Move: Exploring the Great Outdoors

Well, we moved (hence, the super long hiatus)! It was a big process, but things are finally settling down, and I wanted to share what we've been up to lately. North Idaho is beautiful, and we've been enjoying all that it has to offer. This has worked really well, being outside and incorporating more "MOVE" activities into our days, as Landon is getting bigger, and becoming more and more physical.

So, here are some of the ways that we've been enjoying the really great outdoors. Hopefully, some of them are possible where you are too. We thought they were lots of fun!

Family Bike Ride

Wildlife Watching

Rock Hunting

Digging in a Sandy Beach

Night Fishing

Move: Sledding

This face pretty much seals the deal that, in his eyes, we just shared the absolute, hands-down, BEST day ever. 

This face pretty much seals the deal that, in a mother's eyes, the camera is the absolute, hands-down, BEST invention ever. 

Though I'm pretty sure Landon would argue the sled should win that honor...

Move: Bowling

Have kiddos that need to burn some energy, without burning a lot of money? 

I do! With frigid temperatures here in The 'Burgh, I decided it was time to get creative. So, last week I took Landon bowling for the first time. I had no idea that it was so kid-friendly!

The attendants gave us a light ball for Landon to be able to hold easily, 

 a ramp for him to roll it down,

and bumpers (which actually helped both of us quite a bit). :)

As a sidenote, he also thought the carpet was "beautiful" (which made me laugh outloud!), and loved the "superhero shoes" they let us borrow. So funny! 

Move: Wii are Movin...in more ways than one!

The new year has brought quite a few new prospects, possibilities, and projects into my life. Rather than making a list of resolutions, I began 2011 making a very exciting, but very daunting To-Do list...paint my trim (again), call a realtor, begin clearing out my cluttered basement, look into school systems 2,700 miles away. Needless to say, while there has still been time for fun in our home, it has been a little less planned out and rarely photographed.

So, I haven't created personal resolutions this January (no time for that type of deep reflection), but I have determined that winter is hard on little boys...and therefore, moms. Or maybe it's just us...but I bet there's some mom out there that will agree with me, right?!? My kiddo seems to hit a point mid-day when he simply cannot contain his pent up energy anymore, and despite the fact that the couches have never really interested him before, he suddenly sees them in a new, exciting, and opportunistic light....and his body goes flaying over them. Again. And again. And again. So, I have resolved to find a way every day to help my kiddo have some physical fun...for all our sakes (that being his, mine, and the couches).

So here's a simple way that we're moving around here. For this particular activity, it doesn't even matter if the weather outside is frightful! We're movin together, and loving it...in more ways than one! :)

For more on Wii games can get kids moving, and families connecting click here.

Move: Simple Sack Race

Looking for some festive fun, in a pinch? Try it cinched! 

With built-in handles, a typical kitchen trash bag is the perfect partner for a simple sack race! 

Now all you need is a finish line.

~Leslie

Move: Bath Time Fun

We all want to have fun with our kids...why not fit snuggles, laughs, and smiles into things you are already doing during the day? Valerie (profile below) has a sweet, fun way to make the mundane, memorable! 

When I was little, my mom would say this little poem while she helped me dry off after my bath. I loved it then, and I still love it today. I know she read it in a book at some point, but I have no idea which one, so I am unable to give credit. Just know that I'm not claiming to have written it! ;) I've used it with each one of my kiddos and they laugh every time! I thought I'd pass it along. It's a simple way to make a fun memory with your little toddlers.

After My Bath*

After my bath, I try, try, try,

To wipe myself till I'm dry, dry, dry. 

Hands to wipe, fingers and toes,

Two wet legs and a shiny nose!

Just think how much less time I'd take,

If I were a dog and could shake, shake, shake!

* Add motions for even more fun!

Valerie loves her job as a pastor's wife and as a homeschooling mom of five kids.She enjoys studying God's word and sharing her love for Him on her blog: http://www.valerie-thebishopswife.blogspot.com. She's also a contributor to Home School Enrichment Magazine.

Move/Make: Cardboard Box Creations

Submitted by my sweet mom: Bev (possibly the world's best Grammy)

When I was growing up my family had a set of Childcraft books, the kid addition to World Book Encyclopedias. I spent hours and hours pouring over them, but my very favorite was the ‘Make and Do’ book.

Recently I spent some time with two of our grandsons, and we pulled out the book for inspiration. I showed them the pages of projects I’d done – the soap carving, the doll furniture, costumes, but when they saw the cardboard castle and submarine their faces lit up!

