This post has been sponsored by Springfree Trampoline. All opinions are 100% our own!
When May of this year rolled around and I was looking ahead to the next 3 months of summer and knew it was going to be difficult. At the time, my 6 month old was becoming a little more mobile and my 5 year old and 3 year old were going to need lots of creative play if I wanted to keep them from destroying our home. While I didn’t expect to cross off all the fun “Summer Bucket List” items that we did the previous summer, I was completely unprepared at how home-bound we would actually be.
I’d quickly forgotten how confining 2 naps a day were. Then combined with the miserable Texas heat, we found the time it took to pack up between naps, gather all our sunscreen and gear, and head out just wasn’t worth the effort! But finding ways to keep 3 boys who all have different interests and abilities entertained at home went past my desire to be a perfect mom and become more about survival. I genuinely just needed them to survive the day without major meltdowns by 9am!
Enter our Springfree Trampoline.
It was only June and we’d colored our 1,000th coloring page and my youngest had literally started to paint the walls, when I said, “Out! It’s time to bounce.” It became a morning and afternoon activity to get out the wiggles, but quickly turned into one of our favorite ways to play thanks to a little creativity!
A Quick & Easy Chalkboard
Chalk. My boys are obsessed with it. Unfortunately, our yards don’t lend themselves to this activity very well. With a sloped sidewalk in front and a stained patio in back, it doesn’t leave much space to get artistic. Through accident, we discovered our trampoline makes the perfect canvas! Using any brand of sidewalk chalk (although Crayola tends to be the brightest), you can create a masterpiece on your Springfree that easily washes off to start fresh. We’ve spent hours outside just sitting in our trampoline drawing and doodling this summer.
Hopscotch
Since we know your Springfree Trampoline works well with chalk, expand on this idea and have a little fun! Grab your chalk and create a hopscotch board on the trampoline. Instead of a small hop, get silly and go for some big leaps from one square to the next.
Water Balloon Raindrops
One of my favorite activities to keep cool involves water balloons and an unexpected “victim.” This summer, I surprised my boys by filling up a bunch of water balloons. While they were jumping, I tossed balloons into the air and over the net to have them land inside the trampoline. They make a surprising splash! Moving — or bouncing — targets make it especially challenging and fun!
Keep Learning with tgoma
Even at a young age, it’s hard to compete with the appeal of a tablet. I get it! It’s colorful, noisy, and stimulating — the right combination to keep a kid entertained for hours. It’s not the actual tablet I have a problem with because they genuinely are learning through apps like ABC Mouse and PBS Kids. It’s the amount of time they want to spend on it! I want to make sure my kids are able to get a good balance of learning, exercise, and sunshine, which is why I love that our Springfree Trampoline comes with tgoma. tgoma works with any iPad or tablet you currently own and connects through wifi to the device on the trampoline. The games and apps work through sensors on the trampoline and provide endless fun and possibilities for everyone, from high-energy activity games, to educational games for exercising both body and brain.
The game Repeat Street is for early learners (and young jumpers) and encourages repetition of the alphabet, counting, shapes, and colors. Math Hopper uses movement to introduce counting, addition, subtraction, and even multiplication. Even their newest game Ditto is a fun memory building and matching game that’s great for all ages! (Learn more about how were having fun with our tgoma in this post).
Build an Obstacle Course
A trampoline’s design can make for a fun element to an outdoor obstacle course. If you think outside the box, there’s so many different ways it can be used! Using patio furniture, playground equipment and your Springfree Trampoline, you can create an outdoor challenge that’s appropriate for any change. Have your child go under the trampoline in an army crawl or make it a fitness challenge by having them do 5-10 jumps in order to complete the course.
Practice Taking Shots
Springfree Trampoline is constantly finding new ways to improve your trampoline experience, but one of the easiest and more traditional ways to make your backyard fun is by adding a basketball hoop to your trampoline. The FlexrHoop is soft and flexible, and it sits above the trampoline’s net so that you don’t limit your space inside the trampoline. It’s easy to install and weighs less than 10 pounds, so it’s easy to add when it’s time to mix it up!
Make It a Party!
The safety net on the Springfree makes it so easy to entertain kids in the smallest ways. If jumping loses its appeal, make it a party by filling the trampoline up with balloons! Don’t want to blow up that many balloons? Try for something a lirtle bigger like beach balls where you won’t need as many. Other possibilities: tie a few streamers to the net and let them wave in the wind while you bounce or add a parachute to the top and create a colorful “tent”.
There are endless possibilities to be had when you purchase a Springfree Trampoline that doesn’t require you to simply jump in a circle. Springfree Trampoline is built to last, so get creative (while being safe) and watch your kids’ imaginations soar!
Stay Fit with tgoma
Even parents find themselves cooped up indoors more than we should be. The Springfree Trampoline tgoma lets you bring at least one of your daily activities outdoors. tgoma Fit lets you exercise along with a professional trampoline coach right in your own backyard using your iPad or tablet. Choose from 26 trampoline exercises, or select a pre-set workout (Core Workout, Aerobic Fit, etc), and watch your calories burn off in real time.
If you’re looking for a way to add to your backyard fun, stop by one of Springfree Trampoline’s interactive demonstration stores in Frisco, Plano, or Southlake for a test jump and explore the endless ways you can get creative with the trampoline in your backyard.
Visit Springfree Trampoline’s website for more details!
As parents, we get so tempted to put our kids in front of the TV or put them on an iPad or computer game while we get stuff done around the house. But tgoma is perfect to keep the kids active without putting them in front of the TV. They have fun and burn energy at the same time!