Workin' at the Car Wash!

I wanted to spice up our outside play,

so we decided to have a car wash

(aka a bike and scooter wash).

I got a bucket full of soapy water,

a good car wash sponge,

and a watering can to rinse off their bikes.

They loved riding their bikes up and down the driveway,

and washing them off.

I had to add an element of craziness,

So we had a mud zone.

They really liked creating this.

Once they cleaned off their bikes,

they would ride them through the mud.

We turned on the sprinklers,

to rinse off their bikes,

and play in the yard.

Here is H. doing what he does best,

squishing ants...

How to Start Your Own Learning Time

Summer is here!

{Oh No!}
What do you do?

My favorite summer was when my mom sat down with us and made up a summer calendar.
She wrote down something each day she was going to do with us.
Lots of the activities were outings to free places nearby.
We loved it!
Everyday we did our chores, and then went on an outing,
or did something fun at home.

That year it didn't actually include going to Disneyland. :)
But this is the only summer fun picture of my family.
Here is a summer calendar with a jump start of ideas for you.
You don't have to do something each day, you could even do onece or twice a week. 
It will make you realize how fast the summer will fly.

To start a learning time, I often like to think backwards.
Meaning, I think of an outing I want to go on,
and then I think about how I can enrich their knowledge before we go to that destination.
This will work with any age group.
So if I wanted to take my kids to the zoo, I would teach them about different types of animals. (ie. reptiles, mammals, birds, fish, amphibians).

This is a picture of us mapping out where in the world different animals come from.

Then I would start with the one they know the most about, and dig a little deeper and teach them something they may not know.
I look for ideas on pinterest, or just plain old Google.

Remember it doesn't have to be expensive, or extensive learning,
just dive in!  Your kids will be way more interested in any outing, if they have a little more background knowledge first.

Here are some of the fun things we did last summer:
Made Home Made Ice Cream

Ice Boats

The Science of Bubbles

Rainbow Water

Ice and Paint Balloons

Air, Water, and Ice Filled Beach Balls

Side Walk Chalk Paint

Princesses on Ice

If you need a jump off point,
check out my list of units page.
It's an organized list of all the themes and units I have done.

Here is my list of things to have on hand:
It's a little scraggly, because I just threw it together when I was talking to the women at my church.
These are just the things I love to have,
so no matter what comes to my mind, I can usually pull it off.

And the best news is, that you can find most of these things at the $1 store.  (Googly Eyes, Pipe Cleaners, Toothpicks, Glue, Water Colors, Glitter, Construction Paper and Popsicle Sticks.)
The only expensive thing, that is well worth it, is tempera paint,
which you can find at your craft store.

Happy Summer!

Weekly Wrap-up Outdoor Fun

There are so many fun things to do outside!

I don't want this week to end.

To wrap up the week we made our own water wall.

I found an empty fence area and wired on fun water manipulatives.

Next year, this will be Mr. Wonderful's project, it will be awesome!

If I had all the time in the world,

Here are some other fun things I would do with Outdoor Play.

Or maybe I'll just do it next year!

This first one is from Sun Hats & Wellie Boots.

She made kid-friendly spray paint.

She disinfected some old cleaning bottles,

and added paint.

The end result is fantastic!

The next one comes from Clementine Art.

She put up a sheet on a clothes line,

and let her kids make "Messy Art"

Isn't this cool!?

She talks about how much children can learn

by having artistic freedom.

She gives tons of tips how to make this parent friendly.

Lastly, my friend at Jada Roo Can Do,

Made a balloon sprinkler.

She filled these huge balloons full of water

and poked holes in them.

Her kids loved running under them!

I found and pinned lots of ideas to my Pinterest boards,

Don't you love Pinterest?

If you have any more Outdoor Fun ideas,

Leave a link and description and I'll pin it to my board.

Ice Boats

I have been waiting all summer to sail boats!

Today we made ice boats

and took them down to the stream.

I did some prep last night, so the ice would be ready.

I put water into my muffin tins,

covered it with foil,

and poked tooth picks in the foil.