So we piled in the car, started driving in alleys, and hit pay dirt when we found a company having hardwood floors installed. They gave us a pile of clean cardboard to haul home.

We purchased a roll of duct tape, borrowed their mom’s package tape, pulled out markers, a knife I purchased at the dollar store just for cutting boxes, and I found some pieces of string to use for the door pulls.

We had such fun looking at the photo of the submarine, and making adjustments to our design. The boys really wanted to be able to be inside the submarine, together, and have a door that would close behind them. An almost-empty plastic wrap box was drafted to make a periscope, which delighted them.

So next rainy day, or bored day, or everyone’s grumpy day, you might find a big working space in your house (or garage) and let everyone’s imagination run wild. If you’re lucky enough to run across a set of these books, grab them, especially the ‘Make and Do’ volume. It has wonderful instructions for making modeling clay, foam pictures, puppets, marionettes, etc. etc. etc. I had as much fun as they did, and when we had finished the boys didn’t care at all about painting the submarine gray, like the one in the book; they just wanted to climb inside and start imagining what the bottom of the ocean might be like.

I’ve already promised them, next visit we’ll tackle the castle, complete with moat.

Move: Visit Your Local Children's Museum

Children learn through play. So, I say, bring on the fun! 

Our local Children's Museum is wonderful...and I bet yours is too! This website will help you find a kid-friendly museum near you. Check it out...they're everywhere!

Here's a sampling of what we did at ours yesterday:

We made very colorful paper...

created a purple silk screened T-Rex...

built a box with some "real" tools...

learned about levees and dams...

and worked on some (very fun) leaky pipes. 

Learning through play...kid-tested, mother approved!

Move: Apple Picking

Happy First Day of Autumn! 

One of our favorite ways to celebrate the start of this season is to go... APPLE PICKING!

Apple Picking is fun and easy, even for toddlers, because there are usually low fruit-bearing branches, and the apples come off very easily. Gathering a bag or a "bushel" can be done in a fairly short amount of time...which is also a good thing when little ones (and little attention spans) are involved! Apples can also be used for SO many kid-friendly crafts and recipes. Stay tuned for a few of those in the coming weeks! I have some fun ones up my sleeve! :)

This year I also taught Landon this song to sing while we picked: 

I love you a bushel and peck
A bushel and peck and a hug around the neck
A hug around the neck and a barrel and a heap
A barrel and a heap and I'm talking in my sleep
About you, about you

To find an apple orchard near you visit www.pickyourown.org. 

Move: Back Porch Camping

Yesterday was a cool, rainy, fall day here in Pittsburgh. Rather than be stuck inside (and have the day drag on and on and on...) I decided to surprise Landon with an extra special afternoon. I kept him distracted while I set everything up, gave him a bag of "gear" to put on, and then asked him to come meet me on the back porch. 

THIS is the kind of "Special Time" reaction that I live for! He was so excited to see a mock campsite right outside our backdoor!

We "roasted" marshmallows...

over our toasty little fire....

Made "River Rock" Picture Frames (dried beans and tacky glue)...

which turned out great...

Listened to crickets chirping in the middle of the day...

And snuggled in a very tiny pop-up tent to read some "camping" stories together.

Rain, rain, go away...or stay. 

Move: Alphabet Archeologist- Sensory Tubs Part 1

Nicole is a huge fan of Sensory Tubs...and she's got A LOT of easy, fun ideas for using them.

In keeping with our back-to-school theme this month, she's shared this one: Alphabet Archeologist. 

Materials:

 plastic tub (storage bin)

rice, beans, pasta, sand, etc.

foam or wooden letters

small shovels

paintbrushes

She says, "Take turns burying and hiding the letters in the rice and searching for them. My little girl found the same enjoyment from this activity as she does from the classic game of peek-a-boo...plus she was able to practice identifying and saying some of the letter names and sounds."

More Sensory Tub ideas coming...but we'd love to hear yours in the meantime!!

Move: Window Clings

It's that time of year again when stores are no longer stocking their shelves with fun, summer toys and games, and the plethora of  "back-to-school" supplies are in sight. As a kid this would always make me cringe, but once I became a teacher it almost felt like Christmas. I no longer have a classroom to decorate, but I still love looking through all of the teaching supplies and decorations this time of year (really, at any time of year!). 

Last week at the Dollar Store, I came across adorable window clings. My daughter has just gotten into the world of stickers, and I thought these would be a great activity for her. She LOVES them! I bought two sets. One with animals that had the spelling of the words below, and another that was numbered from 1-10, and had pictures of different objects for counting. 

Here are a few reasons that I love window clings: 

1.) They are larger than a regular sticker, and therefore are easier for little hands to manage and manipulate.

2.) They are reusable...It doesn't matter if my little girl crumples them in a ball and puts them in her mouth (because she does that at times). They still stick!! 

3.) They stick to our sliding glass door in our kitchen so it is an easy, mess-free activity for her to do while I work in the kitchen. 

When I use them with my toddler we play hide and seek..."can you find the bird, where is the cat?" Other times I will point to the animal and ask her what sound the animal makes. With the number set we practice counting objects and identifying the different pictures. For two dollars I definitely got my money's worth!

What would you do with window clings?

Move: Nicole's Number Hop

 Introducing the newest www.funmoms.org team member....

Click on image to learn more about Nicole.

You're gonna LOVE her! 

Here's the kind of stuff she's got up her sleeve: 

Nicole's Number Hop

My little girl is a toddler...and that means a lot of running, hopping and jumping on a daily basis! I love the energy of this age, but I wanted to think of a way we could use this energy to learn as well (I guess that's what happens when your mom is a teacher!). On one of my many trips to the dollar store I stumbled across what I believe are  supposed to be rubber hot pads...but all I could see was a fun floor game that could grow with my daughter. I  bought three packs of four and headed home to my Sharpie's! I wrote the numbers 1-10 on the little circles, and that was it!! 

They are perfect for hopping on! They don't slip because of the soft, rubbery surface and my daughter loves to jump on them. She even takes her baby dolls and has them jump on them (which is adorable I must say!). Since we have been playing with them, she has learned the numbers 1, 2, and 3! She was even able to bring me the number three when I asked her for it the other day. Most of the time though we just enjoy hopping all around the house on them...wait a second, did I say WE?  

In the future I am sure there are many more math-related games I can come up with for these inexpensive dollar store finds. 

Anyone care to share other ideas for these fun little circles?

Make: Great Resource...Great Giveaway!

Update: TONI WON! 

Thanks to all who participated! 

I LOVE Kumon First Step Workbooks! They actually say that their products, "allow parents and children to share meaningful playtime together." It doesn't get any better than that! My current favorite is "Let's Cut Paper!," which you can find here or...you can win for FREE simply by leaving a comment below (www.random.org will help me determine the winner)!

Landon is at the age where scissors are just as fun as paint or play-doh, so he was super excited when I pulled the workbook and fun, rounded-tip scissors (of his very own!!) out of a mystery bag for Special Time yesterday. The book progressively teaches your child how to hold their scissors correctly, how to cut straight lines, curved lines, and then how to change directions while cutting. The best thing is that as your kiddo masters a skill, he or she also creates a really neat masterpiece, as Landon called it. 

Wanna win one?! Ready...set....GO! 

Winner will be announced Saturday morning (8/7).

Make/Move: Shaving Cream "Spelling"

I used to do this with my 5th graders the day before a Spelling Test. It's easy, cheap, really fun, and did a great job cleaning off the tops of grimy school desks! :)

Begin by lathering some shaving cream (foam is better than gel) all over a surface (we used a light, portable serving tray). Start slow, by letting your kiddo use paintbrushes, or their fingers, to create drawings and designs in the fun, squishy medium. Then, be creative! Preschoolers can work on numbers or letters. Elementary kids can play a game of hangman with sight words. Tweens can refresh their memory on how to multiply and divide fractions...actually, I could use a quick refresher on those as well!

What ideas come to your mind??

Move: Slip-n-Slide Party

THIS WAS SO MUCH FUN!

We invited our very dear Small Group friends over for a somewhat impromptu slip-n-slide party. We have the perfect hill for it...just steep enough to be fun, but not a chore for little legs to get back up. I was planning on everyone just bringing their largest tarp, but one of the men suggested that we use 25'x10' plastic sheeting (from Home Depot), and stakes to keep it in the ground. It was AWESOME, and worked so, so well. The kids (and quite a few of the grown-ups...) had a great time. We kept it wet, and used No Tear Baby Shampoo to make it slippery...I think that every mom there agreed that it definitely counted as a bath! We ended the night with banana splits on the porch, and a very happy (and tired) crew of kiddos. Definitely doing it again next year!