Indoor Play - Following the Leader

I don't know about you, but I'm a bit of a wimp when it comes to cold weather. I just want to hibernate under a blanket with a book and stay warm. However my kids need to get out some energy! Today I'm sharing some fun ways to get your children moving indoors so they're not bouncing off the walls (without permission).

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Young kids love playing follow the leader - especially if mommy is playing too! When I played this with my boys there was much giggling because they could make mommy do whatever they wanted! (Now do you have that "following the leader" song stuck in your head from Disney's "Peter Pan" movie? I do.)

Classic Follow the Leader 

Everyone playing stands in a line. Whoever is in front moves around the room in whatever way they like - skipping, jumping, hopping, crawling, etc . . . Everyone in line behind them copies their movements. Change leaders after a designated amount of time. (usually shorter is better - like after 2 minutes). 

Animal Variation

This is played like classic, except the leader pretends to be an animal of their choice. When the teacher/parent gives a signal, the leader switches to a new animal. Let each child lead as 3 or 4 animals before switching leaders. You can discuss ideas before you start playing to avoid children not knowing what to do, or the parent/teacher can announce the animal the leader should move like each time, which would work well for the younger kids. Some good animals to use would be: elephant, monkey, lion, frog, bear, horse, rat, bird, etc . .

"What are you stepping in?" Variation

Christopher about to dive into the swimming pool he's pretending to walk through

I couldn't come up with a good name for this variation. What I'm trying to say is that the leader pretends to be moving on or through different types of ground, ie. walking on sand, grass, water, mud, glue,  snow, hot lava, peanut butter, ice cream, egg shells, etc . . . Whatever the children can imagine. As with the animal variation, discuss ideas before play begins, and give the leader suggestions if they're unable to come up with an idea of their own. Kids love imagining what they're moving through, but don't be surprised if the group doesn't stay in a line. It's fine to just let them all move individually as they would imagine. The leader can be the one to choose what they're moving through.

Train/Snake Variation

Have the kids put their hands on one another's shoulders. The person in front is the "Train Conductor" or the Snake's head. Let them lead the kids around the room for a while, then switch.

Mirror Variation

Ha! Christopher's face in this one just makes me laugh

This is not played in a line, but is still a "Follow the Leader" type game. Each person needs a partner (or it can be done in a group of 3, but 2 works best). One child is the leader, the other pretends to be their mirror reflection. Facing each other, the leader slowly moves his body - lifting an arm, moving a leg, turning a head, or even making silly faces while the child who is the mirror copies. To explain the game to Nathan, I reminded him of the scene in "Muppets Most Wanted" where Kermit is pretending to be Constantine's reflection in a mirror so he won't discover him. We love that movie! Make sure the children know to move slowly so the mirror child can keep up. After a while, switch who leads and who mirrors. This game is too difficult for toddlers, but preschoolers love it. Nathan (5) needed help moving slowly, so I went first and modeled how. This was good for helping him learn to control his body. 

Bean Bag Variation

To make "follow the leader" more challenging for older kids, give everyone in the line a Bean Bag (or small stuffed animal) to put on their head. As they follow the leader they have to try and keep it balanced on their head, or elbow, or back, or shoulder, etc . . . The kids really liked this version! They wanted whoever dropped their bean bag to be "out", but I told them this time we were just playing for fun. If they wanted to play that way later, it was fine by me. 

Obstacle Course Variation

If you're playing follow the leader in a large space you can set up a sort of obstacle course for the line of kids. We put out an old board to walk on like a balance beam, chairs to move around, used a table to crawl under, and a pillow to hop over. If the leader is old enough, they can be the one to design the obstacle course. For younger kids, just put out some different options, show how they can be used, and let the child lead. They may just want to hop over the pillow over and over and over again. And that's okay. As with other variations, set a specific time limit for each leaders' turn to avoid shouts of unfairness in turn time. If you have the resources, there are some fun movement toys that would be great for an obstacle course. These are some I have my eye on: a tunnel to crawl through, Curve-A-Beam to balance on, Gonge Riverstones to walk across, Activity Cones to run around, and a Tumbling Mat to roll on. The kids would have so much fun with those! (or at least I would)

Freeze Dance Variation

Play "Follow the Leader" to music. Instead of playing in a line, have the leader out in front facing the group. The parent (or leader if the kids are older) can be in charge of pausing the music to make everyone "freeze" occasionally. Watching kids try to dance like the leader child is dancing is pretty funny. And mommy dancing in front of all the kids is even funnier. Good times.  

