Location: indoor or outdoor

Materials: balloons

This can be played indoor or outdoor, but is especially great on a rainy day when you can't get outside. While playing with bouncy balls indoors might be too risky, balloons are much gentler.

Inflate a few balloons and invite your children to play with them. Challenge your children to work together as a group to try to keep the balloons in the air without touching the ground. You can even time this to see how long they can keep all of the balloons in the air.

Possible Extensions:

• For older children encourage them to hit a balloon back and forth with a partner like in a volleyball game (no net required!)
• Use paper plates and rulers to create "rackets" and use those to hit the balls
• Invite kids to stand on opposite sides of a couch or table and challenge them to hit the ball back and forth over the obstacle