Last summer my husband bought some inflatable rafts.  I had no idea when he spent $20 on them, how much we would use them.  I thought they were overpriced and would spend too much time, deflated in our garage.

However, with the kids super bored yesterday, he took the kids to a pond behind our house.  Generally, we don’t even get near this pond.  It’s simply a drainage ditch for irrigation water.  But with the park area being literally deserted, we set out to put our rafts on the water.

  So, don’t be picky! Don’t think you have to spend the day at the lake for some good outdoor time.  See what opportunities are literally in your backyard!

I’ve been thinking about the importance of getting outside after seeing an article in the paper on Sunday.  And also, checking out the book from our library titled:   Last Child in the Woods, Saving our children from Nature Deficit Disorder, by Richard Louv.  Such a great book! He explores the psychological and social problems associated with children NOT being outside!

The newspaper article also pointed to a website where you can Sign the pledge with the National Wildlife association, and they will email you a "Summer Survival Guide" full of things to do outside.

From the Deseret News article:

Equally important is what the outdoors can do for the mind, she says. "We cite research that shows that the attention span is increased in kids who spend a lot of time outdoors." … Research that shows outdoor activities can help reduce stress, can encourage social behaviors. And let’s not forget that it’s fun.

Plus: 52 Great Outdoor Activities

This is the perfect weekend to get outside and celebrate Independence Day!  Happy 4th of July to all in The United States!!

EVENT #1 (Most Popular)

Newspaper boy- We set up a bowling pin (Yes, we own ONE bowling pin), a basket, and a tin container.  The kids would ride by on their bike, take a newspaper out of their bag, and try to hit the targets.

EVENT #2

Weaving- We set up cones for the kids to ride in and out of, weaving through the cones.

EVENT #3

Slow bike race- This one was hilarious.  It’s so hard to ride a bike AS SLOW AS POSSIBLE!  The last one to make it to the finish line was the winner.  It takes quite a lot of balance to ride SLOW!  I thought this one was hilarious to watch.

So, grab your kids, grab their bikes, set up a course, and spend some time outside this holiday weekend! 

A few nights ago for Pack meeting, my husband acquired about 20,  #10 cans from the cannery and had the boys make stilts.  Erica, in all her jealousy really wanted to recreate the activity at home.  Except we didn’t have any more #10 cans.  So creatively, she put together a plan. 

She began by announcing everyone needed to help her eat 2 cans of peaches so she could rinse out the cans and use them.  She had Wade punch holes in the side with one of those sharp can opener puncture thingy’s.  Then she threaded some nylon rope through.

What you could do next: Have a race!  (we couldn’t cause we only had one set).  My kids in just a matter of  a few days completely wear these down.  The entire can has collapsed and folded in on itself.  But they sure had fun while they lasted!

Later today, an opportunity provided by Crest. I’m interviewing Olympic speed skater, JR Celski.  My kids had a few questions about his healthy habits.  But I need more!  Any of you have questions I could ask him?

But yesterday, I had a reason to get moving.  We got a coupon for a free family day at our rec center pool (indoor pool that is). It expires soon, so we headed out.  The great thing about swimming  in a public pool during fall and winter, is you have the pool to yourself.  Even on Saturday afternoon.

I wish I could say I swam with them. That’s what a good mother would do.  But as soon as I get wet, I get so cold that I want to go home.  I like to blame that on my thyroid.  So instead, I brought my big, awful GRE study guide, and hung out on the side of the pool, book open, pretending to study, but really people watching.

Kids need to be active during school hours.  Studies show after recess or other structured active time, they perform better in class and there are less behavior problems.

• Our elementary school does not get enough PE time!  I believe they only have PE for three weeks, then 6 or 9 weeks they are “off”.

• Fewer than 7 out of 100 junior high schools provide any kind of physical activity.
• Kids 2 and older should get 30 minutes or more of activity each day.

In regular, unstructured play, kids tend to get all three elements of exercise!  If they aren’t getting enough play-time, are they getting these three components of exercise?

• Endurance:  Walking, running, tag, chasing each other, biking, team sports.
• Strength:  Crossing the monkey bars, throwing balls, handstand contest, wrestling, climbing.
• Flexibility: Bending over to tie shoes, reaching, cartwheels, doing the splits.

For home-schoolers that want to do something similar to the Gold Medal Mile, we tried it last summer at home, and my kids LOVED it.

Friday: Exercise

My daughter loves to cut paper into tiny pieces and use them for tickets or money.  But the other day she noticed a roll of 2000 REAL tickets at the store, in the office supplies, for $3.88!  She was super excited, she was about to burst.  With her own money, she bought a roll of tickets.

We went home, and she created signs for a carnival.  Everything at the carnival cost *2 tickets.  She had jump roping, hoola huping (hula hooping of course), resting, tire jumping, long  jumping, a masoosh! (that was massage), and a few others that I can’t recall right now.  When she wakes up I’ll ask what some of her other activities were. The crazy thing is, neighbor kids, and her brothers really do indulge her and participate in the carnival. 

Trust me when I say, she is going to get her $4.00 worth out of those tickets!

