Siletz news /, August 01, 2014, Page 8, Image 8

Healthy฀Family฀Healthy฀Child฀Project฀
Nuu-la’ nuu-wa’sh-’vsh (Our hand we are giving)
By Angela Ramirez, Social Services
Advocate
I need a timeout!
Imagine that it has been a long day of
errands and appointments. You’ve finally
made it home with groceries and the kids.
It’s summertime – the kids are hot and
tired, you’re hot and tired … everyone is
just a little bit cranky.
You’re trying your best to fix a meal
and the kids are arguing over who gets to
sit closest to the fan. The squabble turns
into a wrestling match and then escalates
to one with pulled hair and a poke in the
eye for the other. You get between the two
kids before it turns into a live version of
mixed martial arts.
Now what? You send them to opposite
corners of the room for a timeout. You go
back to finishing dinner. Dinner is quiet
and the kids are picking at each other
during what you had hoped would be a
happy time to visit.
After dinner, the next quarrel begins
with who gets to pick a movie to watch
and the wrestling match is on again. You
give up and send them to their bedrooms.
You finally have some quiet time and
ponder the fact that this seems to be an
almost daily routine with little variation.
How can you make a change?
Maybe taking a timeout is the answer
– taking time outdoors, that is. Summer
will be over soon and the kids will be back
in school. Enjoy this time with them.
Do you have friends and neighbors
you would like to spend time with? Do
your kids have friends they haven’t been
able to see over the summer? Why not
make a date to all meet up for a night out
on either a weeknight or on the weekend?
Try starting with packing a picnic-
style dinner the kids will like – peanut
butter and jelly sandwiches, chips, granola
bars, fresh fruit and ice water. If you have
time, you can be more extravagant.
Pack up the food, the kids and
head outdoors. It can be to a local park,
the neighborhood playground or your
own backyard.
When is the last time you played
like a kid with your kids? Here is a list of
games and activities you might want to
try with them. Some of the games have a
little bit of crafting you can do with the
kids during a craft night in preparation for
your night out.
1.
No฀ shoes,฀ that’s฀ okay! Start the
night out of the house by finding a
nice grassy place. Have everyone
take off their socks and shoes. Place
them in a pile, the bigger the better.
Continue your night out shoeless,
enjoying the feeling of the grass on
your feet. At the end of the night,
make it a race to get your socks and
shoes back on to head for home.
2. Freeze Tag! This works best with
three or more players. You will need
a spray bottle and ice water. Instead
of tagging with a hand, tagging is
replaced with a cool squirt. When a
player is misted, they must freeze, but
can squirt others still in play. The last
player to remain unfrozen wins. This
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will cool everyone down and set the
mood for fun and laughter.
3. Rainbow Tag! With a handful of
painted Popsicle sticks and four or
more players you can play capture the
flag meets hide-‘n’-seek. Before your
night out, you will need to purchase
water-based face paint crayons in five
colors and paint individual Popsicle
sticks, one in each of the same five
colors as the face paint. Bring along
a pink or rainbow-colored shirt that
is one-size fits all as well as wet
wipes (baby wipes work great).
While the kids are eating their picnic
dinner, hide each Popsicle stick and
the matching color of face paint in
a different place around the area.
Next, choose someone to be Pinkie,
the player who sneaks around trying
to tag the other players and undo
their progress. Give Pinkie the pink
or rainbow-colored shirt to wear. To
play, send everyone but Pinkie out in
search of the sticks. Each time a player
finds one of the colored sticks, they
should discreetly – don’t give away
the location to the others! – paint a
stripe on their face then leave the stick
and paint in place. Bluffing is encour-
aged to keep the locations secret. The
catch: Pinkie will be lurking, trying
to tag the players. Every time they
do, Pinkie gets to wipe off one of the
player’s stripes. The first player to get
one stripe in each color wins.
4. Beach Towel Toss! Have four or
more players make several water bal-
loons before you head for your night
out. Store in a cooler or other sturdy
box for the trip to the park. Grab some
beach or large bath towels before
heading out. When you are ready to
play, divide players into teams of two
and provide each team with a large
towel. Holding their towel at the
corners and standing six feet apart,
each team must use the towel to toss
a balloon back and forth with another
team. After a successful toss, have
the teams move farther apart. Play
continues until the balloon breaks.
5. Kick it through the wicket! Kids
can practice their soccer skills with
this supersize version of croquet.
During your craft night prep, you
will need pliers, nine wire clothes
hangers, colored tape, scissors, card
stock and a permanent marker. Use
the pliers to untwist the hangers, then
bend each into a wicket (three-sided
square) big enough for the soccer or
kick balls to fit through. Cover the
wire with colored tape. Cut circles
from card stock, use a marker to
August 2014
number them 1 through 9, then tape
them to the wickets. Before you head
out the door for your night out, grab
the soccer balls or other kind of kick
balls; you will need one per player.
