fairfarmhand Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 I live in Middle Tennessee, so while we have relatively mild winters, most of the year from December to March is a cycle of chilly rain with copious mud. I hate it. I despise snow and cold weather, and our winter is so damp that is just feels miserable. We actually are more comfortable when it gets down in the upper 20s and the humidity drops. Give me 28 degrees with no wind over 35 degrees and wet...But i digress. Given that many of our indoor things will likely be closed this winter, does anyone have any ideas on how to stay busy and active during mud season, I mean winter? My son is one who needs outdoor things, although my girls can benefit from it as well. Things like skiing and ice skating are out. Throwing a foot ball is no fun when the yard is a mudhole. Shooting baskets won't work in the rain. Maybe I can take them to the parks and let them play tennis when it's not raining? We live rurally, so no biking. (our winding hilly roads are death traps for bikers.) Ideas? (We do have a farm, but it really is NO fun when it's so wet and muddy. I'm not kidding when I say our boots literally get sucked off our feet in the winter. So yes, we do farm chores in the winter, but it's nothing that anyone WANTS to do.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 Following for ideas. We have mud season in fall and spring. I like the tennis idea. We bike ride or walks since we live in the burbs. Do you have a trampoline? A driveway? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fairfarmhand Posted October 13, 2020 Author Share Posted October 13, 2020 4 minutes ago, kdsuomi said: Oh, are your kids the type who don't like to play in the mud and rain? When it rains here I go outside on purpose to do things in it because I love the rain, so my ideas likely wouldn't help. Not when it's cold. 35 degrees and rain is miserable. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fairfarmhand Posted October 13, 2020 Author Share Posted October 13, 2020 10 minutes ago, mommyoffive said: Following for ideas. We have mud season in fall and spring. I like the tennis idea. We bike ride or walks since we live in the burbs. Do you have a trampoline? A driveway? We do have a trampoline and a paved driveway. My kids do shoot ball a little, draw on the sidewalks when its dry enough, and we live at the top of a tall hill, which they coast down on these little carts that we own. So that is something. Perhaps they can build obstacle courses in the mud? 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 Do you have a garage or barn that could be used for a little gym area? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 Just now, fairfarmhand said: We do have a trampoline and a paved driveway. My kids do shoot ball a little, draw on the sidewalks when its dry enough, and we live at the top of a tall hill, which they coast down on these little carts that we own. So that is something. Perhaps they can build obstacle courses in the mud? 🙂 You are braver than me . I hate when they play on the mud, so much extra work for me when they come in. Don't know if you have the room for it, but someone said they bought a driveway set that can be a tennis net, volleyball net and one other sport. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elizabeth86 Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 IDK but we have the exact winters. The cold isn't necessarily bad, but it is so yucky and muddy. I never know what to do either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elizabeth86 Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 9 minutes ago, fairfarmhand said: Not when it's cold. 35 degrees and rain is miserable. No kidding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fairfarmhand Posted October 13, 2020 Author Share Posted October 13, 2020 20 minutes ago, mommyoffive said: Do you have a garage or barn that could be used for a little gym area? Hmmm...We do. We cleaned out our barn loft this spring so there is some open space out there. What to do with it? There is a climbing rope out there. My dh is hoping to build a pigeon loft up there for my son's pigeons too, but there;s still lots of space. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 2 minutes ago, fairfarmhand said: Hmmm...We do. We cleaned out our barn loft this spring so there is some open space out there. What to do with it? There is a climbing rope out there. My dh is hoping to build a pigeon loft up there for my son's pigeons too, but there;s still lots of space. How old are your kids? What are they into? I am not sure what a loft would work with. Dance studio Roller skating rink Punching bag Climbing wall Gymnastics Ninja course Play house Swings Indoor swing set Monkey bars 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fairfarmhand Posted October 13, 2020 Author Share Posted October 13, 2020 (edited) 6 minutes ago, mommyoffive said: How old are your kids? What are they into? I am not sure what a loft would work with. Dance studio Roller skating rink Punching bag Climbing wall Gymnastics Ninja course Play house Swings Indoor swing set Monkey bars We do have a play house up there with one of those giant swirly slides, but my youngest is 12 and they've outgrown it at this point. We use the playhouse for storage. Wall climbing might be an idea. Ninja course actually sounds like a fun thing. Maybe I need to have my son plan something on that. He could probably use the playhouse as part of it. Edited October 13, 2020 by fairfarmhand 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wintermom Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 (edited) 58 minutes ago, fairfarmhand said: We do have a trampoline and a paved driveway. My kids do shoot ball a little, draw on the sidewalks when its dry enough, and we live at the top of a tall hill, which they coast down on these little carts that we own. So that is something. Perhaps they can build obstacle courses in the mud? 