I hope this post has given you some ideas of ways to keep your children active indoors! This post is part of the Gross Motor Activities from A to Z blog hop. Our letter is "F", for Following the Leader.

Not only can you find 26 great ideas for indoor play, but you have a chance to with a parachute play pack from the series sponsor, Discount School Supply Enter to win below:

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Mummy Math

This Halloween math game is a simple and fun way to practice math facts with children in the early elementary grades.

I have a confession - I've been a lazy homeschooler lately. It's just been me and Christopher and Nathan at home. Christopher's in 2nd grade. I've already done 2nd grade twice. I'm just cruising through things. But then the other day Christopher saw a picture of some of the fun school activities I had done with Maren and Joshua when they were his age and he figured that he was missing out on something. He asked when we were going to do something fun for school and made me feel a bit guilty. Sigh. Fine.

This game I call "Mummy Math" because I like the alliteration, but you could adapt it for reading too.

I cut out a mummy shape and then wrapped it in it's mummy clothes. Christopher's been working on his multiplication up through x5s, so I wrote numbers 2-5 on each piece of the mummy's wrapping strips on the left side, and on the right side I wrote the numbers 2-10.

To play the game, Christopher would pull back one flap of the mummy wrap on the left side, and then one on the right side, and multiply the two numbers together. If he got it right, he went again. His goal was to get the whole mummy unwrapped (because I had put a couple of jelly beans underneath the paper).

Nathan (preschool) also wanted to play, so I made a new mummy wrapping for him. This wrapping had a beginning sound on the left side and a word ending such as "at" or "ot" on the left side. Some of the words did not make sense when he smooshed the beginnings and ends together, but that's okay. He was just practicing sounding out words and laughed when we made a nonsense word.

Nathan also wanted to color in his mummy.

To play at your home or school, download the mummy template, print it on cardstock and cut it out. The kids can decorate their mummy if they like. Print out the wrappings template onto regular printer paper. I find the regular paper stays wrapped around the mummy a bit better than cardstock.

(And for some reason when you click the link, you may not be able to see the preview of both pages but both should be in the same document when you download it to your computer. I'm not a computer genius but I'm trying my best. Hopefully it will work for those who want to use it.)

click here for mummy outline and mummy wrapping 

You can cut around the outside of the mummy wrapping and then have the kids cut on the dotted lines to make the linen. (Fine motor skills practice! Yay!)  You can either write in the numbers/letters yourself or let the kids do it based on your instructions.

As a motivator (instead of sugar) you could cut out several mummies and write a joke on each one. Then once the child has answered the problems and unwrapped the mummy they could trade mummies for a new joke to uncover. Just a thought.

Other ways to use this idea:

 - have the kids apply the same operation to every number they open (ie. always multiply by 4, add 3, subtract 1 . . .)

- have the kids tell you what number they would have to add to "make 10" (i.e., if they open the number 7, they would tell you 3)

- as a matching game - write the same sight words on both sides of the page then have the child to find the matching words. If they find them they keep them open. If they don't make a match they wrap them back over the mummy. This could be a way to play this game with another person.

- matching number words to numbers, or color words to colors

I hope you find this idea useful for your Halloween School activities! Be sure to check out other ways we make learning fun around this time of year:

Halloween Book Activities

Candy Corn Math

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Top 10 Halloween Party Games

Kids love halloween parties! What's better than dressing up and getting candy and pretending things are scary?

Here are my kids' top ten favorite Halloween Party Games. All of these are simple and inexpensive. They would be perfect for a school party or just a gathering of friends at home. 

1. Ping Pong Eyeball Bounce

Decorate some ping pong balls to look like eyes, then let the kids try to bounce them in the buckets. They love the challenge!

2. Hungry Monster People Toss

Why do a boring old bean bag toss when you can throw little people into a hungry monster's mouth instead? Kids enjoy screaming when they get a person in the mouth.

3. Spider Fishing

My kids have always loved a good fishing game. At Halloween, we like to tie a spider on the line and pretend he's dangling from his web and going down to catch flies! (or anything else you can imagine, like . . . he's a giant spider going down to eat naughty children for example.)
Just tie a spider on top of the magnet you are using for your fishing game to turn it into a Halloween game.

4. Lair of the Spider Queen

This favorite spider game requires the participants to make it through the spider's web without getting caught!

5. Mummy Wrap

All you need for this game are some rolls of toilet paper and willing participants. You can make it a competition (see which team can wrap up their teammate the fastest) or just let kids take turns turning each other into mummies for fun.

