Outside Melody Maker

E loves the Melody Maker that O and I made a few years ago.  It's the first thing that she runs to when we go outside to play.  O and I had fun making it a few years ago, and now we all enjoy it!

Planting Christmas Tree Seeds

Since Friday was Arbor Day, we decided to plant Christmas tree seeds as our daily advent activity.  Luckily, I'd bought a miniature pot with seeds and a soil disk from the dollar section of Target a couple of weeks ago, so this worked out perfectly for us.


First, O opened her advent activity container.  She loves opening the containers to find out the activity.



Then we put the soil disk in a bowl with lukewarm water.  She put the soil in the pot.


She then pressed 5 seeds into the pot.



O was very proud of planting her Christmas tree seeds.  This was a great simple  and fun activity!

Acorn Stew

O enjoys using her outdoor mortar and pestle (bought a couple of years ago from a yard sale) to grind acorns to make acorn stew!  Yummy! 
When she moved the mortar and pestle, there was a baby snake sleeping under it.  I briefly contemplated trying to catch it, but O was not at all interested and the snake slithered away quickly. 


Does anyone know what kind of snake this is?  I know very little about snakes, but I tried to get a close look at his eyes and head shape to see if he was poisonous, and I don't think he was.  However, I could be wrong...he moved quickly, and I was a little nervous :)

"On the Go" Nature Collage

O, E, and I had a great time taking nature walk to make an "on the go" nature collage last week. We took a glue stick and a rectangle cut from a cereal box outside with us. We glued various items to the rectangle as we found them.

This was a simple and fun activity that I'm sure we'll do again soon. Thanks to my friend, Rebecca, for this fun idea!!!

A Pretty Bouquet

O recently spent the day with her grandmother, and when I picked her up, she was SO excited that she had picked a bouquet of flowers for me. I loved how they put the flowers in a jelly jar with a shell tied around it for decoration. So simple and pretty.

Beach Treasures

On our last morning at the beach, we woke the girls up before sunrise so we could watch the sunrise over the ocean. The sky was cloudy, so the sunrise wasn't that impressive. However, we had a great time walking on the beach and found lots of treasures.

We saw many starfish (it's been about 8 years since we've found starfish on the beach here). They were still alive, so we put them back in the water. O found several dead crabs, which she insisted on keeping. We also saw a pod of dolphins. It was a wonderful morning and definitely worth the missed hours of sleep!

Picking Peaches

While we were playing "Princess Teacher" (I was the teacher who was wearing a beautiful tiara), O, E, and I went on a field trip to pick peaches (in our backyard). We filled our colander with lots of yummy peaches. They aren't all ripe, but we wanted to get them before the birds do! Luckily, O loves peaches and eats 3 or 4 a day!

Tree Trunk Crayon Rubbings

A few weeks ago when we were studying our backyard habitat, O and I made crayon rubbings of several tree trunks. I held a piece of paper on the tree trunk, and O used a flat crayon (mini muffin tin crayons made from leftover crayon bits) to rub across the paper to make the rubbing. We also made rubbings of her face and hair...they didn't turn out very well, but it was fun!

Baby Dragonfly

O and I rescued this baby dragonfly from our pedal boat on Thursday. We watched him for a while, and O asked why he didn't fly away. I told her that he probably just needed to rest for a while. She put him down and said "I'm going to leave him alone so that he can rest and fly back to his mama for milkies so he can be healthy and strong." While I loved the image of the baby dragonfly flying to find his mama and then nursing so he could be healthy and strong, I decided this was a good opening for a discussion on the differences between mammals and insects :)

We've been playing archaelogist on the beach every morning this week...when we play archaelogist, we bury toys in the sand and dig them up while pretending they are dinosaur bones and eggs. O pretended that she had discovered a rhinocerous egg, so that launched another discussion about animals...the differences between dinosaurs, mammals, and reptiles. Fun times! (just in case you are wondering where E is during all of this...she usually plays with us on the beach for a little while before nursing and falling asleep in my arms...she naps better in my arms in the lake than anywhere else!)

