get moving!

Make a water slide: Squirt some shampoo on a plastic sheet, mist it with the garden hose, and GO!

Turn on the sprinkler!

Place a kiddy pool or rubber raft at the bottom of your slide!

Squirt some paint on a sheet of cardboard, turn on the music and dance!

Find some stuff to climb!

Gather up some loose parts and make an obstacle course!

make a snow slide!

Fill a bucket with water, give the kids some sponges or "splat balls", and have a water-fight!

Make some rain-sticks or ribbon-wands and go for a run!

Go hiking!

Rake up a fall maze or labyrinth!


On a rainy day, bring the radio out to a sheltered area and dance!

Find a hill for climbing up and rolling down. The Hooligans can do this for-ever!

Head to the beach and throw stones!

It doesn’t have to be fancy for the kids to have a blast!  You provide the room to run, and they’ll provide the energy!  Now, GO!

Playhouse Makeover!

One weekend this spring, after drooling over some gorgeous outdoor play-spaces over at Let the Children Play, and Teacher Tom, I decided to give our playhouse an Extreme Makeover.  This is what the playhouse looked like early Saturday Morning.  Fun hide-away, yes.  Stimulating play-space….not so much.

As luck would have it, we found a slide for 10 bucks that morning at a yard sale, so Mike got to work, cutting a hole in the front wall for the slide, while I raided our cupboards and closets for seldom used items to make the space a little more exciting.

A wire rack, a milk crate and some dishes and utensils made for a great kitchen.

I hung curtains and we made a thumb-tack geo-board.


We added clothes-line and a keyboard, as well as a chalkboard and an old phone.

Andrew put the Hooligans’ names all around the rafters with sticky foam letters. And Mike finished installing the slide.

A great weekend with the family all working together.  And Voila…take a look at the transformation!

 Hellooooo Hooligan Hut!