Playthings

Risky Reads: The Get Outside Edition

Unless you live in Colorado or North Dakota right now, chances are spring has finally sprung for you. And if it hasn’t, I feel your pain. I love snow and all, but I am over it. After what feels like an eternity being cooped up among boxes, it’s so nice to have not only room to play, but nice weather, new friends and new places to explore. Just this week my kids met a few more neighbor kids and the group of them organized a big game of team tag. It made my heart happy to see so many kids (at least 8) running around, laughing and playing.

In that spirit, I found a collection of things around the web that focus on playing outdoors. Most of the time we hope that our kids will simply go out and play. For the other times when either boredom sets in or you feel like spending time outside doesn’t come naturally to you, I hope these ideas will inspire you.

Many of us suburban dwellers find ourselves with backyards that are nothing more than an expanse of grass. Childhood 101 suggests 7 steps to creating an outdoor play space for kids that’s really helpful. I also love the simple playthings Kim from Mothering with Mindfulness came up with to make play in her backyard more enticing.

Both of those posts suggest adding a secret space to your play area. How about this willow den?

If you have a good tree, building a simple treehouse such as this one would totally amp up the coolness of your backyard. Let the kids help build it and you not only have an awesome treehouse, but they’ve learned some important life skills along the way.

Lastly, the always inspiring folks at Modern Parents Messy Kids have come up with 25 ways to play with nature.

For more risky inspiration, you can follow us on Pinterest. In the meantime, we’d love to hear how you’re spending time outside this month!

Filed Under: Around the Web, Playthings

The Games We Play

5 Mar By Angie Six

If there’s one thing the Six family can all agree that we love, besides cheez dip, it’s a good board game. Nothing makes me happier than the four of us around the table, doing our best to reign supreme over each other.

Actually finding a good game that we all love is not easy, though. For one, it has to be appropriate for a wide age range. It also has to be somewhat challenging. We are a competitive family, so none of those cooperative games for us. And most importantly, it has to be fun.

Does a game exist that is appropriate for ages 5 to adult, challenges our competitive spirits, and is fun to play? Yes! It’s called The Settlers of Catan.

Now wait … I know what you’re thinking. Oh, that’s one of those “gamer” games. It’s hardcore. It’s not for us. No! You have to give it a chance. Yes, it does require an initial learning period. However we found that to be an awesome leveler for our family – for once the kids and the adults were on the same playing field as we tried to figure the game out. Yes, it does take longer than your run-of-the-mill board game. But it’s time where you’re having fun as a family and engaging with each other. Yes, it is challenging, but the game is never the same twice, giving all of us equal opportunities to emerge the victor. Or, as we like to call it, The King of Catan (wearing the awesome crown is not optional).

We thought Eli might be too young, but he’s surprised us with his logic and strategy. I would explain the game in detail, but the best description comes straight from the source.

We also love Ticket To Ride, but we’ve yet to incorporate Eli into the game fully. Reading skills are definitely a must for this game, but if you have kids that are 5 and older that can read, it’s a fun one.

If you’re looking for shorter, more spontaneous games, try Tenzi or Bananagrams. Both games are small and easy to transport – they’ve come with us to the pool and on many a road trip. Tenzi, a dice game with several variations, is good for ages 5 and up. Eli has no trouble hanging with the rest of us on this game. Bananagrams, a faster variation of word games like Scrabble, is suited for older kids who can read and have a grasp of vocabulary.

So here’s a risky idea … instead of a movie night or an evening where we all retreat to our various screens, how about a family game night? What games does your family love to play together?

Filed Under: Playthings

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Risky Reads: Punkin’ Chunkin’ Edition

8 Nov By Angie Six

Hope you had a wonderful Halloween! This was the first year we let Elena, who is 10, trick-or-treat without a parent. It helps when her friends’ parents have the same philosophy on giving kids independence. They had a blast and she came home with a pillowcase full of candy. Check out this pumpkin catapult we got to try at our local Headless Horseman event. SO much fun. While we can’t launch pumpkins at home, I’m going to let the kids smash their jack-o-lanterns this weekend. If there’s anything I’ve learned in my 10 years as a parent, it’s that kids love to destroy things! Here are a few things I found around the web last month I thought you might enjoy:

One of our playgroup friends had a marshmallow shooter and I thought Eli might lose his mind. It was hilarious to watch the shooter and the other kids interact – like the preschool version of shooting t-shirts into a stadium crowd. Here’s a cool tutorial on how to make your own marshmallow shooter- what a great Christmas gift!

My friend Jen (mother of quadruplet boys!) did a cool series last month on 31 Days of Simple Outdoor Adventures for Boys. There’s so much great risky inspiration there, but I especially loved this one on making your own fishing pole.

Active for Life is an amazing resource year round, but it’s especially helpful if you need ideas for indoor activities to keep your kids moving. Balloon juggling perhaps?

As you make notes over the winter about summer camps your kids might enjoy, why not scrap basketball camp for hacking camp?

If you’d like to keep up with us around the web, be sure to Like us on Facebook and follow us on Pinterest!

