Stuck inside with the kids on a rainy day? Clear out a room, remove any breakables, and play this fun indoor volleyball game. You can get a little exercise, get the ants out of the pants of the kids and have a great time together.
The object of the game is simple: volley the ball back and forth over the string as many times as possible. You don’t keep team scores, so it’s a cooperative effort. Try each time to beat your previous best.
To set up, tie a piece of yarn or string across the room. Make sure it’s tied to immovable and safe objects. The height isn’t too important, but if you’ve got some knee-high players, lower is better. If you want, hang a few lightweight cloths, like handkerchiefs, over the string to make it more visible. Blow up a few balloons. You only need one to play, but you might pop a few, and you might want to try a round or two with more than one balloon.
To play, separate into two teams, one for each side of the string. Serve the ball over to the other side and then count how many times you can hit it back and forth over the string. The only rule is that you can’t catch the balloon and then throw it over. You have to hit, or volley, it over.
You can make some rules to make sure everyone gets to play. For instance, you can say that players on each side need to take turns hitting the ball, or they need to hit it to each other before it can go over the net.
You can make the game harder by having two balloons going at once, or making a rule that players have to twirl around once before or after they hit the balloon.