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Guest Post: Get Active!


Each week we will bring you a new Guest Blog Post with ideas and games to get the kids up and moving as a part of our Get Active series! Today’s Get Active Post is brought to you by Jessica Black, Director at MyGym Virginia Beach-Hilltop.

Puzzle Game

This week’s get active challenge is the puzzle game! With the winter months ahead of us, pretty soon it will be too cold outside to go to the park and burn off that extra energy. This game is fun for children of all ages and not only keeps them physically active, but encourages them to put those thinking caps on!

Supplies: Depending on the age of your children, you will need 5-10 puzzles (less puzzles for younger children, more for older kids), and wooden puzzles work best.

Directions:

  • Have your child hide (maybe in the playroom, or even in a blanket fort), and count to 10 (or 20 if your child can count that high!)
  • While your child is hiding, take all the pieces from the puzzles you are going to use for the game and mix them all up.
  • Then take the empty puzzle boards and spread them out on the floor in a circle shape with all of the mixed up puzzle pieces in the middle of the circle.
  • When your child is finished counting, explain to them that while they were hiding you made a big puzzle mess and you need their help cleaning it up! Encourage them to move quickly and cheer them on as they run around trying to put the puzzle pieces back where they go!

This game is one of my favorites because it encourages independence and problem solving, but also gets them moving!

To make it more challenging, spread the puzzles out farther away from each other so they have further to run to put the pieces where they belong!

You can also make it challenging by encouraging them to only take ONE piece at a time and you can set a timer to see how fast they can do it! This activity promises hours of entertainment, and is great for kids of all ages!

Looking for more fun ideas for the family? Be sure to check out the MyActiveChild.com lists of Activities, Athletics, Resources and of course our Daily Calendar of FUN in Hampton Roads!

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