Filed Under: Around the Web, Playthings, Risky Activities

Just A Swingin’

9 Aug By Lisa A.

I have this friend, Mike, who is a stay-at-home dad/engineer. He was dropping his kids off to play one day and I noticed that he was in the backyard staring at my trees. He looked at me and said, “This yard needs a tree swing.” We immediately started negotiating location, materials and the use of power tools.

We made the seat out of a piece of scrap wood. I let The Benj use the hand sander and we added a lot of stain and polyurethane.

I know I’m biased, but you have to admit, it turned out beautiful.

Installation went great. There was minimal blood, I only almost lost a toe and I managed to get stuck in a tree. Mike wanted to attach the rope to a hammer and throw it over the tree limb. I vetoed that idea – mainly because I didn’t feel like driving to the ER.

Even better, I got to climb on this bad boy. Thirty-two feet, baby!

We are now the proud owners of the best tree swing on the planet. The neighborhood kids are lining up to use it. Siblings are actually pushing each other on the swing instead of fighting. If you’ve never been on a tree swing, you have to try it. It’s like flying and gliding all mixed into one and it feels fantastic.

Filed Under: Playthings

Magic Beans 31 Days of Giveaways: Risky Kid Approved

9 Jul By Angie Six

Here at The Risky Kids, we’ve always tried to make good choices when it comes to our kids’ gear and playthings. Not only do we want well-made things that encourage open-ended play, creativity, or movement, but we want to buy them from the right people.

Magic Beans, a Boston-based toy and baby gear store, fits the bill for us. I met Sheri Gurock, who owns Magic Beans with husband Eli, at BlogHer in 2009. I loved the idea of parents, who really are the experts in knowing what works and what kids love, helping parents like me find the best in toys and gear out there. And while we can’t shop locally (which we always love to do), we can certainly feel good about supporting a family-owned small business.

If you’re like us and can’t get to Magic Beans in person, don’t fret. Their online shopping experience is top-notch. I love their Top 10s lists, as well as their gift guides, which help you narrow choices down by age, gender, price, theme, and more.

Just to give you an idea of how great their selection is, take a look at these Risky Kid-approved toys:

Check out the Wobble Deck! Balance boards are perfect for Risky Kids trying to improve their balance, coordination and reflexes – you know, for all the tree-climbing, slacklining and skateboarding they love to do.

We’re big fans of balance bikes. Thanks to ours, Eli was riding a two-wheeler at 3. What I especially love about the KaZAM balance bike is that it unlike the wooden balance bikes you see, this one looks like a big kid bike. That made a difference to our little guy, who wanted nothing more than to ride bikes with the big kids.

The Stomp Rocket is our go-to gift birthday gift for boys and girls alike. It’s super easy for kids of all ages to do, and they’re stoked to see just how high they can get the rockets to soar. Hours of fun, I promise.

July is always an exciting month at Magic Beans. It’s their birthday month (Happy 8th Birthday!), which means they’re celebrating big. 31 days big, in fact. Each day in July, Magic Beans is giving away one of their fabulous products. We’re talking big, like Maclaren strollers, Stokke Tripp Trapps, and the one I’m keeping my fingers crossed for – a Playmobil Future Planet collection.

Visit the Magic Beans 31 Days of Giveaways! page every day during July to find out what item they’re giving away. In addition, they’re also offering exclusive deals and sales to go along with some of the giveaways.

I hope you win – let me know if you do!

Filed Under: Around the Web, Playthings

DIY Darts (Perfect Preparation for the Zombie Apocalypse)

19 Jun By Angie Six

The books you own and leave out around your home say a lot about you. I wonder exactly what our visitors think when they see this book on the toy shelf:

Mini Weapons of Mass Destruction

Funny, no one wants me to host playgroup anymore …

Our more cautious visitors might want to stay away for just a little while, as Eli pulled out the book on Saturday morning and asked if we could make something. After narrowing the choices down to the ones for which we had materials handy, he chose long darts (I had to steer him away from the mini flame throwers, what with the burn ban and all – you know we’re all about safety here).

They were relatively easy to put together. A little too tricky for a 4-year-old to accomplish himself, but Elena was able to make one without any assistance. The throwing part though? Let’s just say Eli can do it well enough that a) he get a bulls-eye b) we moved darts into the garage and c) he’s going to be a bar darts prodigy well before he can see over the bar. Overall, they’re quick to put together and surprisingly sturdy.

If you have a tinkerer in your house, I highly recommend this book. There are definitely projects in here that don’t require fire or needle-sharp objects that will still be thoroughly entertaining for kids and adults alike. Beyond darts, you can choose from a variety of launchers, bows and slingshots, catapults, and targets.

And now, for those of you who like to live dangerously, here are instructions to build your own long darts:

Materials:

4 toothpicks
Masking tape
1 small metal pin
Thread
Clear tape
Card stock
Scissors

1. Using masking tape, tightly wrap 4 toothpicks together to form a square bundle. Leave about 1/4″ of the front end of the toothpicks unwrapped, as well as about 1/2″ of the back end.

