A BEDROOM SWING
What started out as an architectural detail in my 9-year-old daughter Kate's bedroom -- a large exposed beam -- became a framework for fun when we suspended a swing from it. We used two large eyebolts, each big enough to hold 500 pounds, some nylon rope, and a wooden seat. Kate loves soaring into her bed each night, and the swing is the first stop of every playdate. My older daughter, Anna, age 13, wanted to get in on the fun, so she now has a hanging hammock chair and a suspended pull-up bar in her room. One day my husband, Taylor, and Kate even tried a tire swing, but that was taking things too far. "It smelled," says Kate. "And I kept bumping into it."
AN ALL-AGES GYM
At first, it was just a treadmill in a spare bedroom. But mom Melody Godfrey of Selah, Washington, had bigger ambitions for her family's "fit room." To lure in her five kids, ages 2 to 10, she outfitted the room with a small trampoline, a rope ladder, a swing, climbing holds anchored to the walls, jump ropes, exercise balls, and -- suiting the modern gym -- a TV for exercise videos and a stereo for workout music. The result: a spot that makes being active irresistible. "As soon as they do their homework, we head in there, and we all have fun together," says Melody.
AN INDOOR SPORTS SPOT
How does a humble unfinished basement get reborn as an indoor sports center? "It started out as just a place where my kids could kick a soccer ball around," explains Heather Dorsey, of Germantown, Wisconsin. To outfit the space for Riley, age 10, and Miranda, 7, Heather added artificial turf carpeting, netting to cover the windows, and padding on corners and walls. Then the kids took over. They've updated their underground arena to allow for football, gymnastics, and baseball, and they even set up a camcorder behind home plate to record their best games. "Our winters are long and cold," says Heather. "Now when the kids have excess energy to burn -- and when don't they? -- they go in the basement and play ball."
