Kids’ toys are a steady part of the interior design in medium-sized family apartments. If you entered a home with active young children and found no toys spread all over the place, hanging around corners or inside crevices, I bet you’d find it unusual. So when the idea came to me that we should add a full-blown kids’ indoor trampoline to the innumerable floor dangers that were resident in our home, it took some serious consideration. But am I happy we did? You bet.
Entertaining kids indoors
While having two boys means that we spend most of our afternoons and weekends outdoors, it's not always the case. Sometimes we have to stay indoors and find new, fun ways to keep them excited and engaged without breaking any delicate items, such as the television or wooden plates.
Puzzles = Done. Bricks and Lego construction = Done. Painting and crafts = Done. Screen time (TV, Video games) = Done. So what now?
ENTER SmarTrike’s Indoor Trampoline For Kids.
Is the indoor trampoline truly an awesome toy kids can safely use indoors, and that’ll engage them till the point of exhaustion? Yes, it is. It creates a euphoric atmosphere your kid(s) would rather experience at public attractions.
Public ball pits and trampoline parks
Drive a few miles, open your wallet, and your kids are in color/noise/stimuli heaven. Public ball pits, water, amusement, or trampoline parks are hotspots for kids. Where else can you find dozens of kids charging at Bootcamp-level physical stimulation activities while parents sit idly across the room, reading emails and sipping coffee?
Heck, some parents have a subscription to these places, and I get them too. But these are still, sadly, not at home.
Tell me, are there times when you don't feel like getting all dressed up to meet other kindergarten parents? Times when the comfort of your pajamas wins over your kids' desire to frolic in the great outdoors? Me too! In these cases, I recommend our kids' indoor trampoline.
Multi-age solution
You’d recall I mentioned having two boys. The older one is four and a half years old and brawnier, and the other is a little over a year and more athletic. Spending money on separate age-appropriate toys and games is in our routine.
But that raises two (2) issues:
- Double the money: We spend more for the pleasure of seeing them enjoy new toys.
- Double the space: There is hardly enough room for hand-me-down toys from friends and family. Even the dedicated playroom is getting crowded.
Because of the age difference, it is almost impossible to see my boys enjoying the same game together. But I found a solution that exists within smarTrike's indoor trampoline for kids.
The mess
So we bought it, received it, unboxed it, and there it was — A ball pit for kids in our home. Our baby was exhilarated, crawling in and out of it, smiling and cheering.
At first, some balls spurt out of the pool as he threw himself in and out of it. Later, he started throwing the ball pit balls at us and his big brother, who in turn started throwing them all around the room while he impatiently waited his turn to use the indoor trampoline. And so I came up with a brilliant solution:
"If you want to use the trampoline, you'll have to pick up and collect all the balls." Surprisingly, he did. Over time, he took responsibility for collecting the balls without being asked to.
But what do you collect them into? Luckily, the good guys over at smarTrike made the ball pit pool collapse onto itself with a fastening cord that holds them all at once.
The health benefits of a kids indoor trampoline
We’ve all watched wildlife documentaries starring lion cubs, with the narrator explaining how they develop vital hunting skills through fun and games like playing hide and seek and wrestling each other. Well, your kid functions just the same way — Game activity plays a principal role in their overall development.
According to a NASA study, ten minutes of trampolining is a more effective workout than thirty minutes of running. They discovered that trampolining boosts blood circulation, supports bone health, improves digestion, stimulates internal organs functions, promotes lymphatic activity, and strengthens the immune system.
By improving blood circulation, trampolining ensures that more oxygen is transported to the brain, increasing your child's alertness, creativity, and concentration. The increased oxygen circulation also stimulates the release of endorphins, neurotransmitters that help reduce stress and anxiety and promote happiness.
The list of benefits goes longer: Child development
Regardless of how it is being used, the indoor trampoline for kids helps stimulate healthy brain functions that ultimately contribute to visual-motor and auditory-motor skills development. And while gently bouncing or jumping on the trampoline, your kid(s) can develop a sense of awareness of their body and surrounding environment.
Vestibular stimulation
The vestibular system lodged in the inner ear controls our sense of movement and balance. Bouncing on the indoor trampoline will train the vestibular system to grow aware of any motion within space and help your child develop a sense of balance.
Improved kinesthetic awareness
Kinesthetic awareness refers to the perception of body movements in space through sensations in the body (mainly the muscles and joints) rather than visual feedback. While navigating through space on the kids’ indoor trampoline, a stronger connection will be established between your child’s brain and body, making them more conscious of their body’s movements.
Good body awareness
Using the indoor trampoline will increase your child’s understanding of their body parts, where they are located, how they move and interact with objects.
Spatial awareness
"Where am I in space?"
"What direction am I moving in?"
“Where are the objects around me?”
Spatial awareness is an essential skill children must develop at an early age, and what better way to teach it than a toy that encourages free movement and physical exploration. The kids’ indoor trampoline and ball pit will help your child learn about their body’s position, the position of objects around them, and how they can move to interact with the objects.
Sensory integration
The kids’ indoor trampoline allows children to interact with multiple stimuli at the same time. Processing multiple stimuli simultaneously will encourage their brain to organize incoming messages and integrate the body's systems to respond appropriately and quickly.
Motor skills, coordination, and balance
Jumping on the kids’ indoor trampoline creates a constantly changing center of gravity. Your baby will learn to sense these gravitational shifts and respond accordingly by adjusting their positions. The balance, timing, agility, and rhythm developed during these movements will help improve overall coordination and support the development of their motor skills.
…what happens when they both want it?
The ball-pit-turn-mini-trampoline is so good that sometimes, the boys fight to use it first. The 4..5-year-old wants to bounce while the baby is in the ball pit so, he either whines or jumps in there with him (which looks like utopia for like 30 seconds before they start shouting). And the baby, who has just now left the ball pit that turned into a mini trampoline for kids, wants to go on the mat and gently bounce while holding the padded handlebar.
What happens when they both want it? I don’t have a solution yet. But if you find a way, please let me know.
Fold it up!
My spouse was happy with the kids enjoying the indoor ball pit and mini-trampoline but was concerned about the space it took in the house. I already told her that the thing folds nicely for storage, but I hadn’t followed through to show her that it actually did.
After she asked me repeatedly, I finally took on the task. It was a bit wonky at first because I didn’t know that I had to apply light pressure to some key pressure points, but once I got it, it was easy-peasy. It folds out of sight pretty quickly and doesn't take up much space.
Here's a tip: The kids’ indoor trampoline's padded handlebar, which kids hold on to so they can practice jumping safely, comes off when the trampoline is folded. Make sure you keep it out of your child's reach, as it is a bit heavy and can put too much weight on their skeletal frame. Don’t store the handlebar and foldable trampoline in the same spot so your child won’t attempt to lift it after bringing out the folded trampoline so they can persuade you into setting it up for them.
Grow with me value
Having a toy that will grow with my kids, offering an entertaining solution that adapts to their needs, is what makes the smarTrike 3-in-1 activity center super awe-mazing. You know how we boomers are—we
will always describe appliances that can last for up to a decade when asked what we think the best product for our family is. Nowadays, you're lucky if something survives past the 3 or 5-year mark.
By declaring a product is in its core multi-age, you can rest assured it is built to last. My life with the kids’ indoor trampoline turn ball pit has been nothing short of bliss, and my kids are having the time of their lives playing and developing essential skills.
