How Many Ways Can You Use Snow to Occupy Your Grandchildren?

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Dirk_Grover]Dirk Grover
We are preparing for the visit of our grandchildren over Christmas by devising physical activities they can enjoy if it snows. I have to confess a certain interest in this since these methods are designed to use up their energy out of doors rather than running madly around the house. In the summer they can use the various games we have devised in the garden using common objects like a plank of wood, rope and poles or even old car tyres. the problem is that most of these need to be in the garden rather than in the house when the weather is bad.
Snow is of course a boon for skiing or tobogganing if you have a suitable slope. Talking of slopes our grandson expects to be pulled up the slope after he has tobogganed down it. It does get quite tiring and as we get older we would like to take it a bit easier. Our tug of unequals suggested the answer. By using a pulley and tying the end of a tow rope to a tree we could halve the effort required to pull him up the slope. This meant that our other children could do the job equally well. Of course they had to walk twice as far but I am in favour of youngsters using up their energy in constructive ways.
Since it is quite a walk to the nearest suitable slope we have turned our attention to devising winter activities in the garden. Our obstacle course involving planks of wood and aerial runways has been turned into a winter version requiring surmounting mounds of snow and the gulleys between them. The slide can be mounted on a mound of snow to give the slope required and an aerial runway can carry them over the mounds we clear from the path.
The reader may realise that there is a hidden benefit for us since we expect our grandchildren to help prepare these activities and if this involves clearing the snow from the path then we have a ready supply of snow we cab use in the construction.
I have been wondering whether we can use the old car tyres in some way. One thought is to mount several on top of each other which can be filled with snow to give the basis of a snowman. If we tamp down the snow inside perhaps we could then remove the tyres one at a time and leave a column of compact snow for our snowman, we will have to report on this later!
Dirk is a father of 3 and a grandfather of 5. He has been devising various ways of using simple equipment to amuse children and save money into the bargain. His web site is http://www.gardenplayground.info
Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?How-Many-Ways-Can-You-Use-Snow-to-Occupy-Your-Grandchildren?&id=6731823] How Many Ways Can You Use Snow to Occupy Your Grandchildren?