6. Cauldron Drop

For this game you just need a pot to be your cauldron (I wish I had a cool black one but I didn't) and some small items to drop in it. I found some cheap party favors in the dollar spot at Target. Have the children hold the items up to their nose while kneeling on a chair and see if they can drop the items into the witch's cauldron so she can make her potion! You can have them keep all the items they try or just let them keep the ones they drop successfully in the pot.

7. Donut on a string

I don't have a picture of this one, but it's pretty much just how it sounds. It's one of kids' favorite games. Who wouldn't love eating a donut off of a string? You can tie up donuts on individual strings and hang them from something (like a large doorway). Have the kids put their hands behind their back and say go. The first one to finish their donut is the winner! (But really, everyone wins in this game, because everyone gets a donut!)

8. Unwrap the Mummies Head

This is a fun game involving candy. Wrap pieces of candy in white streamers or yarn to create a ball (aka mummy head). Kids take turns unwrapping the head to collect the candy.

(picture and post coming soon)

9. Roll a Monster Craft

This is a fun open-ended art activity. Kids take turns rolling the die and adding parts to their monster. You could have kids play a certain number of rounds, or let them play until their bored, or let them play until one person has at least one of each part on their monster and is therefore the winner.

10.  Halloween Musical Chairs

Yay for musical chairs! Play this classic game using some fun Halloween music! Also, for each round, you could have one of the children who is "out" spin a spinner or roll a die which tells the remaining participants how to dance during the next round (i.e. stomp like a zombie, fly like a witch, etc . . .)

Party Food:

And just because I want to, here are some of our favorite things to eat at a Halloween Party!

11. Decorate Pumpkin Cookies

This is a Halloween must at our house (mostly because I remember loving it so much growing up). We decorate pumpkin sugar cookies with candy corn and chocolate chips!

12. Monster Meals 

My kids love doing our Monster Meals each year where we turn ordinary food into something monstrously delicious.

I hope these ideas have been helpful! Subscribe by email and receive great ideas in your inbox every week!

This post is part of a "Top Ten" blog hop. Check out these other great Halloween posts!

Top 10 Candy-Free Trick-or-Treat Options from P is for Preschooler

Top 10 Halloween Crafts for Kids from Craftulate

Top 10 Halloween Activities on the Light Table from Where Imagination Grows

Top 10 Hands On Halloween Science Sensory Play from Little Bins For Little Hands

Top 10 Halloween Cloud Dough Recipes from Lemon Lime Adventures

Top 10 DIY Family Halloween Costumes from Bare Feet on the Dashboard

Roll a Monster: a Halloween Art Activity

This is a creative and fun art activity for elementary age kids during the Halloween season.

Last winter during school we played a game we called "Roll a MONSTER Snowman" which the boys really enjoyed.  I decided for Halloween we needed to play again and just make monsters.

We started by deciding what things we thought monsters should have.  The boys came up with the following list: fangs, horns, claws, arms, legs, eyes, nose, ears, and warts.  We made two die by taping paper onto cube blocks, using 'fang', 'wart' and 'eye' twice each, since it is easy to put lots of those things on your monster. 

The boys made a body and attached a head.  We then took turns rolling the die and adding the body parts to our monsters.  The boys loved it!  Nathan was especially happy that his monster had lots of teeth so he could eat people.  (sorry about the bad iPhone photos.  I didn't have my nice camera upstairs with me and downstairs was SO FAR AWAY!!)

Last winter when we made the snowman, we ended the game when someone had at least all the parts of a regular snowman. Since there is no regular kind of monster, I just called the game over when it seemed like the boys were losing interest.  We played about 8 rounds.  

After the game was over, the boys wanted to continue making monsters, so we left all the art supplies out on the table and let them do whatever they wanted.  I love watching them create!  

Snatch it! Math game

hmm. Not sure if I like the title.  Let me know if you think of a better name for this game.

After a while, Joshua was not enjoying playing our Math Ninja rescue game anymore, so I had to think of a different game to help him improve his speed when recalling multiplication facts.


This was around Valentine's Day, so I had some pink, heart-shaped marshmallows in the cupboard.  I brought some to the table where we were sitting and laid one in front of him.  I told him I was going to set the timer, and if he was able to say all of the flashcards before the timer went off, he could snatch the marshmallow and eat it.  If the timer went off, then I got to grab the marshmallow and eat it.  The fun happened when he would say the last flashcard right as the timer went off and then we would both race to grab the marshmallow.  Ah, good times.  Each time he successfully snatched a treat, I would lower the seconds on the timer and we would try again.

One tricky part about this game is that I wasn't always able to flip the flashcards fast enough and we would have to try again because it certainly wouldn't be fair if I was the cause of him not saying them all in time.  Then I figured out how to stack the cards so that they were easier to flip when he said one.  Phew.  Problem solved.