Summer Leaf People

As another activity in our backyard exploration, O and I collected leaves to make Summer leaf creatures. We laid them out on the floor and put hardback books on them to flatten them. After a couple of hours, we removed the books and made leaf creatures. I made a girl wearing a dress, so O made a leaf boy so they could get married. I love the face that she drew on her leaf boy :)

In the interest of full disclosure, I should admit that I enjoyed this activity much more than O did!

Found Object Art

During our week of studying our backyard habitat, I thought it would be fun to make art with found objects. O and I found the perfect board in our garage. Then we went into the lake to collect empty clam shells...there's never any shortage of these! After the clam shells dried, I drew the outline of a fish on the board. We spread glue on and in the fish outline and filled it with clam shells. This was a fun and easy project, and we were happy with the end result!

This project was inspired by a similar art project by my cousin, Anne. Anne collects rusty nails and bits of glass from the field where she rides horses. She then glues these bits of found objects to boards in the shapes of horses. They are amazing! Thanks, Anne, for the inspiration!!!

Fun with Worms

O and her Daddy went fishing on Monday morning. They didn't catch anything, but they had fun. O especially had fun playing with the worms when they got back. She made letters out of them and lined them up for races.

She counted the worms and held them all in her hands. Then she insisted that I hold them in my hands. I wasn't excited about it, but I did it. She said "Aren't they wiggly and squiggly?" Yes, they were!

Gardening with Kids

For the 2nd year in a row, we have opted to plant our vegetables in earthboxes rather than in a traditional vegetable garden. Earthboxes are SO much easier to maintain than a traditional garden, and the plants grow so fast. We have grape tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes,yellow squash, bell pepper, cucumbers, and basil. Other than a little end rot on the tomatoes, the plants and vegetables are doing great. O is always excited when it's time to pick!

Nature Crown

O and I had fun making this simple nature crown today from a cereal box, Magnolia leaves, Azalea flowers, and staples.

To make the crown, I cut 2 strips from a cereal box and stapled them together to fit O's head. We picked Magnolia leaves and stapled them to the cardboard crown. O chose the flowers, and I stapled the flowers between the leaves. This was fun, simple, and I love how it looks on my little sweetie :) Oh, and it's perfect for Earth Day!

O and my mom made a Magnolia Leaf Crown last year, too! This might be a yearly tradition :)

Helping Out the Birds

After reading Bluebird's Nest, O and I filled a tangerine bag with materials for birds to use to build their nests (I've been saving bags to do this activity for more than a year, so I was glad to finally do it!). We put yarn, stuffing, pine straw, long blades of grass, and moss in the bag. We tied to bag to a tree, and we hope that the birds will appreciate our efforts and use the materials when building a nest :)

Petals & Leaves Necklace

O and I were thrilled that all of Guh-guh and Grandpa's camelias were in bloom when we were at their house this week. I thought it would be fun to make a simple necklace using the petals and leaves.

O pulled the petals off the flowers while I threaded a blunt needle with yarn. I tied a knot on the needle so that the yarn wouldn't slip off of the needle, and then I showed O how to thread the petals and leaves onto the yarn. She was a little frustrated after her first few attempts because she was pulling on the petals too hard and the yarn was tearing through the sides of the petals. After I showed her how to be very gentle and slowly slide the petals down the yarn, she was successful. She enjoyed making a "patterin" of leaves and petals, and I was proud that she persisted in this task (she wanted to quit at first when the petals kept tearing).

After she finished her necklace, she asked me to make a ring of petals on yarn to put on her hair bun. It looked so pretty...I wish I'd taken a picture :(

Winter Nature Bingo

This fun winter nature bingo card came in the winter issue of O's Just for Fun magazine. I made a color copy of the card onto cardstock (I wish they'd included a removable card or had a downloadable card from the website), laminated the sheet, and cut out the card. We put the card on a clipboard and have taken it outside with us when playing in the yard. We use a wipe-off marker to check things off as we find them. O enjoyed this game the first time we played, but she lost interest quickly. I'm planning to take it with us next time we go for a walk in the woods, and I think we'll all really enjoy it!