Floor Hockey

I think of any activity that requires the express and direct usage of my floor as an opportunity to clean it well. When the truth is that I don't honestly get around to cleaning my floor very thoroughly often enough, then I'm actually kind of excited about something that forces me to accomplish the task.

Floor hockey is an activity that requires the express and direct usage of my floor, so I was, in fact, excited to be forced to clean my floor.

After the floor was cleaned and the furniture moved out of the way, I took a look at my inspiration online: no time for flashcards.com, which is an excellent resource for all kinds of preschool inspiration. I was first attracted to this idea primarily because my sons have and wear the same pjs as the author's son in the video that she posted. CUTE! Also, I love sporty activities, so we decided to give it a go.

The author suggested using left-over paper towel rolls as hockey sticks, so that's what we did. I fashioned two hockey sticks and two goals out of painter's tape and paper towel rolls like so:

 We also found a really soft, lightweight little ball to use as a puck.

From here on out, we had to deviate slightly from the flashcard website because we had three people playing as opposed to only two, but the general ideas are all the same. Basically, we used our hockey sticks to try and score in each other's goals.

Some items of note:

• I had to continually remind the kids not to use their hands.
• The kids loved having a turn to try out different roles: goalie or "hitter" as we termed it.
• Eventually our paper towel rolls died, so we substituted them for wooden spoons which worked even better.
• When daddy came home we got to play on teams and have a big hockey tournament--obviously, the MOST fun of all!
• My kids spent ALL day playing hockey after I introduced them to it. 
• They enjoyed practicing their aim by taking turns at free shots into the goal :-)

My favorite thing about this activity, besides getting my floor clean, was having such a prime opportunity to talk about and practice good sportsmanship--a much needed lesson in this household.