Few Kids will remember what they watched on TV last week. Kids water tables, fancy toys, and even TV are rarely a match for a simple game of Pooh Sticks. They will remember playing Pooh Sticks with you and one day they will play it with their own little adventurers.
Even in the best of times it can be difficult to keep kids busy. With the Corona Virus quarantine, now more than ever, we need to be able to answer the question of what are activities for kids near me? Now though activities for kids near me means in the front yard, back yard, or maybe a greenbelt path. Anywhere you can find moving water, you can play a version of Pooh Sticks. It is true that a Pooh Sticks bridge makes it better, but you can play without a bridge, too.
Kids love water so much that things like kids’ water table, kids’ water shoes, kids’ water parks, and kids’ water toys normally fill the ads and stay trending through most of spring, all of summer, and even a little of fall.
No expensive toys or exotic location is needed to enjoy water with your little adventurers, though. In fact, as more and more of you neighbors turn on their sprinkler systems for the year, you can probably play right in front of your house using the gutters and their water runoff.
How to play
At its most basic level Pooh Sticks is just watching something float with the current, often under a Pooh Sticks bridge, usually played with friends, but also a fun solo activity. Here are the basics of Pooh Sticks, but do not get locked into these rules.
1. Pooh Sticks can certainly be played alone, but it is most fun when played with a friend or big adventurer. This is a great time for big adventurers to teach water safety or point out interesting discoveries as you follow the sticks.
2. Once you find your Pooh Sticks buddy, now we need to collect some sticks. The Pooh Sticks should be of all shapes and sizes. Young adventurers are super curious and this is a great opportunity to notice if different shapes, sizes, or types of wood float faster than others. You can also shave patterns into the wood to make sure you can tell the difference between the Pooh Sticks. What a great way to sneak in a little knife safety! If you have paints or stickers or any other way to mark the sticks this can be fun, but make sure you can retrieve the sticks so you can teach your young adventurers a valuable lesson about taking care of our planet and not littering.
3. The picture of Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robbin on the Pooh Sticks bridge is one lodged in the memories of many an adventurer. If you can find a small foot bridge over a stream you are in good shape, but if you do not find a bridge there are many other ways to keep track of your Pooh Sticks on their journey. A bridge is ideal, though, because it builds a sense of anticipation and it helps young adventurers grow in patience.
4. Now select a Pooh Stick from those you gathered, maybe even have a quick discussion about tree identification while you are at it. If you are not going to mark the sticks, make sure to compare them to make sure you have some way to tell the pooh sticks apart.
5. Stand side by side on the bridge, facing upstream.
6. Pro tip: Check for fast moving currents, slow areas, reedy areas, areas with debris, wood build up, or trapped logs. Adventurers learn the best when asked questions and allowed to investigate. Ask what areas they think will be the fastest, see if they can predict the path of the sticks or who will win with different pathways and obstructions.
7. Take turns counting to 3, drop your Pooh Sticks into the water.
8. If the bridge has gaps, adventurers may find great joy in tracking their Pooh Sticks progress.
9. Once you lose sight of your stick, quickly get to the other side of your Pooh Stick bridge and wait to see whose stick comes out the other side first.
10. The adventurer whose Pooh Stick floats out from under the bridge first is the winner.
11. Now race again, maybe you collect your sticks or maybe you move on and try some different ones. Either way, it is surprising just how much joy can be found from such a simple activity.
Whether you have a Pooh Sticks bridge or if you are playing a different version of the Pooh Sticks game, please do not overlook this as a valuable tool in your arsenal to fight nature deficit disorder and to get kids playing outside.
If you are planning a trip in advance, or even if you need to fill some time on a rainy day, consider watching the classic Winnie the Pooh cartoon to plant the idea and build excitement for playing Pooh Sticks in your young adventurer. This is a YouTube Kids Disney approved link with a few quick Pooh Adventures. Watch Pooh and friends play pooh sticks. You can watch the friends play a game of Pooh Sticks below.
Maybe you even have some fond memories of watching pine cones race through gutters, or trying to damn up a local creek by tossing rocks into the water. You do not have to strictly stick to a race, or a bridge. Any simple version of this game will give you many a fond memory, and provide a much-needed break to anyone feeling trapped inside during the quarantine.
I hope you have fun! Please share pictures or ideas on social media #readysetadventurebox, I can not wait to see your adventures. For an incredibly in depth look at Pooh Sticks strategies, history, science and more, please enjoy this article from country living. Country Living - Pooh Sticks
Remember, every moment makes a memory, every game teaches a lesson, there is no such thing as a small adventure.
See you on the adventure trail, maybe we can share a bridge. Stay safe out there everyone.
