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Sheila, There are many cache's to find in and near Indy. At one time there were at least four in
Fort Ben alone. My children like this activity and don't even seem to notice that exercise is involved. walking is my main exercise. They got tired of walking with me two years ago. Then we got a gps and started geocaching. When I hike Ft. Ben they want to take bikes or stay home. But they beg to go geocaching,and don't mind jogging part of the way to the destination. Many skills can be learned and everyone usually has lots of fun. Some of the other activities my children like are swimming,tennis, four square, informal volleyball, backyard basketball, and watter fights. Barb
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| My son and I jump on the trampoline in the backyard everyday. He makes me do it so I'm guaranteed at least a cardio workout. Even after a hard day at work, I at least go for at least 15 minutes. That is our "alone time" together everyday.
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| I bet redecorating does burn some calories!! We are in the process of moving and after packing a couple of boxes I am breaking a sweat! I try to get the kids moving to by letting them bring the boxes to me and putting some of the lighter items in the boxes. kids love to feel useful (well at least my toddlers do, not sure about the teenagers we aren't quite there yet, lol).
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| Try redecoration or just rearanging the furniture. I have been doing it all day and I am wiped out. The kids are having fun picking out how they want thier rooms to look. You know the Kool teen - get rid of all the 'baby stuff or the jungle -- get rid of the hi tech stuff (or at less hide it) add animal hammik or posters or in to orbit -- glow in the dark star on ceiling. It also helps to weed out the junk out of the room, whether it's the kids bed room or our family room. I am finding with my son I can't just say clean your room he needs a picture in his head --- so take a picture of the room as soon as it's finished to remind everyone how it's suppose to look.
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Hi Clabbergirl
I'm talking about the motorized wheels that would pull the mower around while I race behind it. I leave the gear selector in neutral and push the mower manually. I'm not quite motivated enough to try an actual push mower with no engine (lol).
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| I enjoy dancing with my three children, I end up holding one while we dance to cds, tv you name it we dance to it
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CLABBERGIRL
6/14/06 8:47 A
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Sorry if this is a dumb question, but how do you shut off the 'power function' of a lawnmower? Are you talking about the engine? Or is there some kind of special boost on certain mowers?
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| There are some awesome ideas here!!! I love the idea of cutting of the auto function on the lawnmower! The others are great too! We were inside all day because of rain yesterday so I did my best to keep the 3 of us active. We danced to Barney, Sesame Street, I had them have a race to see who could slide down there little slide the fastest, and we played a light game of tag in the living room. Keep the ideas coming, I for one enjoy reading them.
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WYRDSISTER
6/13/06 7:55 P
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Dawn what a good idea. Its doing things like shutting off the mowers auto function that make the difference - far from lame - a great idea.Lyn
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I think the whole work without realizing it is what I'm after ~lol
Yesterday I shut off the power function on my lawnmower and pushed that thing the whole time. I know, probably sounds pretty lame, but I got a workout!
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 Love It KEEP IT UP!!!! Let's get our children moving.
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CLABBERGIRL
6/12/06 9:43 A
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Monstermommy has a great point with the letterboxing. I don't do that, but do geocaching, which is a similar activity. My kids really enjoy it, although as the heat goes up we haven't done it lately. It's like 'hiking with a purpose'. There's a group here on sparkpeople too.
I find hiking to be a great activity with the family because you get a great workout, aerobic and anerobic, without noticing it as much as you would if stuck on a treadmill. Being outdoors takes away that 'this is no fun/chore' feeling.
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We really have to teach our kids to move around. I really missed that on my parents.
I try always to get my son around, biking, walking, even running or bringing him to the gym´s childcare.
He is 2 years old, but as he sees me jogging at the beach, he begs me to jog together and we always do it for the last 1/2 mile. He loves it. It brings him a lot of energy !!!
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 Wow so many great ideals here.
1-It's great to teach your little ones now about running, playing, dancing, roller skating, any active thing. I am a school bus driver and I see too many kids and their parents try to keep thier kids and themselves from doing any exercise even walking down to the end of the street (even very short streets) Let them see you exercising, and let them participate.
2-Even though you find an activity that you can do with your kids don't forget to do some at your speed. I had a stroller/bike cart, a two in one things. Either you could push the handle and walk or run, since it was set up with large wheels to go fast enough to be attached to a bike. Then of course it can be attached to the bike. My kids love the ride and even after they got too big begged to 'ride'.
3-Try your local YMCA. Our has a family pass which includes (no extra charge) a nursery and kid's GYM so the parents can do exercise classes, swimming, or weight room. This is great because the kids aren't just sitting and waiting but buzy doing 'their' thing and soon begging to go.
4-Now even these dreaded "Play Stations" are adding moving games like Dance Revolution, Vitural Trainer, and others that actually keep track of what you are doing and tell you how many minutes and number of calories burned. A good way to teach the kids sharing and taking turns. (Buy used at yard sale or on internet)
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| I have a 2 year old son. Today we went biking. We live in Brazil and since we are during the world cup (soccer cup - I don´t know if you know it), we have brazilian flags hang in all places. We went counting as many flags as we could find. This way we spent more than one hour biking and did not see the time go by. It was a lot of fun !!!!
