Trampoline games give your children an aerobic workout that strengthens the cardiovascular system and tones muscles from head to toe, notes Brentwood Trampoline. Use a full-size trampoline in your back yard to keep the entire family active. The addictive device seems effortless and encourages normally sedentary children to exercise for hours. Bouncing, or rebounding, helps children and adults hone bilateral motor skills, build balance, increase bone density and improve lymphatic circulation.
Crack the Egg
Place children in a circle around the edge of the trampoline. Ask one child to sit in the center with her arms wrapped tightly around her legs. Have the other children jump around the circle, bouncing the "egg" in the center until she can't hold onto her legs anymore, recommends Families.com. The center child will tone muscles as she strains to hold her legs.
Rhythm Bounce
Children will naturally learn to bounce in rhythm with the trampoline's movements as they try to jump higher, notes Brentwood Trampoline. Play music with a steady beat to help children with poor natural rhythm. You can also jump with your child. Work to jump and land at the same time, which will help your child learn to sync his rhythms, or try to stay on the opposite beat. When you land, your child jumps and vice versa.
Sit-and-Stands
Stand with your child near the center of the trampoline. Jump, land in a sitting position, and try to stand again as you bounce up from the sitting position. Try to continue the pattern of jump and sit. This builds leg muscles and improves balance. It also helps your child build mental coordination as she concentrates on following the pattern. Families.com suggests asking multiple children to sit in a circle and follow the pattern. Each child that breaks the pattern is out. Continue until only one child is left as the winner.
Simon Says
Have younger children mimic what an adult or older sibling does in the trampoline version of Simon Says. Simple actions, such as jumping jacks and front kicks, tone new muscles when performed on a rebounding surface.
Build a Pattern
Ask all participants, children and adults, to sit around the trampoline pad or stand in a circle around it on the ground. Begin with the youngest, or least experienced, jumper. Have him perform one trick in the center of the trampoline, a jump, kick, flip or special type of bounce. The next player to take his place has to perform the same trick and add a new one. Continue until the last person has to complete all of the previous tricks. Be sure to specify that players can only do tricks everyone else in the group can do, notes Families.com.
Hot Potato
Have all players stand on the trampoline in a circle. Give one player a small ball or stuffed animal to be the hot potato. Players must jump continually as they toss the hot potato randomly around the circle. If any player falters in her jumps or drops the potato, she is out. The game continues until only one player is left.
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