To Stay—And Play—At Home (NAPSA)—Increasingly, American families are staying at home for vacation fun instead of putting up with all of the hassles associated with traveling. This summer, the trend is to stay—and play—at home, but act like you’re on vacation. Eat out at local restaurants. Visit local attractions. Set up a Y Mini-amusement park in your own backyard. It’s a great way to get your kids away from the TV and computer and into healthy outdoor fun. Fortunately, backyard fun can be easy with little ingenuity and a new line of summer toys aimed at providing a fun, safe and healthy way for friends and families to interact, without breaking the bank. Here are a few ideas to consider: Separate the yard into “Wet Play Areas” and “Dry Play Areas.” It may be wise to have a “Quiet Play Area” too, stocked with paper and crayons, books, sidewalk chalk and thelike. Set up a table with chairs, drinks, plastic cups and healthy snacks—just don’t put it too close to the “Wet Play Area.” Among the games in that part of the yard can be a water balloon toss, a moving lawn sprinkler and the Slip ‘N Slide Big Splash. The 22-foot-long water slide gets kids super-wet with the addition of an automatic “splashand-dump” water tunnel that releases a bucket of water when the rider zooms through en route to the splash chamber. Slip ‘N Slide Asteroid Bowling comes with A vacation in your own backyard can be more fun with little advanceplanning. four inflatable “asteroids.” Riders can knock them down or slide aroundthese fun obstacles. * In the “Dry Play Area,” you can challenge the neighborhood with the Wham-O Backyard Obstacle Course. A fun way to encourage healthy competition among kids, it comes with an inflatable ball, a Frisbee Classic disc, two hurdles, five flexible tubes, five marker cones, a start and finish line and a stopwatch to time your friends. Create your own fun obstacle course and let the healthy competition begin just outside your back door. Have a flying disc competition. The Pro Classic Frisbee, Wham-O’s soaring disc, celebrates 45 years of high-flying fun. It’s available in three new colors and designs. You can learn more by visiting www.wham-o.com or calling 1888-942-6650.
