Preschooler Activity : A Big Maze

A maze and a maze.

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Outdoor Activities : Yet to do this Fall

With the weather getting cooler each day, I've found that we're not getting outside nearly as much as we were this summer.

The weather is still plenty nice to play all day outside, just with a jacket on instead. [Though that jacket seems to have bugs crawling in it or something, Henry just doesn't want to keep it on!]

To get us in the mood to play outside, here are a few activities that we can still do in this cooler weather.

1. Jump in the leaves, an obvious one, but you can't forget it either! Raking up the leaves as well as jumping in them can provide an entire afternoon of entertainment for children.
   
   

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Outdoor Play : Balance Beam

A backyard balance beam is super simple!

Grab some scrap wood from the garage or shop and lay out in the lawn.

[If you have clean boards, bring it inside for an indoor walk the plank activity.]

Add corners where you like, make a maze if you please.

[Or one simple piece of board is enough, too.]

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Outdoor Play : Scavenger Hunt

It has been a while since I made a scavenger hunt for Henry.

This time I wanted Henry to be more self-sufficient at it.

So I made a scavenger hunt guide with pictures [as well as the word].

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Art : Frozen Painting

Beating the Heat has been fun last week. 

Even though it was miserably hot, we used lots of ice to keep us cool.

So far, George has played with ice cubes [a simple sensory activity for babies] and Henry discovered a healthy snack of fruit in a frozen ice excavation.

We even managed to keep cool while creating art!

I've seen a lot of ice cube paintings out there, 

where you color some ice cubes with some food coloring.

It often gives a watercolor effect, often very pastel.

For this paint project, I was looking for a something a little more... vibrant!

So we got artsy with some frozen paint.

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Sensory Play : Frozen Excavation

In order to Beat The Heat last week, we froze some berries and excavated them out!

Using tools to find hidden treasures is thrilling for a preschooler! 

Henry was so excited to dig out his buried treasure.

We got started by making the buried treasures together.

We had some leftover fruit in the fridge: blueberries, black raspberries and grapes.

Add them to an ice cube tray partially filled with water and freeze them again.

[We also made a larger buried treasure in a Pyrex dish.]

I think Henry snacked on as much of the fruit as he did burying them.

[This might be a sneaky way to get in a healthy snack!]

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Baby Play : Ice Sensory

I'm claiming this week as Beat The Heat Week here on hands on : as we grow. This past week has been miserably hot and humid here, 100+ degrees and add on 95% humidity. Miserable. This week doesn't look like its going to be much better either.

Along with breaking out the pool to cool off every day, we found some other activities to do outside and make the heat more tolerable. We beat the heat.

Something easy for George to do [that Henry enjoyed as well] that kept him cool was simply a bowl of ice cubes. Though they didn't stay frozen long, we added to them to keep the activity going.

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Kid Talk : Construction Site

During some outdoor play after supper, 

Henry got his big backhoe out and started digging on the hillside.

When I asked what he was doing, the following is his answer.

I'm tearing down a building.

A bakery.

A building that a bakery was in.

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Outdoor Play : Tin Can Forest

A forest in the sandbox for the Forest Fiesta!

Henry and I made a real forest with upcycled tin cans, tree branches and a few plants.

Henry loves picking up sticks at Grandma's house. So that's just what he did. 

While he added the biggest branches he could find to Grandma's twig pile,

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Outdoor Play : Firewood Sculpture

Henry got to camp overnight with Grandma and Grandpa last weekend. 

We joined them for the night for fire-cooked pizzas and s'mores.

Before building the fire, a giant stack of firewood was begging to be played with.

Henry and I began to build a sculpture.

[Mostly assembled by myself, with Henry's assistance.]

Balancing the firewood to get it to stay took great care.

Finding the right place to set a piece up against, so the others didn't fall, did as well.

Henry didn't slow down with any frustrations, 

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Outdoor Play : Gardening

A garden has been on my to do list for many summers.

Finally this summer, we got one planted. 

Thanks to my mom.

The weather we've had this last week has been perfect!

