Nature

We try to take walks about 3 times a week with the girls. Its burns some calories for Mama after dinner, and it gets that last bit of energy out so they crash at bedtime.

Well our walk time has turned into Riley's collection time of rocks, leaves, sticks, acorns, flowers, you name it.

I was getting tired of finding them all around the house and the washer from putting them in her pockets, hence " My Nature Collection"

She can dump everything in there. She tried to get me to keep it in her room. No way. It stays in the backyard.

I used a big giant empty can, but you could use a shoebox or a jar or something. Get some craft paper, write some words and easy peasy. All that nature stuff is out of your hair.

Do as I'm Doing

Our church has been doing this song since I was a kid. Its one of those songs to fill the time and get the wiggles out. Its really cute, and the kids never get sick of it.



I let each child take a turn being the leader and picking an action, The actions of this morning were:

Spinning in a circle
Marching
Twirling our arms
Jumping
Tapping our heads


Here's the song:

Do as I'm doing
Follow, follow me
Do as I'm doing
Follow, follow me


If I do it high or low (the kids do their motions high and low while singing)
If I do it fast or slow( the kids do it Fast and slow while singing)


Do as I'm doing
Follow, Follow me
Do as I'm doing
Follow, follow me



Ri being the leader (jumping)



Chloe being the leader (marching)


Click here to hear the songs melody

Water Paint

I first saw his a the Childrens Discovery Museum, then At my friend Melissa's house. And this was almost 3 years ago! I can't believe its taken me this long. Anyways, its simple!

Materials:

Paint brushes

Water

Cement

I got these paintbrushes for $4.97 at Walmart

Fill up a container with water and have them paint on the cement!

Its cool because there really is no clean up and the kids can get their paint on!

My 4 year old liked this for maybe 5 minutes, but my 2 year old and our 3 year old friend played for almost a half hour. So its pretty much geared towards the younger toddler.

Buttons in a Can

Materials:

Old Buttons

A big can (or small, if you want to make it hard)

Tape (optional)

1. Put a can somewhere in or out of the house
2. Put some tape on the ground, so the kids know where to stand

3. Make them line up and take turns, take a button, and have them try to toss it into the can.
( I gave them 3 tries)
4. Leave it up all day, they liked just throwing things in there all day

**This is a really good opportunity to teach the skill of "standing in line and waiting their turn." I'm often amazed at how much these kids DON'T understand how to do this!

Paper Plate Feelings

You gotta love paper plates. So many art projects come home from school , made from paper plates.

Well, here's another!

1. Draw some faces with different facial expressions on paper plates. You don't have to be an artist - look at mine.

2. Read a book about feelings. I had this one:

(I wish I had this book : The Way I Feel by Janan Cain, I thought I did, but I didn't)

3. Show the kids each paper plate, and ask what the feeling is, then ask them what makes them feel that way. Have them make their own faces too!

For example: What is something that makes you happy? Her answer: Horses

What is something that makes you sad? Her answer: Time Outs

(My 2 year old just copied everything Ri said, but no worries, she'll get there one day)

4. Then, let them pick a plate and put it on their face, and have them act out the feeling.

We really liked this activity, we all laughed when everyone was making their "feelings faces"

Q-Tip Painting

If you don't want to buy really nice paint brushes, then have your kids destroy them -
Try this:

Cut up your egg carton, get out your q-tips, and cotton balls

Decorate this cute (giant) can to put all you paints in, and put it somewhere high, so your kids can't get to it!

Tape a piece of paper to the table - if you have kids like mine, this is a must!

Let them go to town!

Color bags

Learning colors and learning how to sort objects are pretty important for kids. This activity can accomplish both.

Clearing out toys and having kids keep busy on their own are pretty important to parents. This activity can accomplish both!

Go find random toys that are at the bottom of the toy basket, if you have flash cards, throw some of those in too. Make some "color labels" and throw them all into a Ziploc bag, 2 colors to a bag. Give a bag to your kid, and have them sort away.

My 2 year old only had the attention span to so one bag. My 4 yr old did all 3 in one sitting. They've asked to do it again too!

All About Hands

This takes about 5-10 minutes, and my kids loved it, I was surprised at how attentive they were.

I started by singing a little song we heard at the library:

I have ten little fingers and they all belong to me

I can make them do things, just you watch and see!

I can open them wide, I can shut them up tight

I can put them together, I can make them hide!

I can raise them up high, I can bring them down low

I can fold them together and place them just so. (in their lap)

(you could also do, where is thumbkin)

Then I had them count all their fingers.

Then I asked them questions about what kinds of things they do with their hands. It was really cute to hear their answers!

Next,get into your stash of colored construction paper (if you don't have any, go buy some, in BULK!)

Let them choose a color, trace their hands, then let them color them in.

Don"t forget to have them write their name at the top, or use this opportunity to teach them.

On another day do the same thing, but: All About Feet

I hung them up on the door out to our garage, and they loved putting their hands up on them and talking about who's hands were bigger or smaller.