Walking is good. But if you're with your daughter, you can't just walk. You have to play while you're walking. Here are some little games we've discovered while out for a walk around the neighborhood.

• Ice Jump

  As winter moves toward spring in our neighborhood, the piles of snow along the curbs begin to melt, glacier-like, forming an endless ice-shelf where they meet the road. Soon, little glacial rivers are flowing under the shelf, eroding it from below, while the sun diminishes its height from above. Since the ice is still attached, you wind up with a thin shelf, a foot or more wide, suspended in air an inch or two above the surface of the road. Should you happen to jump forcefully on this, you may experience a uniquely satisfying moment, as several feet, or even yards of the shelf collapse onto the road with a hollow-sounding "crunch".

  Since the shelf doesn't always collapse, owing to a complex relationship between thickness, height, and temperature, and because there is great variation in how much shelf collapses, this activity is highly addicting to an 8-10 year-old (and, I have to admit, pretty addicting to me as well). It's a pretty good workout as well - Try jumping hard on every bit of ice on a mile walk; you'll see what I mean.

• Peripheral Tag

  We sometimes play tag on our walks, but 2 person tag gets both boring and tiring fast. Here's a more interesting variation: "It" walks along, follwed by the other person, who tries to sneak ahead of "It", within arms length, without getting tagged. "It" cannot look back, but must rely on hearing and peripheral vision to tag.

-Alan Wagener