Feet. I marvel at mine for all the things they can do. The load they carry. I'm conscious that not everyone has them, so they are worth appreciating. For Simple Play Wednesday, we've covered Towels, Flashlights, and Brown Bags. Let's think about what we can do with our feet.
Shoes on:
- Climbing trees is one option
- My sis started this one - run a natural obstacle course. Unbelievable how fun this can be for the kids. We were at a new-to-us park and the kids quickly tired of the simple playground. So my sis scoped out our surroundings and set the kids on a "mission." Run around those two trees over there, then weave through those 4 trees, run to the top of that grassy hill and roll down, crawl under those two picnic tables and race to the drain! We timed each of them. My nephew is the best with his motto of: "The winner is the one who has the most fun!!" After the kids ran it, they timed us adults. They had fun modifying the course for us - allowing a handicap of 5 jumping jacks before climbing OVER each of the two picnic tables (so we didn't have to crawl under). I can think of all sorts of variations on this idea and it works just about anywhere.
- Kick a ball
- Hopscotch, of course. What crazy, imaginative hopscotch can you create?
Shoes off:
- How about feeling different surfaces with your bare feet? What does the dirt feel like? The grass? Water? Gravel (ouch!)? Mud?
- Grasping - be a monkey and see what you can pick up with your toes. A pencil? A toy? A book? I still remember the home economics movie from junior high with the lady who peeled carrots with her feet!
- We've made fairy houses, but we thought it might be fun to make fairy shoes, or fairy footprints, for our bare feet by collecting sticks, leaves, and fallen flowers and shaping them like a foot.
- Measure your feet by nature. How many rocks long are they? How many leaves long?
Here's to bare feet and summer fun!
*Photo courtesy of our official photographers: Bosh Images and Mali Workman Photography.
