Therapeutic Recreation

The warmer weather is finally here! Grandview Recreation Therapy Assistant, Maddy Saunders, has created some activity suggestions that you can do outside as a family. These activities will provide an opportunity for your family to get outside and enjoy the warm weather while being active, creative and most importantly having FUN together!

Activity List (See pictures below)

Outdoor Movie Theatre/Drive-In
Backyard Water Park
Backyard or Neighbourhood Picnic
Backyard Fort
Treasure Hunt
Neighbourhood Zoologist
Outdoor Animal Yoga
Summer Sports

Outdoor Movie Theatre/Drive-In

Instead of staying inside to watch a movie – design your own outdoor movie theatre! You will need a place to sit, pillows and blankets to keep comfortable, an extension cord, and a T.V. or laptop. If you have a projector and a white sheet you could make a big movie screen.
To make this event more exciting – decorate seats/chairs as cars using cardboard and craft supplies. You can make your very own drive-in movie theatre in your backyard. Pick a Disney movie or a family favourite to watch with popcorn, chips, and candy snacks.

Backyard Water Park

With pools and water parks unavailable – try turning your backyard into a splash park! Some items to add could be a hose, sprinklers, small blow-up pools, buckets of water, water balloons, and sponges. Have the kids jump through the sprinkler, play duck-duck-goose with wet sponges, or dip their toes in the pool. Use slip and slides and water toys if you have those to add some extra fun!

Backyard or Neighbourhood Picnic

To make lunchtime more exciting – take it outside! You will need a basket/cooler to hold food/drinks, plates/utensils/napkins, a garbage bag, and your choice of lunch and snacks. Simple lunch foods and snacks to take outside for your picnic include sandwiches, water bottles/juice boxes, cut up fruits and vegetables, and chips. Get creative and try different foods while going on your backyard picnic!

Backyard Fort

A fun activity that can be played indoors or outdoors is building forts! Use items that can be found around the house/backyard such as chairs, blankets, pillows, cushions, tables and other items to make your fort. Add fairy lights to make your fort even more magical!

Treasure Hunt

Ahoy Mateys! Pretend you are pirates on the hunt for treasure! Before starting, set up clues ahead of time that leads you to the ‘treasure’. To start, give your children a clue that will lead them to the next clue. For example, “Go to the place that keeps your food cold”. The children will then go to the fridge/freezer to find the next clue and so on. The last clue will then lead them to their treasure (toy, snack, fun prize, etc.). You can do these inside of your home or outside. For extra fun have your children dress up as pirates/explorers and make the treasure hunts themed!

Neighbourhood Zoologist

Want to make walks or hikes more engaging for your children? Have them take a notebook and pencil to write down every animal you see in your neighbourhood. Your children can be zoologists and see how many animals they can find. Look for dogs, birds, squirrels, bunnies, etc. To add extra fun – bring binoculars, crayons to draw the animals, magnifying glasses, etc.

Outdoor Animal Yoga

Pretend you are your favourite animals while doing some exercises and stretches outside! This is a great activity for all ages as you can modify the difficulty of the yoga poses based on ability. Some yoga poses to try can be dog, cat, butterfly, flamingo, snake, frog, etc. Get creative and have your children choose what animals to do!

Summer Sports

There are a lot of fun outdoor sports and activities to play while enjoying the summer sun! Games such as Bocce Ball, Frisbee, Corn Hole, Horse Shoes and Ladder Ball are great family games to play outside. Some other activities that can be done outside are obstacle courses, chalk, bike rides, soccer, volleyball, basketball, baseball, road hockey, and many other sports! Work on increasing your skills while getting some exercise outdoors!

Use caution while outside. Wear hats, sunglasses, and sunscreen while staying hydrated!

The warmer weather is finally here! Grandview Recreation Therapy Assistant, Maddy Saunders, has created some activity suggestions that you can do outside as a family. These activities will provide an opportunity for your family to get outside and enjoy the warm weather while being active, creative and most importantly having FUN together!

Activity List (See pictures below)

Outdoor Movie Theatre/Drive-In
Backyard Water Park
Backyard or Neighbourhood Picnic
Backyard Fort
Treasure Hunt
Neighbourhood Zoologist
Outdoor Animal Yoga
Summer Sports
 

Outdoor Movie Theatre/Drive-In

Instead of staying inside to watch a movie – design your own outdoor movie theatre! You will need a place to sit, pillows and blankets to keep comfortable, an extension cord, and a T.V. or laptop. If you have a projector and a white sheet you could make a big movie screen.
To make this event more exciting – decorate seats/chairs as cars using cardboard and craft supplies. You can make your very own drive-in movie theatre in your backyard. Pick a Disney movie or a family favourite to watch with popcorn, chips, and candy snacks.