It's been so great to be outdoors!

Henry didn't get into it as much as I had hoped he would with the garden, especially at first.

[When there's big machines also at the farm, planting a garden isn't the first priority.]

When Henry did start helping, he started by gathering rocks in a pail.

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Outdoor Play : Homemade Sidewalk Paint

Inspired by Quirky Momma's fizzing sidewalk paint, 

I made some of our own sidewalk paint and Henry and I painted the driveway.

[Don't miss the homemade sidwalk paint recipe at the end of the post.]

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Art : Window Paint Creations

Paint on a large window, outside? 

It doesn't get much better than that!

We've finally had some nice weather lately, and getting outside has been much needed!

I quickly made up some window paint.

I googled the recipe for window paint and ran across a recipe that included dish soap. 

I looked under my sink, no dish soap? So, I substituted with hand soap.

Without really measuring, I mixed together:

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Outdoor Play : Dandelion Picking

On Mother's Day, we headed outside to pick dandelions at my mom's house and collected them in a basket. Not doing anything in particular with them.

Later that week, we went outside and did the same thing again at home.

Henry thoroughly enjoys picking dandelions. 

He gets excited when he finds them.

He says they're pretty.

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Art : Ribbon Painting

Ribbon Throw Painting, that is.

Henry, what three colors would you like to paint with?

Blue, Green and White.

I was shocked he named three colors. I didn't have to correct him to only choose three, or coerce him into saying another color. He simply just rattled off three colors.

Add some ribbon [or cords, or tinsel, whatever you got on hand] and dip into the paint.

I taped four scrapbook papers together in a large square on some cardboard outside.

Henry dipped the ribbons in paint and ran them across the paper.

Surprisingly, this didn't really interest Henry...

Until he stood up to refill his ribbon with more paint.

He began throwing the ribbons onto the papers! 

Seeing how they splatted onto the paper and what kind of design they left suddenly became interesting to Henry.

Then dragging the ribbon off to do it again, left yet another streak of paint.

Beautifully created art and a fun activity in one! 

Henry chose to display the blue paper in the frame. 

Why the blue paper? Because there's an H - for Henry!

Linking up at NurtureStore's Carnival : GetActive! Play

-- Henry is 3 years old --

-- George is 7 months old --

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Rolling Eggs & Balls Painting

I decided to take this art activity outside.

It took Henry awhile to get into it.

At first, he only wanted to play with his dump truck and stack the paints in it.

I started by showing him what we'd do to spark some interest.

Henry joined me soon after.

This activity was inspired by Tinkerlab's Rolling Easter Egg Painting 

and Teaching 2 and 3 Year Old's Cars Down Ramp in Paint

But, Henry created and played with the paints in his own way.

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Building a Bird's Nest : Outdoors in April

Henry and I have been talking about making a bird's nest for a couple weeks now.

This week it finally got warm enough to spend the entire morning or afternoon (or both!) outdoors.

To make our bird's nest,

Henry and I headed outside to gather our materials for the nest:

small sticks, leaves, dead grass

I also used a couple small boxes (from our gigantic baby food order).

Henry spent the majority of our nest building day, digging dirt.

[This could not have been done without the help of the blue tractor or the dump truck...]

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Outdoors in April [take 1]

We've been getting outside every day so far - staying true to the challenges*!
Not much for activities yet - as its still pretty cold.
Although, today it hit 70[!!] and all I did was go for a walk!
Henry went with Dad to the farm and played in the tractors all afternoon.

Henry and I have been working on raking the lawn for the most part.

Henry has been digging in some planting beds as well.
Transferring dirt to his Mule (he has renamed the Jeep to Mule).
And then to the GARAGE!
[which I, in turn, sweep it back out...]

George joined us outside one day so far (besides when we go for walks).
He happily watched from the stroller.

After working for awhile,
we moved to the porch and brought the toys out and played.

I think George enjoyed the sunlight - as did I.


*I've joined two challenges to get outside in April :
   
Will you join too?

Tweet    - Henry is 3 years -