Playing with Birch Bark

Sensory play is very important for toddlers. Take a look at our little one and her experience playing with birch bark at Birch Bark Observations.

Sunday Snippet: Climbing Cedars

We spent this Sunday with our little one’s great grandpa who is turning 86 tomorrow! Of course we could not ignore the call of our grandmother’s lovely backyard so we took our little one out to explore. While out and about we found some fantastic cedar trees that were just short enough for the squirt to be able to climb in and out of on her own (cedar trees are really nice for little ones to climb because they often have multiple trunks growing from a single set of roots providing many places for little hands and feet to work).

Climbing trees is a great way to get your little ones involved and connected to nature; I bet you can remember a fantastic story of a time that you climbed a tree! It also encourages gross motor development and problem solving skills. Give that same gift to your children and allow them the opportunity to be a literal tree hugger!

*Teaching tip: allowing children to climb trees in an outdoor play space is a great way to develop gross motor skills. By solving nature’s natural climbing puzzles they are using their hand-eye coordination as well as problem solving skills to reach the goal of climbing the tree. In order to manage this task set reasonable expectations as you do in your classroom; consider a height level (no higher than their friend is tall) or tree width (if you can touch when you hug the tree it is too small) to encourage safe choices for your students as well as the trees.

Sunday Snippet: Bin o’ Bubbles

Our little squirt, just like many other children nationwide, has been afflicted with… a love of bubbles. She loves them so much that even the mention of bubbles in dishwater gets her all excited. To give the girl a fix on her addiction my husband whipped up a basic set of suds with dish soap and water and placed them in a tupperware container.

This bin o’ bubbles was a major hit! She loved squishing the bubbles between her fingers and spreading them all over her legs…as long as you don’t mind a little dampness on your child and your furniture, this is a simple yet effective way to get your child an indoor fix for their bubble obsession.

*Teaching tip: early childhood classrooms can adopt this method to work with their sensory lessons or bins; allow your students to explore with the bubbles inside and outside; add liquid water color and provide them with straws to blow larger, colored bubbles; the possibilities are endless!!!

Sunday Snippet: Looking at Lightning

As many across the country know the midwest was under a severe thunderstorm watch tonight and the weatherman didn’t let us down. The rain was very thick with lots of streak lightning and thunder. This being the first thunderstorm our little squirt has been conscious for my husband had the foresight to make the experience into a positive one.

While the storm was relatively calm he took our little one to the window and pointed out “nature’s fireworks”. The lightning struck across the sky and her face lit up. She loved to watch the change in the sky as well as the bright light flash; she even learned the word “wow” and how to use it in these moments. When the thunder started, it was another story. She clung tightly to her daddy and buried her face in his chest. Slowly however she became accustomed to the noise and began to enjoy it. Whenever thunder would sound she would stick her finger in the air and make a surprised face.

Through this positive experience with the thunderstorm we calmly put her to bed and it went down just like our everyday routine (thank goodness!). Next time there is a thunderstorm and your little one is scared take some time to sit down with them and show them the wonder of “nature’s fireworks”!

River Ramble

We took full advantage of my day off on Monday and spent some time in the river. Our little squirt absolutely LOVES the water and she has a blast exploring everything. We were equipped with her bathing suit, swimcap, reusable swim diaper and water shoes. Upon entering the water she was very sure-footed and wanted to get her hands on everything. We found mussels, aquatic plants, beetles, fish and plenty more. The most important find, however, were the rocks at the bottom of the river; she was mesmerized by the differences in colors, shapes and sizes (I see a rock collection in the near future!)

Not only did we walk in the river we tested out how much she would enjoy tubing since we are interested in tubing as a family later this summer (the tube that we bought was only $4 from Meijer and it has the cross supports to keep her from falling out; it works great!). I walked her upstream and then walked beside her as she floated down river. The look on her face when she realized that I wasn’t holding on to the tube was quite humorous; it was an eyebrow-raised sort of moment  ‘0_o’

This time of the year is great for wading in the river with little ones; the water is very low and slow and is quite warm. Find a local river and spend some time looking around for little river treasures such as flat rocks to skip, empty mussel shells, snail shells or even some fishing lures that were left behind (just make sure all non-swimmers are wearing some sort of floaty). A great book to read before or after you get in the river is If You Find a Rock
by Peggy Christian. Since rocks are often found when exploring rivers in both the riverbed and the riverbanks, this book is applicable because it gives meaning to rocks that is easy for children of all ages to relate to.

