Task: Act like a circus performer and develop your sense of balance

Requires:

• Parking Curb
• Low wall
• A tightrope or a slackline

How it all went down:

I wouldn’t mind joining the circus about now so this task was right up my alley. We actually try to balance on a lot of things – you’ve seen us slackline in the past.  But how do you get from plain old walking to balancing your way across a tightrope?  Practice!  It simply takes time to develop your sense of balance.  The best, and safest (Gasp! Did we just say that?) way is to start by trying to balance on everyday objects and working your way up to higher and wobblier things as you improve.

If you want to start really simple, find a place on the sidewalk or pavement with a long, straight crack.  Pretend it’s a tightrope and walk across it.

Once you’ve got that down, move on to something a little higher, like parking curbs.  The key to balancing is keeping your eyes up.  Find a spot on the horizon to focus on.  It seems counterintuitive, but think about it.  Do we look down at our feet when we’re walking normally?  Spreading your arms out helps, too, by spreading  out your mass and reducing your angular velocity.  Keep practicing until it feels as easy as walking across a crack in the sidewalk.  Katie’s gotten so good she can run across the parking curbs.

Once that gets comfortable, move up to something higher.  No kid can resist climbing on low walls.  Thomas and Benjamin spent a good 30 minutes running up and down this ledge at the library. I timed each run and they tried to beat their times. I admit, if they had fallen, there would have been blood. But it had rained all day and these boys had plenty of energy. They have a pretty good handle on their limits when it comes to balance.  Plus, I’m sure they were missing us at Urgent Care, so I let them run.

You don’t have to be able to run across low walls (or leap buildings in a single bound) to attempt the slackline.  The beauty of the slackline is that you can adjust the height and the wobbliness yourself.  It’s a fun activity for all ages, and draws both kids and adults in like bees at a cookout.  Emily is a gymnast and can now go the farthest on the slackline of all the kids.

Perfecting your balance is a great risky activity to try if you want to dip your toes into risky play.  Not only are you working on a physical skill, you’re subtly building skills kids will need throughout their lives:  feeling confident on unfamiliar footing and learning to face failure (falling) and get right back up to try again.  Next time you come across some sort of balance beam, go ahead. It’s fun and the only way to improve your balance is to work on it a little each day.

And if you know where I can find a real tightrope, gimme a call.  My circus dream awaits.

Do you find that your kids naturally gravitate to playing on things that challenge their balancing skills?  Do you let them?  Or is your gut response to ask them to get down before they get hurt?  Does this change your mind?  You can read about the rest of our experiences with 50 Dangerous Things. Inspired by Gever Tulley’s book 50 Dangerous Things (You Should Let Your Children Do).

Task: “See” the world without using your eyes.

Requires:

• Timer
• Blindfold
• An hour

Possible Hazards:

• Tripping
• Frustration
• Bumps and bruises

How it all went down:

Angie called me the other day and said that she was trying to find the time to blindfold her kids for an hour. I thought, “Hey, that sounds like fun. Maybe we should do it too.”

The opportunity presented itself earlier this week, as Thomas showed up for hair and makeup (I don’t really put makeup on my kid – that’s just what I like to call getting your face washed and hair brushed) with socks on his hands.  He said, “I just brushed my teeth with socks on my hands!” When I asked him if he’d like to spend the rest of the time before school with socks on his hands AND blindfolded, his face lit up. It was on. Benjamin politely declined and disappeared.

Thomas got a drink from the fridge.

He didn’t have much luck with the iPad … is there an app for that?

He said the stairs were the easiest part.

He thought he found his fleece from the coat closet.   Actually, he found my coat. Turns out you can not tell fleece color from feel alone. I let him dance around in my fleece for a while. Payback is nice.

He found his shoes by smelling them.  Scary, but he was right.

He walked all the way to school blindfolded. I did let him change his coat, though.  I’m not that mean.

The only time he cheated and peeked was when he looked at the clock. He actually heard the train go by our house. The same train that goes by unnoticed every five minutes was noticed immediately while blindfolded. The neighborhood kids helped him get to school safely and the crossing guard stopped him from walking right out into the crosswalk. He won’t leave toys on the stairs ever again.

This was really fun, inexpensive and interesting. So grab a blindfold and and the kids and experience life without sight.  Or make it really fun and blindfold your significant other …

Tips:

• The blindfolded person should have an assistant with them to intervene before they get into any serious trouble or stumbles.
• An hour seems like a long time, but it takes at least that long for your brain to start relying on other senses.
• Try to make your blindfold so that it prevents any light from reaching your eyes. Folding small squares of fabric in half and then in half again to act as eye patches under your blindfold work really well.
• Other things to do while blindfolded: eat a meal, use the bathroom, try to catch a ball, or draw a map of the room you’re in.

Have you tried being blindfolded for any significant amount of time?  Can you think of any other activities we should try while blindfolded?

Task: Squash Pennies on a Railroad Track

Requires:

• Pennies (or other coins)
• Tape
• Active train track
• Train schedule

Possible hazards:

• Death by train
• Awkward conversations with the police
• Projectiles

How it all went down:

We live about three houses down from an active railroad track – as in a train comes by every five minutes or so.  After living here for about five years, I hardly notice the train but our visitors are always a little shocked at the noise and vibrations.  I don’t want my kids playing on the tracks, so I loaded them into the mini-van and drove to an access point just down the street.  (I know, my kids are going to figure out that they can walk to the tracks, but somehow it made me feel better to have the illusion they could only get there by car.)

We duct taped 13 pennies to the track, then went home and waited for a train to pass.  Surprisingly, we only found two pennies when we returned.  The duct tape was melted to the track and the pennies were flat – I mean flat!   I wasn’t expecting them to be this flat.

Nothing like a squashed penny to drive home the point of the sheer weight and force of a train.  It was cool, and I think that the kids learned that getting run over by a train is a very bad thing

Tips:

• Pick a portion of the track that is very straight – you want to see and hear the train coming from a long way away.
• A location next to an automated crossing gate is good – the bells will warn you as a train approaches.
• Don’t try to place pennies on the track if you can see or hear a train or crossing bells. Obviously.  According to Tulley, because of the unfamiliar size of train engines, our brains can’t accurately judge the speed and distance of oncoming trains.  If you can see or hear it, get out of the way.
• If you see a spot of the track is brighter or shinier than the rest, tape your penny there. That’s where the wheel makes the most contact.
• Mark the spot with a stick on the ground.
• If you’re waiting there for the train to pass, stand at least 30 feet away from ALL tracks.  A flying penny will put your eye out.
• To ensure the safety of the train and the track, never put anything larger than a coin on the tracks.

I had to chuckle when I came across this challenge, as this was one of those things that I specifically remember not being able to do as a child.  My parents were pretty laid back, but for some reason this was a freedom I wasn’t allowed.  I should ask them why, but as with most things related to complaints about my childhood, I simply get waved off with a “Bah. I don’t remember it that way.”  Perhaps it had something to do with an incident involving my older brother, who once got his head stuck out the car window while my dad unknowingly tried to crank it higher to no avail.  All I know is that the windows were almost always up, unless my dad was flicking his cigarette ash out of one.  Ahh, to have grown up in the late 70s/early 80s.

Task:  Experience aerodynamics and experiment with lift and drag by sticking your hand out of a car window while it’s in motion.

Requires:

• Moving vehicle (with open window)
• Open road

There are just some days that are meant for windows down and hands out, and these waning days of summer are no exception. You can’t just stick it out there, though, you have to do it with gusto.   So keep your head in and your hands out and you should be just fine.