Summer is winding down and school is back in session, but we bet your kids aren’t slowing down at all! Our Pin of the Week will help fill the afternoons, evenings and weekends when you need to keep the kids active, occupied and having fun. From her blog No Time for Flash Cards, Allison McDonald shares some simple and fun activities to do with sidewalk chalk.
Allison’s ideas include games with letters, which also get your kids thinking and can be customized for age and ability. For example, Allison drew large letters on her driveway and had her daughter jump from letter to letter, either in alphabetic order or switching it up and making the letter sounds as she hopped around. For her older son, she said a word and had him jump on the letters to spell it.
If they are able, have the kids help draw the letters all over the driveway or sidewalk before you start playing. Use different colors and your child can jump on all of the letters in one color as another game. You could even have them bounce a ball from a designated spot to see what letters they can hit with the ball to spell words. The little ones can work on learning to spell their name with some help.
Other sidewalk chalk ideas floating around Pinterest often are racecar tracks for toy cars, Frisbee tic-tac-toe, bulls-eyes and targets for water balloons, balls or long-jumping, colored circles to hop, jump or skip across the driveway only touching one color, and even good old fashioned hop scotch.
We like Allison’s idea because it’s a great reminder that keeping the kids engaged and active doesn’t take much more than a little creativity –and in this case, sidewalk chalk.
Make sure you check out our Pinterest page to find fun ideas for kids, tips for parents, healthy recipes, and more, and visit Cincinnati Children’s on the web.
