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By Mom Unplugged, June 5, 2008 10:06 pm

How many of you know the game of Hopscotch, Red Light Green Light, or Monkey in the Middle? I would guess that most of you parents know these games. But what about your children?

Do you or your children know how to play Exchange, Sardines, or Hot Box? Perhaps not.

That is why every family interested in getting their children outside for some good old-fashioned play NEEDS this book in their library.

Author Scott Strother’s preface reminded me of how much fun I used to have playing spontaneous neighborhood games with my friends.

Two experiences inspired Mr. Strother to write this book: 1) Coaching 6 to 16 year-olds in tennis, and realizing that they had no idea what he was talking about when he referred to some of the very common games from his childhood; and 2) A paper that he wrote about childhood obesity and today’s children’s sedentary lifestyles.

Here are the highlights:

• Forgotten Neighborhood Games: Get Kids Back Outside and Loving It! is basically an encyclopedic reference to over 150 outdoor games for children. There are all the old classics that I remember enjoying, and many, many new ones that I have never heard of before.

• Games are classified and organized according to activity level. The first section is Activity Level V, “…games that require the most exercise. These games mainly entail constant running or movement and are highly active.” Each section decreases in intensity until the final, Activity Level I - “…games where mostly walking or limited physical exercise is required. These games are still active and outside, but are not as physically demanding as the others.”

• There is only one game per page and the information is complete, and very clearly presented. Each game description specifies number of kids, ages, time allotted, space/area, equipment, description (startup, object, and play), and the author’s personal comments.

• Many of the games require children to determine who is “it.” Do you remember doing that? Well, I suspect that choosing who is “it” might be another lost art. Fortunately Forgotten Neighborhood Games also has a section entitled “Picking the ‘It’” which includes a description of the process, and a few rhymes from which to choose.

When I first began this blog in February of 2007, I had planned on having a “Children’s Games” page where I would write up the rules for various outdoor, neighborhood games. Like the author of this book, I had noticed that most children today are too focused on video games and TV to spend much time outdoors playing active and social games like these. I did write a few game posts which I later eliminated. The task was just too daunting.

Although it is sad that a book like this might be necessary to teach today’s children how to play this way, I am so thankful that Mr. Strother took the time to write this very comprehensive, yet easy to use book. The blog equivalent of Forgotten Neighborhood Games is precisely what I had in mind in back in “the old days” when I first began Unplug Your Kids.

My advice would be to use this book as a reference to find a few games to teach your kids. Or better yet, if your children read well enough, have them explore it on their own. As the author says:

It might take a little effort at first, learning the games and getting other children to play, but once kids start learning these exciting games, they will not want to stop. Do not be afraid to go find kids and coerce them outside for some fun. More and more children from the neighborhood will start to get involved. Everyone will begin looking forward to playing and will meet more often. Instead of sitting around inside, kids can meet each other, make friends, get exercise, and have a ton of fun! This is what childhood is all about. Kids need to get back outside, exercise, and love it…and this book is the guide!

Forgotten Neighborhood Games: Get Kids Back Outside and Loving It! is another useful tool for parents to help get children away from “The Box” and back outside. Deserves to become a classic.

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By Mom Unplugged, May 4, 2008 8:25 pm

Green was the theme for this week’s Unplugged Project. When I thought of green, I was planning on being clever and doing a “green” (ie. recycled) project, instead of one involving the color green. I had a plan…but I won’t divulge it, we’ll just do it another week.

The weather was so lovely today that the children wanted to take a “kids’ walk” (a short walk that I let them do by themselves down our quiet road and back home on the golf course cart path - total time en route: about 5 minutes). Rather than keep them inside for a project on a day like today, instead I suggested they bring along the camera and take pictures of everything they saw on their walk that was green.

Kids love cameras and digital cameras are perfect for kids. Children armed with cameras take lots of pictures and most don’t come out too well, but there are often a few great ones in amongst the blur. Even if you buy an inexpensive disposable camera, why pay for processing a bunch of fuzzy photos? Especially when very simple digital cameras are so inexpensive nowadays.

If you do buy your children a camera, I have one word of advice (learned from experience): buy one with a rechargeable battery. They will take LOTS of pictures, forget to turn it off, etc. Most cheap kids’ cameras have regular old batteries that will last about half an hour under such conditions. This could either turn into a very expensive proposition, or you’ll never want to let your kids use their camera because of the cost of batteries! So - spend a tiny bit more for the camera and get one with a long-lasting, rechargeable battery they can actually use.

End of digression.

Here are the best results of their green scavenger hunt (7 out of 25 photos a success - see what I mean about the value of a digital camera for kids?). Because I realize that my kids’ photos of pine needles may not be quite as fascinating to the general public as my children might like to believe, these 7 pictures are in slide show format that you can choose to view or not. The point is, that a Photo Scavenger Hunt of any kind, can be great fun for children, especially outside on a lovely day!

