Greening Sam and Avery

outdoor play link - fishing at the pond

Continuing the pond theme week with a trip to a different pond to do some fishing!

And then we caught our first fish!

After the excitement of our first fish we needed a break from fishing. So we went exploring around the pond. 

Have you ever stood that close to a muscrat before? It kind of made me nervous that Avery got so close but the muscrat did not seem to care!

Then back to fishing...

Woohoo! We caught a second fish. [Again please ignore the fact that my child desperately needs a haircut!] Avery did not want to touch the fishing pole but she did help me throw back the second fish. 

So, I have to admit that we showed up to fish with a bucket of worms that we dug out of our yard and a pole with one small hook on it. I was not very prepared as far as fishing goes. Luckily a very nice woman was next to me and she gave us a bobber, a different hook and several minnows to try. She also let the girls look at the dozens of fish she was catching (in the time we caught one she probably caught 10!). Next time we go fishing we will stop by the bait shop and grab some options. 

We ended the adventure with a great picnic, some more exploring and a little time to play at the playground. 

I can't wait to take them fishing again!

 

This Week's Feature:

Have a little one that is interested in the sky? Check out this great educational and creative idea from Growing a Jeweled Rose - Painting The Sky. Her little one really had a blast with this activity and I think my kiddos would too. Thanks so much Growing a Jeweled Rose for sharing this one with us!

Now on to the Party! 

A few guidelines for the party...

- Any kind of children's outdoor play-related posts are welcome!

- If you'd like us to further share your post (e.g., on Facebook/ Twitter/ Pinterest), please just include a link back to this post (either in your post or sidebar) to help us spread the word about the importance (and fun!) of outdoor play!

- Please feel free to grab the Outdoor Play Party button from the sidebar and/or include a text link back.

- Each time we will feature an activity from the previous party. 

- By contributing you are giving permission for an image and link to your post to be republished. 

Share your ideas for outdoor play activities with us every other week! The linky goes live every second Friday at 12:01 GMT+1

theme week - ponds - pretend pond play

Today we decided to play pretend pond. 

We grabbed a blue blanket and laid it on the floor. Then I told the girls they had to search the house for anything and everything that they think would live in the pond. 

They found lily pads, frogs, a turtle, a crocodile (okay, not a WI pond but it does live in water somewhere!), ducks, snake, lizard (not sure about this one but they refused to let me take it out of the pond. It is a bath toy for us so I think that may have been Avery's confusion) and lots of fish. 

Then I gave the girl's their fishing pole and let them go to town!

Pause for a personal complaint...do you think my daughter needs a haircut? Why am I SO lazy when it comes to haircuts for my kids?!

Okay, back on track. 

This activity was super fun because the girls went through their rooms, their farm sets, puppets, stuffed animals and everything else. They discussed where things lived and what they could add to the pond. It was a great activity for both girls to work together on. And of course they begged me to leave it up so they could play in the pond tomorrow too!

Now how can I build a forest in my living room...

theme week - pond crafting

We kept working on our pond craft today. Sam decided that the pond needed some plants next.

First we had to look at our pond books to see what the plants that live in ponds look like. We saw grasses, small leaves (duck weed), other tall plants and fallen logs.

The girls are both very excited to start adding all the animals that live in a pond. Now I just have to figure out how I am going to pull that off!

More pretend play and pond visits later this week.

theme week - ponds - pond class at school

This is the second year that I have taken a pond to Sam's school. I visit our nearby pond early in the morning and then bring a pool filled with LOTS of critters to the school yard for all the kids to explore at some point during the day. 

This year we started the program out by talking about what lives in a pond and listing off all the big creatures that we see at ponds. Then we read the book "Pond Circle" by Betsy Franco. This story is great because it starts with the small things, algae, nymphs and beetles. And then moves up the food chain to the bigger animals that live near and often visit ponds. I love this story as a way to learn about the little critters in a pond because you can really highlight how the story starts with the little things. That without the little critters there would be no story, there would be no food for the bigger things that we like to watch. 

The kids got the chance today to see up close dragonfly nymphs, damselfly nymphs, tadpoles, a leech, three different kinds of snails, waterboatmen and a predacious diving beetle. They learned all about each one of these critters and some of the things they do (who they eat, who might eat them, how they move, how they protect themselves, etc.) in the pond. 

