Wow! once again summer is flying by faster than our family would like. In just a few weeks our kids' school year will be beginning so I want to maximize their opportunities to get outside while the weather is warm and they have the time to play in the backyard or over at the neighborhood park. A nice way to excite your kids about playing outside is to pick up a
Get Out & Play! Essentials Pack from
Imagine Toys. In addition to providing some great items to keep your kids active and amused outdoors, purchasing this fun play kit helps with a larger societal goal of encouraging children across the country to play outdoors more by providing a donation to the charitable organization KaBoom! Imagine Toys will donate a minimum of at least 8% of its sales from the
Get Out & Play! Essentials Packs this year to support this national non-profit organization that works to bring balanced and active play into the daily lives of all children, particularly those growing up in poverty in America.
Imagine Toys generously provided a
Get Out & Play! Essentials Pack for A GEEK DADDY blog to test out and review this summer. I will be upfront and say that I was initially skeptical of this product being too "basic" to be of much usefulness...seemed like a bunch of "random" stuff just tossed in a bag... but upon receiving it have found it to be very convenient and have been very impressed. The
Get Out & Play! Essentials Pack gathers all sorts of child play items that you might have scattered all over your house, shed or garage and keeps them organized in a backpack that you can easily grab to take outside in the backyard or with you on a trip to the park. If your kids whine that they don't know what to do outdoors for fun or complain playing outdoors is boring there are plenty of things you can pull out of the backpack to encourage them to play with. Plus just pulling the items out of the backpack itself seems to add an aura of excitement for the kids.
Additionally, there is a
Get Out & Play handbook that comes along with the Essentials Pack that is full of ideas for outdoor games if parents and children may be stumped for an interesting activity to do. My kids have been asking this summer to play Hopscotch and I hate to admit I had no clue about the rules or how to play this game. I pulled out the handy guide that came with this play set and there was a whole section that detailed everything I needed to know. So we are going to play Hopscotch this weekend! Also included in the book are lots of suggestions for variations of tag, hide-and-go-seek, sidewalk, race, ball, and other types of games to capture children's attention and promote excitement with playing outdoors. All of the "basic" play items that I initially though were "randomly" included actually tie into games suggested in the included
Get Out & Play guidebook enhancing their value by being packaged together. This really is a great play kit!
Along with the book, this play kit is packed with timeless playground essentials including two jump ropes, an 8" dodge ball (the rubbery type I remember from gym class), a flying disc and a few boxes of sidewalk chalk. All thrown in a high quality backpack that can easily be slung over a shoulder to be carried to where you need to be. Backpacks are an item that I often come across and am disappointed by flimsy or cheap construction, but I can legitimately say this backpack is really well made and very useful for packing your kids up for an afternoon outside. The kick ball, jump rope and flying disc are also well constructed so they are sturdy enough to weather rough play and won't break after being used for five minutes by a kid. In my opinion the
Get Out & Play! Essentials Pack is ideal for use by children between the ages of 5 to 10 years old and if you have a kid in that age range I'd recommend you check it out.
The
Go Out & Play! Essentials Pack retails for $59.95 at Imagine Toys. You can select from an orange or purple colored backpack. With hundreds of cable channels to watch and video games to play on your television, it can be easy for kids to waste away hours sitting on the couch indoors, it is so important as parents that we make an effort to get our children playing outdoors to promote exercise and health living. This
Go Out & Play! Essentials Pack is a great resource for busy parents, or babysitting grandparents like the ones my wife & I depend on when we are at work, to utilize to encourage your kids to engage in some athletic and creative play activities outdoors.
For more information on Imagine Toys:
www.imaginetoys.com
For more information on KaBoom!:
www.kaboom.org
Disclaimer: A GEEK DADDY BLOG received a complimentary Go Out & Play! Essentials Pack from Imagine Toys to review.
