Almighty Dad | A stay at home dad blog

A ping pong table is not the most important issue that the Wilcoxes are dealing with.  However, the boys have been dying for one and during the dead of winter it would be a really nice indoor activity.  I had ping pong tables at every house I lived in growing up.  It was good family fun, along with the bumper pool table which none of our guests seemed to understand but which was massively popular anyway.  It’s not like I can go Spend 600 dollars (or more) on a really nice table; that’s out of the question.  The nice thing about ping pong tables is that all they are is tables of a determined size and height with some marking on them and a net in the middle.  Sure, if you want to get all professional about it you’d need the right wood for optimal bounce.  For kids who play basketball with rocks I don’t think that’s particularly necessary.  A cheap table works just as well.  During the winter, when the weather is bad and you don’t have bazillion dollars to go skiing, indoor activities are a must.  Here’s my list of basement activities that keep the mind and body active and reduce the chances of cabin fever.

1. Ping Pong: It’s like tennis, but miniature.  How cute.  Overly competitive people like me get a great cardio workout to boot.  When I was a kid my dad built a really nice table from scratch.  Of course, he’s talented that way.  The rest of us need to buy one. Luckily prices go from reasonable to massive rip off.

2. Bumper Pool: If you haven’t heard of bumper pool then you’re missing something.  Again, it’s miniature pool but with only two holes and a bunch of obstacles in the middle of the table.  It’s addictive and everybody loves is because it doesn’t take long to play a game.  It also doesn’t take up much space.

3. Darts: Cheap and addictive.  What else is there to say?  Perfect basement activity.

4. Bean Bag Toss: We have a bean bag tossing game for out Nintendo Wii.  I gotta say, there’s nothing like the real thing.  For people with really limited space it’s perfect.  Can be whipped out and stored easily and it’s inexpensive.  Perfect.

5. Arcade Basketball: I had a friend in Texas who had a little man-cave with one of these things.  I took my boys to visit him once.  They didn’t play with his big pool table, or on his Xbox.  They played arcade basketball.

6. Pinball: I list this for one reason only.  My neighbor when I was little had a pinball machine, and I would go to their house on any pretext just so I could play with it.  To this day I think of that every time I play pinball.  Do they even still sell pinball machines?

With winter around the corner, I’m deciding which of these options I’ll try.  We currently don’t own any of them.  This year, I’m afraid, it’s going to be the cheaper options, maybe Darts and a Bean Bag toss game.  I’m going to try to get a ping pong table because I just know the boys will love it.  Any indoor activity, and all of these qualify, that improves hand eye coordination, has a degree of physical participation, and is addictively entertaining, is a great idea for winter.  Ping pong was family fun time for us as kids.  On tough winter days we’d go downstairs and have a ping pong tournament.  Reading and relaxing is for upstairs.  Goofing off and getting some exercise is for downstairs.  Both are a must.

I’m sure there are more to add to this list, I just haven’t thought of them.  Anybody else have any that they had as kids or want to get for their families this winter?

Related posts:

1. Father/Son Activities