It was an awesome pond day! Sorry no pictures to share, it is hard for me to teach and play photographer at the same time. 

theme week - ponds

I found out today that Sam is having a pond week at school so I thought it would be great to extend that learning at home and give her a pond themed week at home as well. 

My brain is bursting with ideas for our week :

• week long craft project to create a LARGE pond with lots of different types of objects and materials
• pond clean up
• kayaking on a pond
• books about ponds
• pond animals
• fishing trip

So, first thing tomorrow we will head to the library to find some good pond books. I thought I would share the list of books that I am hoping to find. Just in case any of you are hitting up the library first thing tomorrow too and would want to read along with us. 

Here is out list (the first two we have read before and I can already strongly recommend, the rest will be new to us and will let you know if I recommend them later in the week):

• In the Small, Small Pond by Denis Fleming
• Pond Circle by Betsy Franco
• Science in Seconds at the Beach by Jean Potter
• Jo MacDonald Saw a Pond by Mary Quattlebaum and Laura Bryant
• A Freshwater Pond by Adam Hibbert
• Song of the Waterboatman and other pond poems by Joyce Sidman and Beckie Prange
• It's A Frog's Life by Steve Parker, Robert Morton, et al.
• Box Turtle at Long Pond by William George and Lindsay George
• Turtle Splash! Countdown at the Pond by Cathryn Falwell

Be sure to stop back by often this week to see how our theme week is going! AND help us out with more ideas for fun and learning by entering the pond themed Link up! It starts today and will run for only a week so be sure to get your link up and share any posts you have that relate to freshwater ponds!

bring on the boots

Between taking Sam to school, doing laundry, packing the car and mulitple other tasks Avery and I stole a few minutes to go find some puddles in our boots! 

Our yard did not have the big puddles that it normally does after a storm (woohoo for rain barrels and new landscaping! shhh don't tell the girls that I am preventing their puddles!) BUT that did not stop Avery from hunting for them. 

And possibly the best part of having rain barrels is being able to indulge your daughter when she says "mommy can you make me a river?".  

With not much watering happening in the garden yet I knew we wouldn't run out of water in the rain barrels before the next rain storm. So why not make a river?!  

I mean really, what could be more fun then having your own little river to walk in? 

Our rain barrel makes play in the mud kitchen, water table, creating rivers, puddles and allowing the girls to water whatever they want whenever they want totally possible and for this going green momma comletely guilt free! I love that. 

Have you stomped in a puddle with your little one lately? Why not make your own puddle just for stomping? Get a rain barrel and you can make one whenever you want. 

Just wanted to check in to see if others were keeping up with the 2012 goal of playing outside everyday. We haven't missed a day yet and I am working really hard to make sure our backyard is ready for LOTS of continuous outdoor play this summer. I can't wait to get all my projects done and be able to share with you lots of ideas for backyard outdoor play to fill your summer days! Let me know how your everyday outdoor play is going. 

spring clean up

It was pretty nice this afternoon so we headed to the park. 

I brought some trash bags in our wagon thinking that since the melt has finished there might be some trash left behind that would need to be picked up. 

We filled two big bags, like this one, full of trash!

After the pond and park were all cleaned up we had some time left to play!

Love this park because big trucks and sand toys get left behind for the whole neighborhood to play with!

The puddles at the playground were awesome and still filled with some ice and slush. The girls thought this was very fun.

And then we found one little spot that hadn't melted yet but had a little stream of melt water running through it. 

We had a lot of fun playing in the snow, the puddles and just all around the park! 

It was great outdoor play! Have you checked out the outdoor play party this week? It is filled with really fabulous ideas. 

outdoor play link up - ice hunting

Cold and no snow is not great weather for outdoor play. The kids get cold quickly, bored more easily and have more limited things to do.

BUT with cold, comes ice and the fun of watching our stream start to freeze over.

Our weather has been on and off cold; 40 degrees one day and 20 something the next. This isn't great conditions for ice to form. But we decided to do some ice hunting this week just to see what we could find.

We didn't find much, but a few small patches were enough to require giant sticks to make sure that every last little bit got broken up!

We have been making frequent trips to the stream this week to find these tiny little spots of ice. These trips don't last hours, usually only about 45 minutes, but it is enough time for the girls to get some energy out, use their little muscles to wield a big stick and some great fresh air for all of us.

If you have similar weather but with more rain/freezing and there are icicles forming you could also do an icicle hunt!

Now on to the LINK UP!