🙂 Paved driveways can be great for ball hockey, lacrosse, basketball, mini-tennis, jump rope, bouncing ball games (e.g., 4 square), hopscotch, soccer, handball (European), tchoukball (like basketball but with a mini-trampoline to score and the ball is the size of a handball), roller blading, scooters. Some of these could also be done indoors if you loft is big enough. Edited October 13, 2020 by wintermom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rebcoola Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 Ninja course or rock climbing wall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pen Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 Rainy muddy Oregon- usually a bit warmer than 35 kids dress in layers as much as needed to be comfortable do outdoor play, build things, hike, run, and even shoot baskets in the rain little kids may play hide and seek, freeze tag etc. Rather scary to me as mom, but climbing up a rope into a tree was great big kid exercise. If you have room, a golf putting area could be set up with artificial turf or even in mud. Clothing may be more key than activity: outer layer water proof that can have mud rinsed off. Mud tends to be biggest problem for laundry, and drains, not the kids. So easy outermost clothes layering helps. Bog or Muck type boots seem to help. We had little kids rinse their boots in an outdoor dish pan filled with water before mud dried on, then switch to “indoor shoes”. Visored caps can help keep rain out of eyes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 3 hours ago, mommyoffive said: Do you have a garage or barn that could be used for a little gym area? 3 hours ago, fairfarmhand said: Hmmm...We do. We cleaned out our barn loft this spring so there is some open space out there. What to do with it? There is a climbing rope out there. My dh is hoping to build a pigeon loft up there for my son's pigeons too, but there;s still lots of space. Besides building a rock climbing wall, table tennis is good for all ages and done indoors. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pen Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 If you have a tall enough tree my son put up a 30’ rope like this for himself to go hand over hand up into tree... GSE Games & Sports Expert Polyester Gym Fitness Training Climbing Ropes (6ft to 30ft Available) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KF64LQX/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_fab_QRFHFbYNR08ZB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 Love the ping pong and golf putting idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pen Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 He also got one of these and started with assembly (it actually had to be replaced because the first one had mismatched holes so could not be assembled, but second was excellent and it was a learning experience to do it). It is outdoors. And so is a basketball hoop. Both are at driveway edge not in midst of total mud. Lx Free Power Tower - Home Gym... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0788JD5YB?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TABmom Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 Workouts on YouTube? There's some great ones. Challenges like doing a certain number of pushups every day for a month? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fairfarmhand Posted October 13, 2020 Author Share Posted October 13, 2020 53 minutes ago, TABmom said: Workouts on YouTube? There's some great ones. Challenges like doing a certain number of pushups every day for a month? My son did this with his dad and dad's coworkers. They all did 100 pushups a day for a month. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbutton Posted October 14, 2020 Share Posted October 14, 2020 12 hours ago, fairfarmhand said: Hmmm...We do. We cleaned out our barn loft this spring so there is some open space out there. What to do with it? There is a climbing rope out there. My dh is hoping to build a pigeon loft up there for my son's pigeons too, but there;s still lots of space. Foosball or air hockey table--they make smaller sized ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted October 14, 2020 Share Posted October 14, 2020 11 hours ago, fairfarmhand said: My son did this with his dad and dad's coworkers. They all did 100 pushups a day for a month. This British trainer put up a new video every weekday throughout (first) lockdown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rz0go1pTda8 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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