by Nicole Loughan 

This article is presented by The Dance Academy. Since 1987, The Dance Academy in Holland, PA has been offering professional dance training with a personal touch, instilling the love of dance to students and families throughout Bucks County. Under the direction of Miss Donnajean Kline (BFA in Dance, Temple University) and staffed by a group of highly-trained instructors, The Dance Academy has acquired countless awards and accolades each year at local, national, and international competitions. Through recitals, competitions, advertising publications, professional companies, and tours; Dance Academy students are spreading their passion for dance both here in the States as well as on international stages.

The cold has finally arrived, we broke out the scarves, hats, mittens and puffy coats, but somedays we have nowhere to go. This won’t stand as my son uses me as a playset in the absence of real monkey bars. I find myself climbed, slid down or used as a merry go round whereby my children run in circles around me until the static builds up so much in my pants that they become suction cupped to my legs.

Getting out of the cold is a must as my kids need to run, jump and play and I need to see other adults. It’s been a lucky year so far, with no major snowfall, but the recent drop in temperature means our winter confinement might be about to begin.

Read on for tips on ways to fight off cabin fever as the cold approaches.

Go to indoor gymnasiums – We live in a time with indoor play places can be found at chain restaurants like McDonalds, Chick Fil-A and Burger King. Back in the day the only way to play inside was with a lot of quarters and a pizza purchase at Chuck-E-Cheese. Restaurants now offer indoor playgrounds for which the price of admission is as low as a milk, juice fruit cup, or yogurt snack.

Yoga On Demand – Let’s face it sometimes the weather outside is just too frightful. Anybody with Comcast on Demand can currently go to the fitness menu and select yoga, then children’s yoga and engage in a brief, less than 10 minute, yoga activity. If you don’t have Comcast you can do a search for children’s yoga on YouTube. My children both have their own yoga mats in the front room closet and if I notice them getting too anxious I put on our kids yoga, with themes like farming, colors of the rainbow or cooking. The opening songs to the kid’s yoga videos sends them running to the closet for their mats. I grab one for myself too and make it a family affair.

Join a local gym with kid’s activities – Little Gyms and YMCA’s are full of activities to keep kids moving in the winter. At our local YMCA we have attended winter mommy and me tumbling classes, swimming lessons and sports sampler classes. If a whole season registration sounds like too much of a commitment call and see if there are sample classes or visit days available. Samplers are a great way to make sure your children like the class and it will work with your schedule.  If you missed the start of the season you can sometimes call for a discounted rate adjusted to reflect the remaining classes.

Take a cooking adventure – Last winter we made a trip to our local library and picked up a cookbook for kids. In it we found a recipe for delicious soups and healthy cookies. There are several kid friendly cookbooks available at local libraries with family friendly food adventures. One is the “National Geographic Kids Cook Book: A Year Round Food Adventure.”  For the more courageous eaters there is a whole series of “Cool” cook books, with diverse meal offerings. There is an entire series of different foods from different cultures such “Cool African Cooking: Fun and tasty recipes for kids” or “Cool Chinese or Japanese Cooking: Fun and tasty recipes for kids”

Get Out of the Cold in Bucks County

Bucks is full of places to let loose in the winter. There are many indoor play places that offer bouncing, indoor gyms or great open space for running.

Bounce U in Horsham

Offers inflatables and is a popular place for birthday parties. For information on weekday availability and open bounce times visit: bounceu.com or call (215) 674-8644

420 Babylon Road
Horsham, PA
horsham.pa@bounceu.com

Bouncing Off the Walls

Has soft mats, varied play areas and moon bounces. For more information visit their website atbouncingoffthewalls.com

8919 New Falls Road, Suite 8C
Levittown, PA

Giggleberry Fair

All around play center with separate small children’s area including water play, video game arcade, merry-go-round and large/play obstacle course for big kids known as The Mountain. More information is available at www.peddlersvillage.com/kids

Peddler’s Village
Route 263
Lahaska
215-794-4047

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