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If you took part in this week’s Unplugged Project then please put your link in Mr. Linky (plus comment in case we lose Mr. Linky for some reason) .

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Next week’s Unplugged Project theme will be:

Newspaper

I hope to see you all next Monday! What can you do with the theme Newspaper?

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Comments (13)

By Mom Unplugged, April 27, 2008 9:10 pm

My two oldest each had lengthy birthday parties to attend this afternoon. So although I had an art project in mind when I chose birds as this week’s Unplugged Project theme, my children’s busy social calendars precluded anything too complicated.

Instead of art this week, we decided to do something I was meaning to do anyhow: put out some nice spring nesting materials.

While most people know that putting out food and water for wild birds is a great way to attract them to your yard, another often overlooked additional method is to provide nesting materials in the spring. As long as you have some good nesting locations (requirements vary by type of bird), giving them handy materials can encourage them to nest in your yard where you can watch the action for several months.

All you’ll need are some empty suet feeder cages, or a few of those nets used to package oranges or potatoes in bulk. We used a big net from some oranges and a few small Baby Bel cheese nets.

We have some high class, five star nesting material: leftover alpaca fleece from Dempsey, an alpaca at our local alpaca ranch!

If you don’t happen to have a local alpaca ranch or any spare alpaca fleece lying around your house, you can also try putting out any of the following:

-dried leaves and twigs
-human or horse hair
-pet fur, sheep’s wool
-dry grass
-plant fluff (ie. cattail fluff)
-feathers
-yarn or string (cut into 4″ to 8″ pieces)
-thin strips of cloth (1″ x 6″)
-cotton batting
-bark strips
-pine needles
-shredded paper
-moss

But don’t put out drier lint (stays soggy, dries hard, can contain chemicals from laundering).

You can prepare the household materials together, or go on a nature hike to collect suitable natural materials.

Place the materials in the nets or cages and hang them around your garden on trees, or deck railings. You can also push loose material into tree crevices or between rocks, and drape yarn and string over bushes. Heavier items that won’t blow away, like twigs, can be put out in small piles around your yard.

Then simply sit back and watch to see if there is any interest in your spring gifts!

For more about this (and my source for much of this information), please see: Attracting Birds With Nesting Material from the fascinating Cornell Lab of Ornithology website.

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If you participated in the birds project this week, please put your link in Mr. Linky below (also be sure to leave a comment in case Mr. Linky malfunctions).

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Next week’s Unplugged Project theme will be:

Green

Please join us!

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Comments (12)

By Mom Unplugged, March 16, 2008 9:12 pm

This week’s Unplugged Project theme was wood. Our project began with a snowy trek through the trees on our property in search of twigs and small branches. The winter winds had knocked down many pine branches, so they were easy to find. We gathered a few pine cones too. The plan: Fairy Houses!!

We’ve done this before in the summer when more materials were available (leaves, moss, petals, etc.) which made for quite luxurious accommodations. But since there was snow today, these will have to be rather austere, winter fairy houses.

As you can see from the photos, the dogs did a wood project too…romping through the wood-s.

Here are our gathered materials:

Plus some cardboard bases, some string, and a hot glue gun.

My husband was happy to operate the glue gun and glued whatever needed to be glued. I was the string expert and helped tie string.

Here is the process and result:

My daughter then placed the fairy houses in the garden for the fairies to enjoy.

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What did you do for wood? If you joined us, please put your link in Mr. Linky (and a comment in case I have to take him off - so we can still find you to visit). If you didn’t join us but are simply lurking, why not “delurk” and put your link in, either this week or next? If you don’t have a blog, you can still join in…read about the non-blog options at my Unplugged Project page.

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Next week’s project:

Eggs (for Easter, or spring/birth if you don’t celebrate Easter)

Please join us with your ideas for eggs!

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Comments (6)

By Mom Unplugged, December 9, 2007 9:21 pm

This week’s Unplugged Project was anything related to “nature,” or for those who wanted a little more guidance: “Collect objects from outside and create a seasonal nature tray or nature table.”

I had thought we might do the collection and display idea, but then the snow came making it hard to spend time outside, or even find things to collect. The kids went outside on Saturday morning to play, and made this “sledding snowman.” That is an unplugged idea, and it involves nature…so I guess it counts!

When I went out this morning to take this picture I noticed that the snowman was wearing (unbeknownst to me) my favorite black velvet hat. I must say that I do think it looks better on me!

That hat has had some adventures. Once it flew off my head in the London Underground and landed on the rails. It spent the night down there and during the nightly maintenance, a worker kindly retrieved it for me. Despite a cleaning, it smelled like “The Tube” for months after that, bringing me a happy little whiff of London every time I wore it. Now it has spent the night outside making a snowman look chic.

What was your project this week for “nature?” Please put your link in Mr. Linky so that we can find you.

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Next Monday’s project:

Yarn or string
(a little “string theory” Andree? I look forward to it!)

Have fun!