Whenever we come to St. Louis my girls love to go to the "big" zoo! So even though St.Louis was surrounded on all sides by severe storms we headed out with cousins and friends today under clearish skys. With rainjackets and boots in tow just in case!
Some of the highlights from today...
Avery just loved the river otters.
And we saw babies!! We loved how the baby elephant walked right underneath the big mama!
And look at that cute little trunk!
Then we saw a little baby monkey.
And here are two new things that I learned today at the zoo.
1. Let my kids go at their own pace. At one point Avery was lagging behind the bigger kids because she just wanted to stay and watch the otters. My instinct was to pull her away and tell her to join the rest of the group. But then I stopped myself and just let her stay there as long as she wanted. It occurred to me that if the outing is truly for them, then I should let them dictate how long we stay at each exhibit. What does it matter if we run out of time and don't see the whole zoo? I am often pulling the girls away from something to get them to move on to something else and I realized today that I should slow down more often and do things at their pace!
2. Use the signs. My niece is a beginning reader. She really enjoyed trying to read the signs and share the facts with us. And then my sister starting reading them first and asking Bailey if she could find on the sign where it said something, like where the animal is from or what it eats. Then Bailey would have to read the sign and tell us that specific fact. It was a great activity!
A great day was had by all. And only a few raindrops landed on us.
This Week's Feature
I have to tell you about a couple of great posts before I share my favorite. Did you see the post from Sun Hats and Wellie Boots? We found the book she suggested, The Gruffalo, and my girls LOVE IT!
I missed entering this giveaway but the handbooks look amazing! Great review and post over at Mommy Labs.
But my feature for this week comes from Rainy Day Mum (someone that I have featured before! Her posts are just so darn good!). The reason I am featuring this one is because she is writing about what is absolutely my most favorite activity to do in all the world; hunting for spring! I am anxiously awaiting the day when I walk outside and see all kinds of green things poking out of the ground. We have so far been burying the few things that we have found because it is just too early but when spring really comes I will be hunting for those green leaves like crazy! And I can't wait to check out the book that she recommends.
On to the Party!
So I have noticed recently that a lot of folks that are linking up are not posting the button or letting their readers know that they have linked up. I would LOVE to share so many of these great ideas on Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook but the rules state that you have to share the link up if you want us to share your post! So please be sure to go back and add the party link up!! Thanks everybody.
So for this edition, here are just a few guidelines for sharing:
- 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. (If you have been featured, please feel free to grab the 'featured' button from the sidebar.)
WOHO Thank you for featuring me :D - Spring is my favourite season at the moment as I love all the new growth, life and the warmth in the air. I also love your zoo post and strangely I'm linking up my zoo post from last week - we love the zoo and have season passes for our local one.
Posted by: Cerys @ Rainy Day Mum | 03/03/2012 at 06:36 AM
Baby look so happy to watch water fish.She look so pretty.Elephant with little trunk.Little trunk look so sweet.
Posted by: code reduction | 03/06/2012 at 12:54 AM