Situation · a body that needs a job · 8 activities
Burn Off Energy
Eight activities that put the whole body to work, indoors or out, and most of them begin with a strip of tape stuck to the floor.
The fastest thing you can do right now is tear off two metres of masking tape and stick it down the hallway with a couple of bends in it, then say: walk it, and do not step off. At two that is Walking the Balance Line. At four it is the Painters Tape Floor Balance Track, with something to carry. Four minutes of your time, and it holds for ten to twenty of theirs.
Most of this shelf spends energy through control rather than speed, which is what makes it work in a flat. A child who has been sitting all afternoon will take a slow, demanding job as readily as a fast one, and a slow one ends better: heel to toe along a line with a saucer of coins is genuinely hard, and it finishes with a child who is tired instead of wound up.
If you want noise, the straw blow race needs a straw and a ping pong ball and is over in under five minutes, and three instructions in one breath sends a four year old running to three rooms with nothing set up at all. For the oldest here, two tins and two lengths of rope make bucket stilts, which is an afternoon in the garden.
What to expect from a body at each age is in our guide to jumping, balancing and climbing.
The eight
Ordered by the age each one suits best. Each line gives the setup time, how long the play usually runs, and whether you need to stay in the room.
- Walking the Balance Line Your child walks the length of a strip of tape stuck to the floor, slowly, and then turns round and walks back. 2 min · under 5 min · household only
- Balance Board Coin Steady Your child stands on a board that rocks slightly and tries to keep a coin still on the back of her hand, which means the whole body has to go quiet. no setup · 5 to 10 min · household, or a bought set
- Straw Blow Ping Pong Race Your child blows a ping pong ball across the table through a straw, and races it to a strip of tape at the far end. no setup · under 5 min · household only
- Three-Step Instruction Hunt You give three instructions in one breath, and your child goes and does all three, in order, without help. no setup · 3 to 5 min · nothing at all
- Blindfold Rope Path Walk Your child follows a rope laid along the floor with her eyes closed, finding the turns with her feet while your voice tells her what is coming. 2 min · 5 to 10 min · household only
- Painters Tape Floor Balance Track Your child walks a line of tape stuck to the floor without stepping off it, then does it again carrying something. 4 min · 10 to 20 min · one substitute needed
- Balance Beam Coin Carry Your child walks a taped line heel to toe carrying a small stack of coins on a saucer, and discovers that the only way across is slowly. 2 min · 5 to 10 min · household only
- Bucket Stilts Balance Track Your child stands on two upturned tins, holds a rope in each hand to keep them under her feet, and walks a taped line across the garden. 15 min, once · 10 to 20 min · household only
All eight work on a hallway floor. Several are better outside, and the garden shelf says which ones and what to change.