A fun game for kiddos that are able to swim is to play ball tag. What you’ll need are small floating balls that your kiddos can toss at each other without getting hurt. Someone starts as “it” and tries to hit someone else with the ball to tag them. If they hit someone then they become the new “it” person, if they miss they have to make it to another ball and try again, sometimes this becomes a real challenge since the river is constantly flowing downstream. This is an especially fun game with a lot of people but can be done with just a few. I wish you luck with a river ramble of your own!

Sunday Snippet: Grabbing Garbage

It was another hot and muggy summer night so to pass the time my little squirt and I went out in the yard to pick up the garbage that blows in from the road. While the little one held the bag I picked up a cup, a balloon, some caution tape and other pieces of litter that made their appearance in our yard. Our little squirt did a great job pointing out the foreign objects that did not belong in nature, a skill I was surprised she possessed.

To celebrate our good deed for nature we walked across the road to the park and had a great swinging session with fun songs like “I’m a Little Fishy” and “Itsy Bitsy Spider”. Take some time to go outside with your little ones and clean up the areas that you visit most often, creating a beautiful and healthy environment for animals and plants alike!

*Teaching Tip: modify this for your classroom by taking time to clean up the school yard. It will help create a sense of community as well as stewardship in your students!

Keep Calm and Let Them Help

Many children have an inherent desire to help with everyday chores including dishes, laundry and cooking. As parents we often get so caught up in getting these chores done quickly and efficiently that our children’s desire to help gets squashed in the process.

My sister-in-law reminded me today just how important a couple extra minutes can mean to our little squirt. Instead of telling my little one “no” when she wanted to help with the dishes my sister-in-law instead kept her cool and did dishes while also allowing my little one to play in the water. By allowing her to “help” with the dishes at such a young age it can foster a desire for her to help at an older age and make chores an easier task in the future.

I took this same philosophy later in the day when my little girl decided she wanted to help me with laundry. Although it took me an extra ten minutes to refold the items she unfolded, I saw the joy in her face when I told her that “she was helpful for folding the laundry with mama”. Hopefully I can continue to keep this important lesson in mind while I go about my busy life and keep my little one interested in helping others.

Sunday Snippet: Spray Park!!!

Today was a crazy humid, hot day and what better way to cool off than to go to the local spray park? Our little squirt had her first experience with this wonder today and I am glad to say that it was a hit!

She, like so many other kiddos, was running around and laughing as water sprayed her from all sides. This stop was impromptu on our walk around Island Park and I was so happy that I had her swimsuit in her diaper bag. I decided this summer that her swimsuit and bathing cap were two must-haves since you never know when a one year old will want to get wet! Take a moment to go outside sometime soon and enjoy the wonders of water with your children; on a super hot day this can be hours upon hours of fun for children of any age (including those that are children at heart!!!)

Monitor Your Baby Without the Cost

When registering for baby items two years ago my husband and I contemplated a baby monitor for our future squirt. We had heard wonders about the peace of mind it had brought our friends and our friends’ friends so we thought we would look into it. Not only are they crazy expensive they seemed a little over-kill for us; especially since we were planning on her sleeping in our room for a year (that year has turned into a year and a half- beware future parents!). Why should we spend upwards of $100 on something we wouldn’t use very often when we could buy something much more applicable with the same money?

And then we found our solution, our free solution as a matter of fact. On the Android market is an app called “Baby Monitor” that allows you the opportunity to monitor your baby with the baby alarm, read about baby facts, look at images from previous monitor sessions and track your baby’s sleep with the sleep diary.

This nifty app turned into a great tool for our family; to be honest though, we only use the baby alarm to monitor our little squirt at night before we come to bed. However, the baby alarm allows for customization of the sensitivity, so I can lay my phone next to our daughter and if she makes noise it alerts my husband’s phone either by text or by call based on our preference.

If you are like us and you don’t want to spend the money on an expensive piece of technology you’ll use a handful of times and you have two cell phones with at least one of which being a smart phone, this app or one like it may be very beneficial for you. It also happens to be an eco-friendly choice since you are reusing a device for yet another purpose. Go forth and have peace of mind thanks to modern technology!!!

Sunday Snippet: Backyard Berries

Summer yields black raspberries and to our great surprise our little squirt loves these tangy little fruits! Luckily for us we have brambles upon brambles of these native goodies in our yard so we often go out and snag a few for a healthy dessert 🙂

Our little squirt loves them so much that she is even willing to try and dive in for them herself (which is when we step in and help little Miss Independent out!) There is something special about picking your own food from your own yard. Go forth on a venture in your own backyard and see what hidden surprises can be had close to your home!