OUTDOOR:
-We set up a couple kiddie pools in the shade and use them in many ways. On an especially hot day we even have a little sprinkler going right next to it to keep us cool. We play games with the pools being the goals and throwing balls into them. We jump in between them. We fill them with water balloons and it is really fun how they float around.
-Speaking of water balloons, we go through a lot of water balloons and usually it is not just throwing them at each other. We play the game where you start right next to each other and toss it to the person and if you catch it you take a step back. My son loves to break them over his own head. The little kids love to play with them almost like a doll and have a lot of fun playing with them floating in the pool. The only downside is the time that it takes to fill them up and picking up all the little pieces afterwards.
-Someone told me this idea and I thought it didn’t sound like so much fun, but the kids loved it. Fill a bucket full of water and give the kids big paint brushes, like the kinds you would use to paint trim with or whatever you have and let them “paint” the sidewalk or deck or whatever with the water. The water changes the color of what they are “painting” and the sun dries it up and they can do it all over again.

INSIDE:
-We like to do crafts a lot. Our favorite craft material is Crayola’s Model Magic clay. It is very foam like and easy to use. I buy it from a craft store when they have a 40% off coupon and buy a huge tube of it. As long as you store the unused open portions in ziploc bags and/or containers it can last for awhile.
-Speaking of foam, my son loves to be creative with foam sheets. They are fun to work with and a bit more interesting to use the construction paper all of the time. He will cut things out and together we use a hot glue gun to put them together-add a couple fuzzy pom poms and popscicle sticks and you are set. I think cutting foam is also a good way to get a different type of fine motor skill practice.
-We loved aquadots before they were recalled…not I guess we will have to go back to fuse beads.
-FORTS! For most of the summer our family room gets a bit rearranged to make room for a fort. The fort has several wings which will house special items.
-We play a lot of games together. One of my favorites is Blokus. One of my son’s favorites is Zooreka. Card games are always a good standby. I wanted to reinforce the multiplication facts that my son is learning so I bought a version of “war” with those facts on it, whichever multiplication fact is higher gets to keep the cards. As a teacher, it would be neat to adapt that with whatever math skill is being worked on.
-This summer my son is going to make a book. I purchased a blank hardcover book from a teacher supply store, of course you could always put together a book as well. We will see what he comes up with.

There are so many more things that we do together, but these are what came to mind. I will send a couple pictures your way.

another Lori (lorimo)s last blog post..Nature’s Beauty and Fragility

hollies last blog post..Thursday, May 15, 2008

I haven’t included a pic since we haven’t made the play-doh yet…..