Another thing you can do while the
kids are eating their picnic dinner is
set up the wickets in the formation of
your choice, spacing them at least 6
feet apart. When explaining how to
play, tell the kids each player gets 1
kick per turn, trying to send their ball
through the wickets in order. When
they get it through a wicket or if they
hit another ball, they get a bonus
kick. The first player to get their ball
through all nine wickets wins.
6. Bubble Brigade! When you pack
your supplies for your night out, bring
along some bubbles. You will need
a bottle of bubbles for each player;
mostly you will just need the wand
for each player. If you are a bubble
enthusiast, you can buy wands that
make really big bubbles. Before play
begins, you will need a starting line, a
designated turnaround point and two
teams (with at least two players per
team). Each team lines up, shoulder-
to-shoulder. The first person on each
team blows a bubble and catches it
on their wand. They then pass it to
the next player, who passes it to the
next, and so on. If the bubble pops, the
person passing it must blow another
bubble and then pass it on. The first
team to get a bubble to the end of its
line wins.
7. Bossy฀Ball! On your craft night prep
using masking tape and a permanent
marker, ask the kids to write down
7-12 things they would do to pass a
ball. Some could be “Overhead and
backward,” “Underhand between
the legs,” “Sitting down,” “Stand-
ing on one leg,” “Eyes closed,” “In
mid-jump,” “While singing” and any
others you can think of. When you are
ready to play this game, it is played
like regular catch, but once the first
player grabs the ball, they must look
at the words under or closest to the
palm of their right hand. They have
to throw the ball as directed by these
words – and the second player has
to try to catch it in the same manner.
The second player then looks at the
words under his right hand and play
continues. To make the game more
challenging, see how many successful
catches you can make and then try to
beat the record.
8. Grab bag! For your night out, bring
along two paper lunch bags, pencils
for everyone and 3”x 3” squares of
paper. After your picnic dinner and
before the evening of play begins,
have all the players write down two
fun activities they want someone to
do. It can be things like “Hop to the
tree and back,” “Run to the slide, go
down and run back,” or “Do 25 jump-
ing jacks.” Have them write it down
twice on the 3”x 3” paper. Have them
put one copy of each activity into each
of the paper bags you brought along
so each bag has one of each activity.
When you are ready to play, you’ll
need a starting line, a designated
turnaround point and two teams
(with at least two players per team).
The first player on each team runs to
the turnaround point, returns to the
start point, pulls a slip from the bag,
performs the action and then returns
to tag the next player, who does the
same. The first team to finish all the
actions wins.
9. Color guard! This is a mash-up of
tag, basketball and color identifica-
tion; it requires some lightning-quick
moves. For the night out you will
need to bring those leftover plastic
Easter eggs or small hand-size balls
of different colors and a large tub
that can hold them all. When it is
time to play, dump out the plastic
eggs/balls – at least one per player –
slightly away from the gaming area.
Choose one person to be the color
guard. The guard stands next to the
tub with their eyes closed while the
other players each get an egg/ball
from the pile and move a few steps
away from the guard. The guard then
opens their eyes and shouts out a
color. Any player holding that color
egg/ball must now try to get the egg/
ball back into the tub without being
tagged by the guard. Players can
throw their eggs/balls, but any that
land outside the tub must be picked
up by the thrower. Anyone who gets
tagged or whose egg/ball is caught by
the guard is out of the game. The last
remaining player gets to be the color
guard in the next round.
10. Freckle฀Frenzy! Your craft night prep
will include using a three-hole punch
and construction paper in an array of
colors. Have the kids make as many
punches (freckles) with the construc-
tion paper and put in sandwich bags.
For easy setup for game play, separate
the punches into even numbers into
as many sandwich bags as people
you are expecting for your night out
of fun and laughter. You will need to
take some small bowls or paper cups
for this game to add water to. When it
is time to play, pair up players as one
freckle placer and one freckle wearer.
Right before the game, dump a handful
of freckles into small bowls filled with
water, one for each pair. The judge sets
a timer to 30 seconds, and at “go,” the
placer begins sticking freckles on their
partner. When time is up, the judge
counts to see which person is wearing
the most freckles; the most freckled
player’s team wins.
Hopefully this has given you ideas on
taking time out with your kids. Everyone
gets busy, feels overwhelmed and has
responsibilities. It is easy to lose touch
and grow distant from what is going on
with your kids. Remembering how to be
a kid, have fun and laugh will increase
the happiness for a healthy family and
healthy children!
For more game ideas, check out
spoonful.com or use the search term “fam-
ily fun outdoors.”