CABIN FEVER

The first day of spring is more than three weeks away, on March 20. Between now and then, we can expect rain, snow and even sun. As parents of preschoolers know, keeping kids active this time of year can be, well, problematic. Playing in snow is one thing, playing in rain is something messier. Timing play dates for the occasional 30-minute sun breaks is nearly impossible.

So until the grass at your neighborhood park dries up enough to support a pack of running toddlers, you can find other things to keep the preschoolers busy.

Swimming at the YMCA or a trip to Triple Play in Hayden. Running wild at Chuck E. Cheese’s or Savageland Pizza. Tubing at Silver Mountain. Parents know these are great options. By this time of year, however, they may suffer from “been there, done that.”

Parents have a number of options in their quest to tire out their kids. The recently-opened Jump and Bounce in Spokane Valley offers kids 12 and younger a place to run and jump on eight different inflatable structures. The heated and air-conditioned facility features big slides, obstacle courses, a bouncing boxing ring and other jumping games.

The 8,000-square-foot business – the first indoor facility in the area dedicated to inflatable play – came about because owner Shirley Roberts needed to do something.

A couple years ago, Roberts lost her job with an opthamology practice.

“Here I am, a 53-year-old woman, not quite prepared for retirement,” she said.

After a year of deciding what she was going to do, she got a call from a friend in Napa Valley, Calif., whose son was going to open an indoor jump place.

For a few months, Roberts kept hearing about the friend’s business. She soon realized, “God’s telling me something,” she said. “Why am I so excited about something someone else is doing?”

Jump and Bounce, located in a strip mall north of the Valley Mall, at 15310 E. Marietta Ave., is open Tuesday through Sunday. Roberts’ bread-and-butter is private parties – birthdays, play groups, day cares, schools. She offers a number of party packages and group rates. But she also has “open jump” times available.

Parents pay $6 per child for an hour of running and jumping. There’s even an area especially for toddlers 3 and younger.

“The whole focus is to get kids moving,” Roberts said.

Private parties may cancel open jump. Roberts encourages parents to call ahead to check for availability, at (509) 892-6655.

Bounce and Jump may be the only indoor inflatable business around, but other spots have indoor playground times for kids.

Some are even free. Several area malls, including NorthTown, the Valley Mall and Silver Lake Mall, have indoor play areas designed to give the little ones a spot to blow off steam.

Gymboree, at 13817 E. Sprague Ave. in Spokane Valley, offers open gym from 1 to 3 p.m. Thursdays and noon to 1 p.m. Friday. Cost is $9 per visit for non-Gymboree members. Call (509) 928-8575 for details.

Spokane Elite Gymnastics, at 5615 E. Broadway, opens its facility to preschoolers from noon to 1 p.m. on weekdays, and has done so for about four years, said manager John Stump.

“It’s a time for kids to jump in our net, swing on our rope, bounce on our Tumbl Trak, climb in the foam pit, and usually we have an obstacle course set up,” Stump said. “The Indoor Playground is really a great program.”

Cost is $6 for children 16 months old to kindergarten age, Stump said. Young toddlers, parents and first-time visitors get in for free.

Free play opportunities certainly will help toddlers and preschoolers get the 60 minutes of daily physical activity recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Association for Sport and Physical Education. But there is much to be gained from more structured activity, said Angela Luck, owner of Stretch-n-Grow in Spokane and Coeur d’Alene.

“Free play time is very important for childen, but having structured classes also is very important for children,” she said, adding that research has shown that children who don’t learn motor skills at a young age risk lagging behind their peers.

To that end, Stretch-n-Grow offers classes for children as young as 2 1/2, with some classes available for younger toddlers.

Classes usually include a health lesson, information on the 12 major muscle groups and how to work those muscles, hygiene, safety, and the importance of warm up and cool down, all geared toward young children.

“We exercise using balls and parachutes and obstacle courses and batons and whatever else the kids like,” Luck said. “Our goal is to get our heart rate up and we show proper technique.”

Stretch-n-Grow classes often are held at area care centers, or in conjunction with local parks departments. Open classes are available; call Luck or her husband, Brian, at (208) 691-1924 or (509) 954-6414.

Organized activity for young children is widely available through programs such as Stretch-n-Grow and others. The Y and various athletic clubs offer children’s swim lessons. The Eagles Ice-A-Rena has skating lessons for children age 3 and up. SoccerTots has programs in Spokane, Spokane Valley, Liberty Lake and Coeur d’Alene, geared toward kids 18 months to 6 years old. Funtastics in Coeur d’Alene offers preschool gymnastics classes, as does Spokane Elite Gymnastics.

Whatever activity parents pick, Luck said she urges parents to get involved, too.

“I would say the biggest, most important thing would be to do activities with your child,” she said. “You can have a whole basket full of balls, but if you get out there and bounce the balls, they’ll be out there with you.”