2. Wedge the pin into the front center of the 4 toothpicks. A pin with a small head or ball works best. Once you have it wedged in there, tightly wrap the front end of the dart with thread. Continue to wrap it until the pin is nearly immovable. We found it easiest to anchor the thread under the masking tape and then to wrap it with clear tape after you’re finished winding the thread.

3. Use the card stock to make the dart fins. The cardboard that cereal boxes are made from works great, too. Cut out a 3-in x 1 1/2-in rectangle.

Fold the rectangle in half to create a double square (the square will be two layers thick).

Use scissors to cut out a triangle shape from the folded card stock. Remove the extra material from both sides (this is trash). When finished you should end up with two triangles of the exact same size. The triangles should be separate, not connected at the tip.

4. Place the two cardboard triangles side by side.

On the first triangle, cut a small slit from the top point of the triangle to about halfway down. On the second triangle, cut a slit from the midpoint of the bottom edge to about halfway up the triangle.

Slide the two triangles together to form the rear fin of the dart.

5. Slide the rear fin assembly into the 4 toothpicks on the rear end of the dart so that one fin is wedged between each toothpick pair. The pressure of the toothpicks will hold the fin in place. Your darts are finished and ready for throwing!

As much as we joke around, we are serious about dart safety. Darts have a dangerous point and are not meant for living targets. Zombie targets drawn with chalk on the garage wall are totally fine, though, and probably a wise way to prepare for the impending zombie apocalypse (100 points for the brain!). You can print out a dartboard template here if you don’t have a dartboard. There are a few available in the back of the book as well.

Filed Under: Books, Playthings

50 Dangerous Things: Make a Slingshot

11 May By Angie Six

Task: Make an awesome shooting tool.

Requires:

Forked stick

Rubber bands (Medium to long rubber bands work best. You can always tie a couple together if you don’t have bigger ones on hand.)

Scrap of leather or cloth

Pebbles, peas, flower buds, acorns … pretty much any small object for ammunition.

Clear area (without people, pets, or other things that might get damaged)

Possible Hazards:

Danger to others (depending on your aim!)

Projectiles (you’ll shoot your eye out!)

Property damage

How It All Went Down:

In a circumstance of happy coincidence, Eli and I found the perfect forked stick on our way to throw rocks. Therefore, that’s my first piece of advice if you want to make your own slingshot: always be on the lookout for the perfect stick. Nothing will slow your weapon-making roll like not being able to find a single useful forked stick when you want one.

After that, it was pretty simple. We chose a piece of fairly thin, supple leather for our ammunition pocket. Elena followed the instructions and put the slingshot together herself in about 5 minutes. It’s a sturdy little weapon (okay, we might have needed a little bit of duct tape), and it’s been fun for the kids to work on target practice. It’s not hard at all to launch a pebble a great distance … it’s the aim and accuracy that takes lots of practice.

We’re on the prowl for more perfect sticks. One slingshot isn’t going to be enough, especially over the summer. They’re fun and very portable and the envy of the neighborhood. Every kid wants to try it and every parent yells at the other kids to get out of the way (rightly so). Without realizing it, the kids are learning about aim, trajectory, effect of ammunition size and shape … basically their own little hands-on version of Angry Birds.

If you just can’t find that perfect stick or you want to bypass the whole DIY bit, you can purchase a ready-made slingshot.

Slingshot how-to

Make a pocket for your slingshot. Cut a small rectangle out of leather or a scrap of sturdy cloth. You can either tie the rubber bands to the pocket, or cut two small holes at the edges and loop the bands through.
Assemble the slingshot. Tie the rubber bands to the ends of a forked stick.
Gather your ammunition and get ready to shoot! Place your ammunition in the pocket and trap it by pinching with your thumb and forefinger. Hold the handle steady at an arm’s length. Pull back on the pocket, aim, and fire!
Have fun coming up with different targets and ammunition. Aluminum cans, paper bulls-eyes and lines of action figures make great targets. Of course if you have terrible aim, you can always start with the broad side of a barn.

Did you ever own or make a slingshot as a kid? If you make your own, I’d love to see your photos on our Facebook page!

Want more? 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).

Filed Under: 50 Dangerous Things, Playthings

Slackline Is Not A Crime, But It Is Crazy Fun

18 Apr By Angie Six

If you’re going to be a risky parent, it’s good to find risky friends! No-holds-barred play loves company. We had the best kind of company over Spring Break, my good friend Lisa. She doesn’t let anything hold her back – not even knee surgery can stop her! She might not be able to run anymore, but that doesn’t mean she can’t kayak. Or skateboard. Or even better: master the slackline.

Lisa came to visit with her son, Thomas, and they brought the coolest risky gadget ever: a Gibbon slackline. She had it set up between two trees in a jiffy and the kids (big and little!) were all over it.

It’s not easy, but the best things in life take some practice. The kids spent hours playing on it, and my kids were so sad to see it (and our company) go. More than just a fun way to spend an afternoon, the slackline promotes balance and coordination, builds self-confidence, encourages perseverance, and most importantly, it’s crazy fun.

Think the fun is over once you master getting from one side to the other without falling? Take a look at this: