Indoor Active Game: Land, Sea and Air

A friend of mine taught me this easy indoor active game you can play instantly (and anywhere) with your kids. When the weather goes extreme, whether it's too hot, cold, windy or raining you can fill the long hours of boredom using our list of indoor activities for inspiration, and now I have a fun new inside game to add! It's called "Land, Sea and Air". You and your active, high energy, bouncy kids will love it.

Land, Sea and Air is a great active indoor game to play when you and the kids are stuck inside and they are bouncing off the walls! Or, when you are trying to make dinner because you can hang out in the kitchen while the kids hang out nearby. I love that it is a screen-free way to distract the kids, too! It also works really well as a quick and spontaneous wiggle-reducer! If the kids are getting really squirrel-y use the game as a "brain break."

Note: although the original version of Land, Sea and Air requires kids to be able to stand and jump, I've described an alternative version below for kids who do not have that ability.

What You Need

• Kids full of energy, bouncing off the walls
• Tape (optional), or a bit of floor in which two distinct areas are laid out. Painter's tape is best because it usually comes up easily. But test an area of your floor, if you are concerned.

How to Play Land, Sea & Air

First determine which part of the floor is "land" and which is "sea". If you are using tape, lay down a long piece. The area in front of the tape is "sea";  the area behind the tape is "land". Since our carpet is patchwork, the boys chose a gray square to be "land" and a blue square to be "sea."

Next, in the mode of "Simon Says," you need one person to be the leader.

The leader (that was me) calls out one of three directions: Land, Sea or Air.  When she says, "Land!" kids jump into the land area. When she says, "Sea!" kids jump into the sea. When she says, "Air!" kids jump as high into the air as they can.

The best part? There are no losers, everyone is a winner!

Play continues until everyone collapses on the ground laughing.

VARIATION: I surprised the kids a couple of times with random commands like, "Tornado!" "Earthquake!", to which they invented their own movements.

FOR KIDS WHO HAVE TROUBLE STANDING: 

• Kids in a wheelchair who can move their chair independently can go forward, backward and then choose an alternative motion for "air." Perhaps raise their arms, or let out a yell, or other motion/sound they can make.
• Another alternative would be to clap hands forward, behind the back, or over the head. Or clap side to side.
• Additionally, use sounds for each motion instead.

Do you have another alternative for disabled or otherwise challenged kids? Please leave your suggestions in the comments.

MORE INDOOR GAMES:

• To really get the wiggles out, try one of these 20 indoor ball games (really!).
• DIY indoor boomerang!
• Try this great boredom buster indoor game my kids made up!