This weeks feature -

Ever gone on a sound hunt? I had never thought of this one and it is so simple but genius! Sun Hats and Wellie Boots linked up this week with their sound hunt  and I am in love with this idea! For some reason I can't link up an image but follow the link to see how a walk with some simple drum sticks turns into a real learning and play adventure!

How did your kids play outdoors this week?

Share your ideas for outdoor play activities with us! Here’s just a few guidelines for sharing.

• Any kind of children's outdoor play is welcome. If it happened outside, then please link it up!

• Please do not share any competitions, promotions, or posts that are not related to Outdoor Play.

• Please remember to link back to this post and help us spread the word about the importance (and fun!) of outdoor play!

• Each week we will feature an activity from the previous week. By contributing you are giving permission for an image and link to your post to be republished.

 

outdoor play party - princesses with boats in the pool

Welcome back to the outdoor play party!

We have pretty much been doing nothing but outdoor play for the last eight days and it has been wonderful! My girls have slept well, eaten well and had tons of great fun. Being in a beautiful warm place on the ocean makes it super easy to play outside. But I know we are headed back to snow and cold in just a few days, so I am soaking up all the sun that I can!! 

The girls do occassionally need some pretend play and extra distractions to keep the pool here at the house a new and fun experience. We recently added a set of small princesses and these great "boats" that we found to our pool toys!

The "boats" are made from some kind of seed pod that we found on a walk and then sent Chris out to find more on his run!

The princesses had to go from one side of the pool, across the water, to rescue their friends on the rocks on the other side!

The girls have had a blast with these new toys and they have provided me a great deal of quiet mommy time while I watch the fun from the side of the pool with a good book!!  (Yes, I do occassionally get in the pool and play too!)

So, what linked up idea from last week has me super inspired? These awesome bird feeders from Learning Table! I love the natural pumpkin containers and just the way the whole thing looks hanging in the tree. What a great way to reuse the carved or decorative pumpkins!

Thanks so much to the Learning Table for linking up!

How did your kids play outdoors this week?

Share your ideas for outdoor play activities with us! Here’s just a few guidelines for sharing.

• Any kind of children's outdoor play is welcome. If it happened outside, then please link it up!

• Please do not share any competitions, promotions, or posts that are not related to Outdoor Play.

• Please remember to link back to this post and help us spread the word about the importance (and fun!) of outdoor play!

• Each week we will feature an activity from the previous week. By contributing you are giving permission for an image and link to your post to be republished.

 

she doesn't have to love every kind of outdoor adventure

Deep sea fishing is not for Sam. She was sick pretty much the whole boat ride! We were all very impressed because she never cried, whined or spoke even one word of complaint. She just kept throwing up, everywhere, and on everyone!  Disgusting! 

We had a few minutes at the beginning where she was not sick and then a little time at the very end where she was feeling okay, but other than that her trip was pretty rough. It didn't help that the fishing was horrible and we only caught one fish.

Way to go Uncle Craig.

But Sam got to see some sights and when she wasn't sick she had a great time on the boat.

Sam sat up for a few minutes when she really wasn't feeling well and was able to see a group of humpback whales that were not too far from our boat. It was amazing! Even though she was SO sick I still think she was pretty impressed.

Sam got a chance at the end of the trip when she was feeling better to reel in the bait fish. She was thrilled and thought she had caught a fish! We didn't argue with her.

At the end of the trip the captain was emptying out the bait bins and feeding the birds and sea lions. He got one sea lion to come all the way up on the boat and we pet it!

So cool to see a sea lion that close!

As we headed back to the house Sam told me that she never wanted to go on a boat again. I talked with her about all the great things that we saw but she still insisted that she didn't like it and didn't want to do it again. I don't blame her. If I had gotten that sick I wouldn't want to either. BUT I think I am going to make her take another boat ride while we are down here! I know, I am a mean, bad mom, but hear me out. They have these little tourist boat rides that you can take where you get to see the sea lions in their natural habitat, visit some secluded beautiful beaches and some awesome rock bluffs. The boat stays close to shore the whole time, is a short ride and there are stops to get out along the way. I think this type of trip might be a great way to show her that not all boat rides will make you sick and miserable. There is a risk that even this short and calm ride will make her seasick, but it is a risk I am willing to take so that she goes away with good memories and a willingness to try it again. Do you think I am crazy?

Okay, gotta get ready for the beach later!