Backyard Water Park

With pools and water parks unavailable – try turning your backyard into a splash park! Some items to add could be a hose, sprinklers, small blow-up pools, buckets of water, water balloons, and sponges. Have the kids jump through the sprinkler, play duck-duck-goose with wet sponges, or dip their toes in the pool. Use slip and slides and water toys if you have those to add some extra fun!

Backyard or Neighbourhood Picnic

To make lunchtime more exciting – take it outside! You will need a basket/cooler to hold food/drinks, plates/utensils/napkins, a garbage bag, and your choice of lunch and snacks. Simple lunch foods and snacks to take outside for your picnic include sandwiches, water bottles/juice boxes, cut up fruits and vegetables, and chips. Get creative and try different foods while going on your backyard picnic!

Backyard Fort

A fun activity that can be played indoors or outdoors is building forts! Use items that can be found around the house/backyard such as chairs, blankets, pillows, cushions, tables and other items to make your fort. Add fairy lights to make your fort even more magical!

Treasure Hunt

Ahoy Mateys! Pretend you are pirates on the hunt for treasure! Before starting, set up clues ahead of time that leads you to the ‘treasure’. To start, give your children a clue that will lead them to the next clue. For example, “Go to the place that keeps your food cold”. The children will then go to the fridge/freezer to find the next clue and so on. The last clue will then lead them to their treasure (toy, snack, fun prize, etc.). You can do these inside of your home or outside. For extra fun have your children dress up as pirates/explorers and make the treasure hunts themed!

Neighbourhood Zoologist

Want to make walks or hikes more engaging for your children? Have them take a notebook and pencil to write down every animal you see in your neighbourhood. Your children can be zoologists and see how many animals they can find. Look for dogs, birds, squirrels, bunnies, etc. To add extra fun – bring binoculars, crayons to draw the animals, magnifying glasses, etc.

Outdoor Animal Yoga

Pretend you are your favourite animals while doing some exercises and stretches outside! This is a great activity for all ages as you can modify the difficulty of the yoga poses based on ability. Some yoga poses to try can be dog, cat, butterfly, flamingo, snake, frog, etc. Get creative and have your children choose what animals to do!

Summer Sports

There are a lot of fun outdoor sports and activities to play while enjoying the summer sun! Games such as Bocce Ball, Frisbee, Corn Hole, Horse Shoes and Ladder Ball are great family games to play outside. Some other activities that can be done outside are obstacle courses, chalk, bike rides, soccer, volleyball, basketball, baseball, road hockey, and many other sports! Work on increasing your skills while getting some exercise outdoors!

Use caution while outside. Wear hats, sunglasses, and sunscreen while staying hydrated!

In the hopes that warmer weather will be here to stay soon, Grandview Recreation Therapist Courtney Brazier has created some activity suggestions that you can do outside as a family. All you need is sidewalk chalk! These activities will provide an opportunity for your family to get outside and get active, creative and most importantly have FUN together!

Activity List**

• Obstacle Course
• Sidewalk Chalk Maze
• Tic-Tac-Toe
• Target Practice

** see photo examples below.

Obstacle Course

• Draw an obstacle course with your chalk.
• You can draw zig-zags, loops, twists, as well as “balance” beams to walk on, lines to jump over, shapes to hop/step/dance in, a hopscotch board, actions to complete and so much more!
• Have your child move through the obstacle course.
• You can add a competitive element to this activity by timing your child as they move through the course, and then challenging them to try and beat their previous time.

Sidewalk Chalk Maze

• Draw out a maze using sidewalk chalk with a start and finish point for your child to find their way through, drawing the pathway with different coloured chalk.
• Make the maze “life size” and have your child move through the maze themselves.
• You could also bring out toy cars, toy animals or a ball to place at the start line and have your child help them through the maze from start to finish.

Tic-Tac-Toe

• Draw a tic-tac-toe game board with chalk – the game can be played multiple ways.
• Play a game by drawing your X’s and O’s onto the game board.
• Toss a rock or bean bag (you can also use rolled-up socks or sponges) onto the tic-tac-toe board and wherever it lands is where you draw your X or O. First to get three X’s or O’s in a row wins.
• Tic-tac-toe Team Race – Draw a START LINE away from the tic-tac-toe board. Each team has one piece of chalk and lines up behind the START line. The first players from each team have to run down to the game board and mark their designated X or O on the game board, run back and hand the chalk off to the next player on their team. The next player does the same, team players take turns until one team has three X’s or O’s in a row!

Target Practice

• Draw a target with point values with your chalk.
• Take turns tossing a rock or bean bag onto the target (you can also use rolled-up socks or sponges).
• Have those playing take three turns each throwing rock or bean bag, adding up their points.
• Whoever has the most points wins.
• You could also have each player try to beat their own score each round.