Joshua really likes this game and it has also helped his recall speed.

Of course I had to give my little sidekick a marshmallow too, because he's just so cute and asks so politely.
And he's spoiled rotten. 

Math Ninja Rescue

Joshua has been working on his multiplication facts.  He knew them, sort of, but hated drilling them and especially hated trying to do timed tests to get faster at them.  To help him improve his speed (and his attitude) we played this game we call "Math Ninja Rescue."


This is a variation of the magic sight word fortress I had done earlier with Christopher.  As in that game, we built a fortress out of magna tiles and laid out the flash cards leading up to the prison where some toys were being held captive.  But unlike Christopher's version, I used a timer.  Joshua had a little lego ninja whom he was using to make his way through the fortress to rescue the prisoners.  If Joshua was not able to reach the toys in the prison before the timer went off, I smashed the tower down and the toys all died. The poor Ninja just couldn't reach them in time.

setting up the bad guys on top of the prison

Before we started, I had him read through the flashcards running a stopwatch to see how long it took him.  It took 27 seconds.  I told him I would set the timer for 25 to see if he could get a couple of seconds faster.  The first time we played, he did not get any faster, and when the timer went off I roared and knocked down the tower very dramatically.  He screamed.  I think I surprised him. But then he laughed, so it was all good.

racing through the fortress of flash cards

We kept playing.  When he would reach one goal, I would lower the time more and he would try again.  After playing during schooltime for a few of days he was able to say the flashcards in 9 seconds.  It was a great way to improve his speed with his multiplication tables.

Nathan sometimes wanted to help me smash the tower.
Here he's pretending to be a lion in a cave and he comes
out to smash the tower when the timer goes off. 

Some days he couldn't handle the anxiety of me smashing his tower, and so we came up with another game to help improve his speed which I called "Snatch it!." (click to see that game.) Actually, I didn't really call it anything, but I had to call it something to put it on the blog, and that seems like an appropriate title.  You, of course, can call it whatever you want.

Sports Birthday Party

It is the season of birthdays for our family, and my son just turned 8!  He requested a sports party, so I set out to plan something fun.

Unfortunately, it was a super duper shmuper busy week. Friday night came and I was scrambling to finish a cake and think of party games.  Fortunately my husband saved the day and came up with the last game which was the hit of the party.

When the guests arrived, they decorated a party bag with sports stickers and pens.

We then played a version of "Simon says" called "Coach says".  The coach would tell the kids to do push ups, or jumping jacks, or sit ups, or run in place, trying to get the other kids out.  I gave each child a whistle when it was there turn to be coach which they really enjoyed blowing. They put the whistles in their party bags when their turn as coach was over.  The kids really liked the whistles, and I'm sure the parents loved them too.  I wonder how many kids still have their whistles, or how many mysteriously disappeared?

After playing "coach says" we went down into our unfinished basement and timed the kids running through an obstacle course we had set up.  They dropped ping pong balls into a plastic pumpkin, did a forward roll, walked on a balance beam, jumped through hoops, and shot a basket.  When they had made the basket, the timer stopped.  We played a couple of rounds.  I think the fastest time was 13 seconds.

The kids had fun with the obstacle course, but everyone's favorite game was dodge ball.  My husband had bought some official rhino skin dodge balls when he worked with the youth in our church.  The balls are pretty amazing. They don't hurt no matter how hard you throw (unless you are wearing glasses and the ball hits you in the face and pushes the glasses into your nose.  Then it hurts, according to my daughter). So even if you have grown ups playing with little kids, the grown ups can throw as hard as they like and the little kids won't cry (well, unless they hit my daughter).  My husband went to the church to pick up the balls that morning and we had a great time with them.

To play dodge ball, you split into 2 teams.  The balls are lined up in the middle of the room.  Each team starts by putting a hand on their back wall (or bookshelf in this case).  When someone yells go, the teams run to the middle of the room to grab the balls, but they have to get back past a certain line before they can throw the ball.  Once past the line they can throw at the other team.  If a player on the other team is hit by your ball, they are out and must go to the side.  If a player on the other team catches the ball you throw at them, then you are out and a player who was out on their side gets to come back in.  A team wins when all the other team's players are out.

We played many rounds of dodge ball then went upstairs to open presents and eat cake.

After presents and cake, the kids headed back downstairs to play dodgeball until their parents came.

The kids went home with party favor bags containing a whistle, sports mazes, a popper game from the party section at walmart, sports stickers, flippy frogs, and a gold medal.  My boy was one happy 8 year old.