Weeding the Garden... A GAME!

Wet and cold weather keeping you inside this week? Here's a fun indoor game for kids and grown-ups alike!

"Weeding the Garden" is played by placing a line down the center of the room, dividing it in two equal parts (you can use a jump rope or a length of masking tape as the center line). Next, you and the kids get some old paper out of the recycle bin... newspaper ads and used office paper work just fine. Wad up the papers into balls (this is loads of fun on its own!). You'll need about 20 wads of paper. Toss half of the paper wads on one side of the line, and half on the other. Divide into two teams (1 or more people can be a "team").

Now, here's the story and the action part of the game! The paper wads are "weeds" in your "garden" and you want to throw all your weeds over the "fence" (the center line) onto the opposing team's garden... but they are doing the same to you! Set a timer for one minute, get in your "garden," and begin "weeding" as fast as you can. When the other team throws weeds into your garden, just keep throwing them back! When the timer rings, freeze. Count which team has the fewest weeds.

Sound fun? This idea came from the Laurel Chambers at the Northcoast Nutrition Collaborative... visit their website and just click on a fruit or vegetable to get a fun energizer game! Also you can check out more active ideas like this in "Sneaky Fitness."