On Raising a Boy and Relay Races

I am learning that raising a boy is a lot different than a girl!  Because Colton usually follows Summer's lead on activity choice when they play together, they do a lot of playing pretend, reading books, and doing crafts.  However, after a few hours of this sort of "still play", Colton starts to throw things, tackle his sister, etc!  He needs to get his wiggles out!  I'm trying to be intentional about making sure we do at least one physical activity each day - whether walking to the park, playing at the community center, swimming, or just playing outside.  Well, this morning was one of those mornings where we needed to run (or else have discipline issues!).  Here are a few running games (seriously for the sole purpose of running Colton ;) ) that worked great for us in case you ever find yourself in the same predicament.  It turned out to be a lot of fun and did the trick ;).


We started with a relay of sorts...We lined up toys/balls in 2 lines (one for S and one for C) and talked about what we would do with each...like kick this ball to the end of the yard, then run back and push this stroller to the end of the yard, etc.  They had to complete the set of 5-7 tasks as quickly as possible.

Here is a video clip...



We played 2 rounds (running the width of the yard back and forth maybe 12 times?) and then they each set up a relay for me to run ;).

For the second game, we took a bucket of water on one side and a large cup on the other.  I gave Colton a 1 cup measuring cup and Summer a 1/2 cup measuring cup and they had to run back and forth to fill the cup with water.  They loved it, and continued playing with these items long after the game was done while I fed Larkyn.

Here is a video:

 

Result?  Energy channeled into an hour of fun...no discipline needed :).