Category: Five Senses, sensory bags, child development

Summertime Fun

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Happy First Day of Summer Friends!

It’s hard to believe it’s this that time of year again!  It’s such a fun season, especially for children.  They get a two to three-month break from all that hard work at school.  Summer often includes socializing with friends, sports, games, relaxation, travel, spending time outside, and experiencing new people and places.
Do you have a plan for your summer?  Have you scheduled some time to socialize, play, go somewhere you’ve never been or trying something new?  It doesn’t need to be expensive or far away.  Take a few moments this week and think about how you can make this summer memorable.

Socializing with Friends or Family

  • Eat together!  Whether you go to a restaurant, invite them to your place, or meet at the park for a picnic, it’s always fun to fellowship over food!  One of my favorite places was at the ice cream parlor talking and laughing over a hot fudge sundae loaded with peanuts!
  • Game Night!  There are some awesome outdoor game ideas on Pinterest.  Here are a few on my Fun, Fun, Fun board!  There are tons of board games and card games too!  A little competition is good and helps teach how to win and lose gracefully!

Relaxation

  • Read a book together
  • Family Movies anyone?
  • Blow bubbles
  • Buy a hammock and swing in the breeze
  • Create something  – clay, play dough or use your own mediums
  • Sketch or journal each day
  • Visit the Library

Time Inside

  • Build a Lego Castle Together
  • Puzzle races
  • Camping In and Pillow Forts
  • Let the kids pick an activity for the night
  • Binge Watch a Series you’ve been wanting to watch

Time Outside

  • Play in the rain, make mud pies or run under the sprinkler!
  • Plant a few flowers or a small garden or even create a fairy house
  • Play or walk at a nearby park
  • Swimming – who’s in?  Practice your cannonball
  • Catch a Firefly or Look at the Stars
  • Spend the day at the Zoo, Amusement Park,  or Water Park
  • Sidewalk Chalk – Have a Neighborhood Art Contest on your patio or driveway
  • Fly a Kite

Travel in or out of Town

  • Go to a carnival or a county fair
  • See a movie, play or concert
  • Camping, campfires, and smores
  • The Lake -walk around, swim in, fish or take a boat ride and don’t forget to skip a few stones
  • Farmers Market
  • Treasure or Scavenger Hunts
  • Plan things to do along the way – not just when you get there

There are lists upon lists of ideas for summer fun!  The main thing is spend time together and have fun!  Let your creative juice flow ~ from cooking to camping, from playing to learning a new skill!  I know your summer is going to be totally and completely amazing!

Fall Bucket List for fun with Babies

Published on by Yellowbridge3 Comments

It’s been many years since we have had a baby in the house.  Mikey is 8 months old and so full of life.  He is drinking in everything around him and not missing a thing!  What a fun age and an excellent season to learn more about the world he is absorbing.

As we take him for walks over the next few months it is the perfect time to talk about all the changes in fall.  Leaves changing from luscious green to colorful fall hues.  The textures will change from soft to crunchy.  Even the smell of the fall air is different from a summer breeze.

A weekend trip to the farmer’s market will bring about a whole new understanding of the foods that were used to fill his little baby food containers, and the aromas that will make his mouth water from homemade applesauce to pumpkin pie.  His senses are about to be on overload from all the fun things that fall brings.  Football is a favorite in our house, not just the American version but the European football as well.  I see a game or two in his future!  We will be on the hunt, for sure, for hay rides and pumpkin patches.

What an amazing season!  Don’t miss this opportunity to grow your “little pumpkins”!  Each activity and event can teach them so much!  Start with the pumpkin.  You can talk about the shape, the color, the sound it makes when you thump it.  We will be carving our pumpkin for Michael.  In doing this – we will talk about the funny face it has, and the light that shines from the candle inside.  The “guts” won’t go to waste – not when you can let him squish them in a ziplock sensory bag!  Although he is not ready to eat the roasted pumpkin seeds, he can smell how good they will be once his teeth come in.  Honestly, I have NEVER made a pumpkin pie from a pumpkin; it has always been from “scratch” from a can of pumpkin.  Maybe this year I will give it a try.  Regardless, there will be some pumpkin baking going on this fall!  Mikey will use all five of his senses with our pumpkin experience.  Think outside the box.  You can do the same with the apples you pick up at the market.  Almost everything in the fall will heighten most of your babies senses.  Use this time to help your little sweethearts learn and grow.  Happy Fall Y’all!

Fall Bucket List with Babies - Our Yellow Bridge