Potomac Stories

by Carol Hilderbrand, physical education teacher and department chair

Every day of this school year, as I meet Lower School students for their physical education classes, I am greeted with the same question from each of them: “What are we doing in PE today?” I even have a T-shirt that features this phrase on the front, and the back lists all the activities we do in PE throughout the year: running, walking, sliding, galloping, skipping, hopping, chasing, fleeing, dodging, jumping, landing, balancing, rolling, striking, kicking, throwing, catching, volleying, dribbling and most importantly, having fun! As the summer approaches, it’s a great time to think about that question: What will you do this summer? Here are some family-friendly activities you might enjoy at home or in your neighborhood.

• Build an outdoor obstacle course - nothing too fancy, just obstacles you can move safely over, around, through, and maybe even under. See how fast you can run through it. Challenge a family member to try it with you. Be creative and mix it up, then try it again.

The options are limitless. You may choose to use shoes as cones that you zig-zag dribble a soccer or basketball through it,  then jump over stuffed animals, crawl under patio furniture in your backyard, and do jumping jacks. I encourage you to incorporate various types of movements into your course, such as running, skipping, hopping, rolling, and crawling. Before you start creating, make sure to talk to the adults about your plans. As with PE, safety is important, so make smart choices.

Play Games with friends & parents  

• Try a backyard game of Red Light, Green Light, with others. Make it more challenging on a hot day by asking everyone to hold a paper cup of water during the game, and see who can spill the least amount of water.
• Draw hopscotch on the sidewalk with chalk. Challenge friends and parents to a game of hopscotch.
• Try to toss and catch a water balloon to yourself and challenge a friend or parent to compete against you. How many tosses can you do together before it breaks? You can also play catch with others.
• Set up different targets outdoors, and see if you can throw a ball and knock them down. Increase your distance from the targets. 

Play Court Games 

• Draw a 4-square box with chalk and try playing 4-square with friends or parents
• Badminton, Pickleball, and Volleyball are great lifetime sports to play outdoors with friends and family. 

Traveling Fun

• Walk or hike with friends and family. Take a walk around the neighborhood, make a game of it, and see how many things you can identify that begin with a certain letter. Or see how many steps you have completed during your walk. 
• Bicycle riding - take a ride to a park with friends or parents, do a few fitness activities (jumping jacks, planks, mountain climbers, stretches), then cycle back home.
• Swimming with friends - Go to your local pool and play in the water with others.

Play a sport with others 

• Play a sport or activity together as a family, but instead of competing for the winning score, combine your points. For example, while shooting hoops, how many can the family score together? OR, how many catches can you and your child make in a row from various distances apart? 
• Play a game of tag
• Go bowling or play miniature golf
• Share your unique talents with others. Talents could include. Jumping rope (how many jumps can you do in 2 minutes) or jump rope tricks, hula hooping, creating dance moves, ball tricks (dribbling basketballs, juggling).
• Create your own at-home workout circuit. Share ideas for creating exercises or movement challenges that the family can do together, such as jumping jacks, yoga poses, planks, curl-ups, short sprints, squats - you don’t need to buy expensive equipment, just be creative together as a family.

Have a fun, active, and safe summer!