Snow Cones

When your yard looks like this on April 24:

I am pretty sure this is the best response:

Snowcones! Made with real snow... It's a pretty good way to make a little girl happy!

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. But when Spring gives you snow, make snowcones!

Mom and Me Hikes

Last summer I headed up "Mom and Me" hikes for moms and small kids. It was a lot of fun, so we're doing it again this year. Yesterday was our first hike. We've got a good group that is interested in hiking this summer, so I think we'll have a good turnout most weeks. Unfortunately, most people emailed and said they couldn't make it this week, so I didn't know if anyone else would show up. I waited about 15 minutes and when no one else was there, I started hiking with Ellie on my own. I went for about 15 minutes and decided I wasn't too sure about being on a secluded, wooded trail in town by myself! Probably crazy, I know, but I decided to turn around and just hike Peet's Hill instead. When I got back to Peet's Hill there was a group of women with strollers and as I passed them I happened to catch someone's eye and recognized her! It was Molly Hannan, Leif's boss' wife. We said hi and she said they hike every Monday and yesterday it was Peet's Hill! So I hiked with them and it was a lot of fun! Lots of toddlers and Ellie got to get out of the stroller and hike most of the way! She did get tired and hungry after a while, so I put her back in the stroller and let her eat while I pushed her the rest of the way. All told we ended up walking about an hour and a half. Then I took Ellie over to Bogert Park to play for a bit while I ate some lunch and she got to play on the slides! It was a good way to start out the morning and start out the week! I'm looking forward to the rest of the hikes this summer. Hopefully we'll have people show up each week and the kids can get out and hike themselves some, too. It's good to get them out and active!

Outdoor Activities: Big Bubbles!

We got a couple big bubble wands at the Target $pot a while back and I put them in the 'outdoor activity bucket' while we waited for a sunny day. Well, the sunny days finally came last week, while Ellie's grandparents were in town to visit!

I have to admit, these big bubbles are SO MUCH MORE FUN than blowing regular bubbles! Easy for toddlers to reload and run around with themselves. No constant fear that they're going to dump all the bubble solution all over themselves or try to drink it... No fights because you insist on holding the container while they dip the wand in... Just independence and running around in the back yard! It's great!

Sidewalk Chalk

With the nice weather we've been having, Ellie and I have been spending more time outside together. On one such day last week, (Tuesday, I think) we raided the "outside activity bucket" and decided to play with the sidewalk chalk from Ellie's Easter basket. (That's why the chalk is shaped like eggs instead of, well, chalk.)

At first Ellie was more interested in the packaging than the chalk itself, even after I'd shown her what to do with it.

After a while, though, she got into it and drew lots of little lines all over the driveway. Though all she really drew was lines, she told me what each thing "was". She'd draw blue lines and say, "Heart." and draw pink lines and say, "Butterfly." It was precious. She loves to draw and color, so this is a great way for us to get outside and still do the drawing and coloring.

Note To Self...

... Start teaching Ellie to clean up her toys OUTSIDE the same way we clean up our toys INSIDE.

I don't want to be one of those people with kiddy toys scattered all over the yard someday.

Activities for Toddlers

As summer is approaching (at least in the rest of the northern hemisphere... I have my doubts here in Montana!) it's time to start thinking about outdoor activities that will both encourage curiosity and learning and delight the senses. I found this article on the Family Fun website with ideas for outdoor toddler activities. A lot of them look really neat and I'm hoping to give them a try! There are a few that stand out right away as things that appeal to Ellie's interests right now, like the colored salt shaker art. She loves to shake out the parmesan cheese at the pizza place! So I'll give them a try and report back. If any of you try them out, too, I'd love to hear how it went!

The magic of food coloring

There's no end to the fun you can have with a little food coloring, some water, and a squirt bottle. This is what Ellie and I did the other morning for about an hour...



And no, there wasn't a massacre. Just a lot of food coloring mixed with a lot of snow. Ellie thought it was great. Until her water bottle ran out of squirt. Then...



"More please. Water empty."

And indeed, it was.



So I'd refill it with plain water and she'd go out and empty it on the deck again. We went through this about a dozen times. She thought it was great. So did I.

All in all we had a great time playing in the snow. It was a good way to use up some energy, and it got me to stop thinking about how much I wished the snow would just go away. I'm ready for Spring!

ACTIVITY: Snow Painting

Need:
snow
food coloring
squirt bottle of water

Directions:
Fill the squirt bottle with water and add a few drops of food coloring. Take it outside and squirt the snow to make colorful designs and patterns! When the bottle is empty, refill it with another color.

Work on:
Colors, shapes, gross motor skills