And Thanks for the interest in the tofu coupons. Liz and Janine are the winners!

I’ve struggled with the decision to post this idea, because there really isn’t anything active about it.  But finally, deciding to go forward with it, because its summer! And just merely getting outside is a healthy choice.  Vitamin D from the sun and exploring should be integrated into every day.

So, I went to my local thrift shop (Deseret Industries), and found a few fishing poles, and a few (actually there were hundreds) golf clubs. 

GOLFING:  My kids have been putting the golf balls around in our yard.  They have set up a little mini-golf course and keeping track of their scores and everything.

FISHING:  My husband and I are NOT fishermen.  But when we got these fishing poles (you can also find some cheapo ones at Target for around $15), we found that our kids LOVE to go fishing!  We live right by an irrigation ditch that have fish in it all the time.  They can spend hours over there.  Then they come home, dig through my dirt for worms, and go back again.  They actually have caught a few things, but I make them throw the fish back each time!

I love getting this stuff at the thrift store, because you never know what your kids will really be interested in.  What can you find at your thrift store that would encourage your kids to get outside?

• Free-get active idea: THE SPRINKLERS!!!  Although our sprinklers are on a schedule, my husband was testing out some of the sprinkler heads during the day.  My kids quickly got some swim suits on to take a few runs through.  What a work out!! At first its all about NOT getting hit by the water, then they are fully immersed.

• There was a pickup game of basketball on the 4th of July for the little guys.
• There was swimming.  Twice. At my sister in law’s and at the rec center.
• Trampoline jumping. Where necks were about to break.  My boys thought it would be fun to move one trampoline next to another at my sister-in law’s house. Then the would literally do a front flip from the higher one to the lower one! I had a heart attack EACH AND EVERY FLIP!!
• On Wednesday, we did a 4.4 mile (round trip) hike to Silver Lake Flats.  We forgot the camera!! Sorry.  The ONLY thing that kept flip-flopper going, was that Wade brought an inflatable tube with paddles in his back pack.  As soon as we got to the top, they jumped in the tube to paddle around the lake.  One great thing about having to hike up 2 miles to a lake, is it is never crowded.  The lake below had tons of people, the upper lake, only two other people were there.  They really enjoyed it, and the hike down was a breeze.

One last thought.  Remember Mousersize?? Those in my generation might!   Truth is, its not always easy to get out and do these fun activities.  We have a brutal winter here, and I don’t really enjoy being outside much.  But Kari, a coach from Beachbody sent me a few flyers about some videos for kids that look awesome!  One is Shaun T’s Fit club DVD, and the other is Get Real with Shaun T.  Both intended to make fitness Fun for kids.  The flyer says, overweight adolescents have a 70% chance of becoming overweight or obese adults.  Which is scary considering how many overweight adolescents there are in our country!

If you have any kids fitness questions for Kari, feel free to ask! She’s an expert, and she has answers!  If you want her personal email address, just send her a quick note to karimoore_pt (at) yahoo (dot) com.

Get involved in all the activities your city has to offer!  Every summer each city around Utah designates a week of honoring the city through activities and fun stuff.  Last week was Pleasant Grove Strawberry Days.  This week is Lehi’s Round-Up Days.

Originally I was going to write about how we signed up for the HALF mile race.  (Which was GREAT fun)!  Two of my kids ran it in less than 4 1/2 minutes.  The flip flopper came in 2nd in her age group, and cereal boy 4th.  It wasn’t competitive, just good wholesome community fun.

But now we are in the middle of Lehi’s round-up week.  Among the awesome activities planned, we are participating in the History Quest.  We are literally RUNNING all over Lehi looking for clues.  That kind of activity hardly feels like exercise, yet we are exhausted. 

So, find out what your community has planned, and sign-up to participate as a family.  (Tomorrow my sister, my dad and I are doing the 5K in Lehi).

Friday: Exercise Ideas

Can you think of any better exercise than farming?  Our poor kids don’t get the opportunity to take part in such rigorous hard work.  Sometimes I wish we lived on a farm, just to teach my kids some good life working skills.   

And then came the opportunity!   Just west of us, our church owns 3000 acres, where they grow wheat, corn, and hay (I think).  On Saturday morning (it was a little rainy), but we got our medical gloves (we don’t have gardening gloves, but we have lots of medical gloves) and our rain jackets and headed over there.

For two hours we piled sage brush for burning, and moved rocks.  There was kids from 1 years old, to probably 80 years old there helping.  Even a wheel chair bound guy came.  There was something for everyone to do.  And it was HARD WORK.  I can run 12 miles and feel great, but bending over and throwing sticks made me exhausted.  The kids did great though. They never complained once. In fact they had so much fun doing it, they weren’t even asking to go home.

What can we do in regular old suburbia to teach us the skills of rural life?  I suggest:

• Let your kids help with yard work, no matter how old they are.
• Clean up your parks nad neighborhoods!!
• help an elderly neighbor maintain their yard.
• Walk more often than drive places.
• Watch Little House on The Prarie  

When kids work hard, they feel good about themselves!

Don’t forget to enter the giveaway.