With all the change and uncertainty we are all experiencing these days, the last thing you need to be worrying about is providing endless complex, Pinterest-worthy activities for your children. Sometimes the simplest activities are the most engaging. Below are 5 easy activities provided by Grandview Kids Recreation Therapist Alicia Landy that you can do with shaving foam to foster some interactive family fun.

Activity list:

• Marble painting
• Treasure hunt
• Blank Canvas
• Rain Clouds
• Fluffy slime

Activity #1 – Marble Panting

Materials: shaving cream, food colouring or paint, paper, popsicle stick/butter knife/fork

Step one: make a few piles of shaving cream on a plate or craft tray

Step two: add a few drops of food coloruing  or paint

Step three: take the popsicle stick (or fork) and drag it across the tray 5-10 times from different starting points *picture

Step four: press the paper onto the shaving cream and life it carefully to reveal your art!

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Activity #2 – Treasure Hunt

Materials: shaving cream, two containers, toys to hide, cleaning & digging tools (optional)

Step one: fill one container with clean water

Step two: fill the second container with shaving cream

Step three: hide toys in the shaving cream *picture

Step four: children can dig (with or without tools – shovels, spoons, sticks) around in the shaving cream to find all the treasure – once they locate a toy or coin, they can clean it off in the water to make it shine!

Activity #3 – Blank Canvas

Materials: shaving cream, a shower wall

Step one: create a canvas by smoothing a layer of shaving cream on the wall inside the shower or bathtub (can be done at bath time, or dry with clothes on – the shower makes for easy clean up)

Step two: choose your game! You can play tic tac toe, hangman, draw pictures, play Pictionary, practice writing letters/numbers, draw faces/Emojis to help label feelings (happy face, sad face, don’t make this too complicated)

Step three: rinse away with the shower, and repeat!

Activity #4 – Rain Clouds

Materials: shaving cream, clear glass, blue food colouring, a straw/syringe/dropper

Step one: fill the glass ¾ full of water (you can add some figurines or toys that sink to make it more kid-friendly for younger kids)

Step two: add a layer of shaving cream on top of the water (these are your clouds)

Step three:  mix a few drops of food colouring with water in a separate cup

Step four: use your straw/syringe/dropper to pick up a small amount of blue water and drop it into the shaving cream about ½ way to the top of the water

Step five: this will create your rain!

*you can experiment with different liquids, oil, soap, liquid laundry detergent – mixing different liquids can create hours of experimenting and fun, this activity can easily transition into “potion” mixing*

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Activity #5 – Fluffy Slime

*disclaimer – this activity is less simple and messier than the others. It might not always turn out perfectly – but that is okay!*

Materials:  3 cups of shaving cream, 2/3 cup white glue, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ¼ cup water, food colouring, 1 tablespoon of saline solution (check ingredients – make sure it contains boric acid and sodium borate, otherwise slime with not form)

Step one: mix water, glue and baking soda

Step two: add shaving cream

Step three: add food colouring

Step four: slowly add contact solution/saline

Step five: add a few drops to your hands (can wear gloves)

Step six: knead your slime for at least 5 minutes – the slime will start out very sticky but will soften as you knead (if your children are young or mouth their hands – it is better for the adult to do this step – slime should NOT be ingested – saline is a chemical – if ingested contact a doctor) if the slime is still too sticky – you can add another ½ tablespoon of saline – add slowly

Physical activity is good for your body and mind. With schools closed and recreation programs cancelled amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Grandview Kids Physical Literacy Coordinator Natalyn Hibbs has some great ways to help get your family active and keep spirits up!

You can go for a walk, get outside in your backyard, or set up some relay races, play the V-up challenge or create obstacle courses indoors, just remember social distancing.

How to set up a relay race:

A relay race is a racing competition where each member of a team completes parts of the course.

You can line up two rows of cans or bottles on your floor, space them out 2 feet apart, creating two parallel lines (try and keep as much space as possible between the two lines to encourage social distancing). At one end of each of the lines place a bin of toys/stuffed animals. Each child starts the race at the opposite end. The children crawl over the cans/bottles, grab a stuff animal/toy and zig zag (running or crawling) back to the other end, drop their toy, and return to get another. Repeat until all items have been moved from the bin.

How to set up the V-up challenge:

Have your child lay on their back with an empty bin on the floor above their head, place stuffed animals are their feet. Have your child grab their stuffed toy with their feet and drop it in the bin above their head (creating a V-up motion with their legs). Repeat until all stuffed animals are in the bin.

How to make the obstacle course:

You can stack up cushions to make hurdles, make agility pathways by taping lines on the floor, and include stations like jumping jacks and bean bag toss. You can even use hula hoops or empty laundry baskets as targets and rolled up socks as bean bags.

Fundamental movement skills like jumping, throwing, and catching are very important for the physical development of a child. It’s incredibly important to keep kids active all year round, even if that means taking a bit of extra effort during these self-isolating times with your family.

Let your kids help with the building and everyone is sure to have fun!