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My kids are 14, 11 and 7 and for 9 years we've been disc (frisbee) golfing. It is such an easy activiny for all ages, and very reasonable cost-wise. Also for the cub scout leaders out there, the ultimate frisbee belt loop can be earned by playing disc golf. Most courses are also tame enough to push a stroller through, which is what we did with our youngest. PDGA.com has a link to a state by state listing of where courses are near you.
The geo-catching and letterboxing both sound like something my family would be interested in. I'll have to check the links
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DAWNAPRIL
6/11/06 11:53 A
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| Thanks so much for the response. Letterboxing sounds like so much fun...Now I'm off to check out the link you sent to see if there's any letterboxing near here...
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MONSTERMOMMY
6/11/06 10:03 A
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DAWNAPRIL:
Letterboxing is better explained here: http://www.letterboxing.org/
But this is from the site as a quick explanation:
What is Letterboxing?
Letterboxing is an intriguing mix of treasure hunting, art, navigation, and exploring interesting, scenic, and sometimes remote places. It takes the ancient custom of placing a rock on a cairn upon reaching the summit of a mountain to an artform. It started when a gentleman simply left his calling card in a bottle by a remote pool on the moors of Dartmoor, in England.
Here's the basic idea: Someone hides a waterproof box somewhere (in a beautiful, interesting, or remote location) containing at least a logbook and a carved rubber stamp, and perhaps other goodies. The hider then usually writes directions to the box (called "clues" or "the map"), which can be straightforward, cryptic, or any degree in between. Often the clues involve map coordinates or compass bearings from landmarks, but they don't have to. Selecting a location and writing the clues is one aspect of the art.
Once the clues are written, hunters in possession of the clues attempt to find the box. In addition to the clue and any maps or tools needed to solve it, the hunter should carry at least a pencil, his personal rubber stamp, an inkpad, and his personal logbook. When the hunter successfully deciphers the clue and finds the box, he stamps the logbook in the box with his personal stamp, and stamps his personal logbook with the box's stamp. The box's logbook keeps a record of all its visitors, and the hunters keep a record of all the boxes they have found, in their personal logbooks.
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| MonsterMommy - What is letterboxing?
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As the mother of 5 children, I LOVE this topic!
I just bought a badmitten set yesterday and we had a great time using it. We're TERRIBLE, so that means we get more of an AB workout picking up the shuttlecock so much!!
Our whole family also enjoys working in the garden together.
Tina B
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ROSERIGHTER
6/11/06 8:53 A
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| Cool, i am a scout leader as well:) It is a fun activity for the boys and you could definitely use it to count toawrds one of your hiking experiences!
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IRONANGEL
6/11/06 12:39 A
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| My 3 boys are in Boy Scouts and that Geocaching sounds like fun. I will suggest it at one of our meetings. Since they have to hike as requirements.
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I have a 3 year old and a 2 year old. We live in South Carolina so it's really hot right now and we when we can't make it to the park for a half hour or so I bring in their plastic slide and put it in the family room and let them go to town. Sometimes we will dance to their favorite CD or dance along to the Wiggles or Barney.
Just thought I'd add my 2 cents worth. :)
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MONSTERMOMMY
6/10/06 6:19 P
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| Is geocaching like letterboxing?
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JENNCHEESE
6/10/06 4:30 P
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| I take my baby to the gym with me, and we go walking almost everyday. I am looking for a good jogger so that we can start running.
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Hi!
I just thought I'd add my 2 cents. lol
My little ones are 6 and 3 1/2 and I go bike riding with them. They'll ride all day until I tell them to stop! lol
We also play wiffle ball, girls vs. boys! My daughter (6) can hit great and throw good too.
We just bought them a T-Ball set and gloves.
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BROUNSUGR73
6/10/06 12:31 P
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| This is a great idea! There are so many parks near our house that we could find a different destination each time for a while!
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ROSERIGHTER
6/10/06 10:34 A
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Geocaching is hiking with a purpose. You track coordinates from geocah.com and use a GPS device to find a treasure. You take something, you leave something and you write soemthing in the journal and then replace the container. It makes walking fun for the kids (and us!)
We have done shorter distance ones that take maybe 15 mins and longer ones that have taken up to 2 hours.
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| Hi there, whatis geocach? I've never heard of it.
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DAWNAPRIL
6/10/06 10:14 A
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| It's funny you should mention geocaching - I just heard about that and thought it sounded like SO much fun! How old are your kids?
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ROSERIGHTER
6/10/06 10:00 A
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| We like to geocach with the kids. also, just chasing them around at the park is great exercise for all of us, and a lot of fun.
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| My kids like to walk with me and my husband at night. I am hoping that my husband and older boys start weightlifting they have talked about it but actually doing it is a whole other story, we all need to get and stay motivated.
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KATE_THAETE
6/9/06 6:48 P
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| my hubby & i play frisbee golf, which would be a great activity for kids... essentially, it's frisbee - meets golf... check your local parks department for courses in your area, we have several. basically, you play golf, but the "holes" are these special metal racks that you aim your frisbee at. lots of fun... we tend to spend more time chasing after missing frisbees than anything.
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XOXO_UN1_OXOX
6/9/06 1:25 P
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