Then I put them in a big cooler full of ice,

and took it to the stream.

This was a great extension for states of matter.

They loved watching the ice melt in the stream.

They loved watching their own special boats float down the river.

I had them decorate the flags, so they were personalized.

This could also be great when learning about other countries,

You could do Olympic Boats and make real country's flags.

After we went through all 36 boats,

I pulled out the plastic boats.

They had races down the stream.

When they finished with that

they had fun with the ice cubes and muffin tins.

It turned into a one to one correspondence activity.



Splash Pad!

We went to our local splash pad,

to mix up our outdoor play.

I can't believe how fun (and free) the splash pad was!

I searched online and found there are 2 or 3 in my area.

Simple, fun, free.

This is a perfect place for kids of all ages to run and play.

Baby H. was a slow starter, but by the end he was as wet as can be!

It was also great for imaginitive play.

This is Miss S. on an adventure under the rainbow.

I saw older girls about 10 yrs. old playing a dance game.

They would rock out as ballerinas, then hip hop dancers, and on and on all day!

Have you ever been to a splash pad in your area?



The Science of Bubbles

Today we made huge bubbles,

and learned the science of bubbles.

We watched this YouTube video about the Bubble Artist,

Keith Johnson.

He talked about three scientific principles of bubbles.

First, bubbles act like a prism
so you can see the colors reflected off of them.

She loved looking at all the colors.
We used a hula hoop, a little water an a TON of soap
to make our HUGE bubbles

Second, bubbles like to be in the form of a circle.

We experimented with different shape of bubble wands,

and all of the bubbles turned out in the shape of a sphere.

Third, bubbles like to be wet.

So if you get your hand wet, you can put it through a bubble.

This one was so fun!

 She loved putting her hand slowly into the center of the bubble.

We played outside for ages!

I gave her other toys and she started playing beauty parlor.

Safety Note: Baby H. also liked to play with the bubbles.

However, he slipped and got his eyes in the soap.

So if you do this try to keep your babies eyes out of the soap.

Outdoor Fun!

Let's Get Outside!

This week is dedicated to putting a

new spin on outdoor activities.

I wanted to put a new spin on water play,

And to have a learning moment as well.

I wanted to help Miss Sassy learn more about colors.

I started out with clean milk jugs

and added red, yellow and blue food coloring.

(I used 2-4 drops.)

I had her guess what colors would be made

by mixing red and yellow.

Although we've done secondary colors before, she still couldn't remember.

She added the food coloring and mixed the jug.

She loved seeing the colors bleed into the water.

When we finished we had a milk jug rainbow!

Now for playtime!

I gave her spoons and cups.

I wanted her to practice pouring "milk"

Without the stinky mess.

She had a great time experimenting with colors,

while she practiced pouring.

I had her choose one color to share with her brother.

He loved pouring it out and spilling it on the ground.

They (surprisingly) played with the milk jugs

for over an hour.

It's amazing how adding a little color really spiced things up!

For our Outdoor Fun Unit, we also learned about the Science of Bubbles, Floating Ice Boats down the river, Went to our local Splash Pad, and made our own Water Station.

Spinning a Spider's Web

How can you learn about spiders

Without making a spiderweb?

This week we made our own spider web.

We found an old spider web in the garage.

We threw pieces of grass and leaves in it,

To see if it would stick.

We used raffia and made the shape of a spider web.

All along we were a talking about spider webs.

Why they had to be sticky...

What do spiders eat...

Can a bug get free...

This a discovery activity,

in the sense that she had to figure out facts about spiders.

We added some old school paste to make it really sticky.

Then Miss Sassy threw on the bugs

(Aka small pieces of felt I cut for her.)

And they stuck to the web!

We then took some more twine

and wrapped the bugs up really well.

Just like a real spider.

Then she started cutting the web apart.

Not exactly part of the plans, but super fun!

She wanted to make another web,

So I let her use the tape.

In hindsight, I would have bought double stick tape,

given her a shoebox, and let her go to town.

She could have done it completely on her own.

I didn't have double stick tape, and hindsight is 20/20 right?