paper and help the children assemble them into long chains to hang up around the house or on the tree. Use stamp pads and thumbprints/hand and or foot prints to make a variey of art. (handprint santa's beard, reindeer antlers, thumbprint falling snow, with antlers drawn on for tiny reindeer faces, etc.)
• Bake some Pillsbury sugar cookies during nap and let them decorated them with frosting, frosting tubes, sprinkles, colored sugar, etc.
• Stretch a blanket across 2 pieces of furniture and build a "bridge"
• make a blankie "tent"
• My boys love making a "truck" by stretching a blankie taut between our play pen and upholstered chair. The blankie is the hood of the truck; they use cushions on either side of the blankie as the truck doors. They use a set of baby keys to start the truck, and a ring from a ring stacker as a steering wheel.
• Play cooking. We have a pretend refrigerator/stove and lots of toy pots, pans, appliances. They have more than paid for themselves in use!! If you do not have the toy parts, you can still play this with your children (remember, they have great imaginations!). Use a low table, ottoman, piece of furniture as the countertop, get out some plastic spoons, cups, bowls, various "safe" kitchen items, and play cook with them.
• If they like to swim, and you are able to drop everything and sit and supervise them, play "swimming party". Get on swimsuits, fill up the bathtub, get out the bubbles (if they like them, and are not bothered by them) and treat it like the kiddie pool.
• Fashion a house out of large sofa cushions and a blankie.
• Create a scavenger hunt. You and the kids think of items around the house that fit a theme (pirates, dancers, motor vehicles). Then make a list and "search" all around the house (upstairs, downstairs, wherever the children are allowed to roam freely safely) and mark items off of the list when found. When gathered, act out a schenario based on the gathered objects. My boys love gathering construction items (cars, trucks, wrecking ball, crane, books about construction) and pretending to build a playground.
• Switch toys around... Bring some toys from the bedrooms into the living room, gameroom, where ever. With my kids, just seeing the toys out in a new space seems to bring new interest in the toys!
• Make music with good old fashioned spoons, bowls and pots and pans. Make drums with hands and feet on the floor, furniture, walls or cushions. Find lyrics to silly or seasonal songs on line, or make some songs up about your family members. My kids love when we sing "Where is Thumbkin" using family members.
• Color on old boxes, paper, anything out of the ordinary.
• Save old plastic bottles (we saved our Isomil Advance plastic containers, cleaned and dryed thouroughly) for bowling pins. Almost any ball will work for this.
• Use any mid sized box or bin as a "basket" and play "basketball" with a small soft ball.
• Clean up small bikes and bring them inside for the winter. Kids love zipping around the house on them.
• Put on some music or a music DVD (we all love Dan Zanes) and have a "dance party"
• Have a "parade" around the house or yard. We march around singing "Frosty the Snowman" for our parades, just like in the movie...

Well, these should keep you all busy for about 3 days:) Remember, children have great imaginations. Just supply the ideas, start out each activity, and sit back and smile at the things that they manage to come up with!