I love reading/writing about ways to get active so when I received an email from Lara over at NKPR inviting me to an obstacle course event for kids, I was gungho to go! Unfortunately, it coincided with something else with my calendar but I persuaded her to send over fun ways you can get your kids moving courtesy of Active For Life!
Golf is not just a sport to be enjoyed by adults, this version is a great way to entertain children for hours as well as develop important skills like eye hand coordination and fine motor skills. This fun version of golf can be played both indoors and out!
Skill: Throw
Suggested age: 4-10 years old
Requirements: Beanbags, soft foam balls or balls of socks, buckets, laundry baskets or large cardboard boxes, pieces of cardboard, or paper to mark “golf tees”
Instructions: Create a series of “golf holes” by placing the buckets, baskets or boxes around your living room, hallways and other available spaces. Place scraps of cardboard or paper on the floor to mark “golf tees” where you throw from. With your child, take turns standing on each golf tee and tossing a beanbag or ball underhand into the bucket, basket or box. Continue tossing at each hole until each of you sinks one shot. Go around the circuit of “golf holes” and keep track of how many tosses each of you requires to sink a shot at each hole. If your child has too much difficulty sinking shots, consider having different tees with different distances for parent and child.
Variations: As your child masters the game using short distance tosses, challenge them by increasing the distances. After your child masters the underhand throw, play again using overhand throws.
Benefits: This activity develops coordination of arms and torso, fine motor control, and the ability to “read” distances. These skills transfer to sports and activities that involve throwing an object accurately over a perceived distance (e.g., balls, frisbees, ribbons, sticks, batons).
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