To welcome in the new year, I wanted to share some pictures from our end of 2020. Obviously so many of us are ready to be done with many things from last year, but I know that most of the bad stuff isn’t going to end with the calendar. If only it could work that way. I wish that we had set dates to know when some stuff will get better, when we will be able to see our families again, etc. Even though there are some bad things, there were some good moments for us.
It’s so weird to think of the Chiplet as being a 3 year old. Sometimes I realize it when I look at him and realize he isn’t quite as little as I expect. It also happens when I look at videos from a year ago and realize he has matured in different ways, even if he still seems quite little next to the Fudgelet.
I’ve mentioned how we have been trying to keep certain things the same for the kids as we celebrate holidays. Sometimes it can be a bit of a challenge to find workarounds, but we have managed so far this year. With Fall and Halloween activities, normally I plan lots of crafts, as well as a visit to the pumpkin patch (does anyone else feel huge relief after that trip? I always worry each year that we won’t be able to find a reasonably dry day, and this year we needed to worry about avoiding people), and of course trick or treating. What have we managed to do this year? Continue reading…
As we ended the school year and moved into summer time fun, I still had some activities for around the house since playgrounds remained closed.
The weather has been pretty crazy here lately. We have had some great weather days, some hot and muggy days, some rainy days, and everything in between. But we have still managed to get outside most of the days, even if it is just for a bit. I have been trying to mix up our activities so that we aren’t always doing the same things outside. So, some days I ask the Chiplet first what he wants, and other times the Fudgelet. The first activity chosen usually dictates front yard or back yard, and then the other kid can pick from that location. Other days I have been planning small activities, maybe bringing out something we haven’t done for a bit, just to keep things interesting.
Thankfully we have been having many sunny days lately, so this activity works well. It works best for little kids who want to just color what you draw for them, or for bigger kids who can handle the challenge.
We have been doing lots of activities to keep things interesting around our house. We are lucky to have a yard, although it isn’t huge. Our backyard is a decent size for playing with our sports balls and other toys. Although our front yard is small, one perk is that it has a nice sidewalk. The kids like to ride their scooters and bikes, and we can even go around the neighborhood for walks/rides. But sometimes we stay right at the house and decorate the sidewalk with chalk.
Now, I’m not saying we are experts by any means, but for awhile we used to just color and draw random things. Now we have been using drawings for activities.
You’ve probably seen the above activity, but just in case, you take tape and mark off any shapes you want. Then, color in the design. Some people tape off the whole thing at the start and color it, but we conserved the tape by moving the tape as we finished each shape. I let the Fudgelet take charge after he saw what we were doing.
We didn’t make some perfect design, but it was fun and designed by a 5-year old.
Another fun chalk idea is drawing wings for the kids to get a picture as a butterfly/dragon/etc.
We have also done hopscotch, so don’t forget that classic, but for a twist, you can make it longer and do the alphabet in the squares. We also make contests to jump only on the two feet spots, or only on the single foot spots, etc.
Another drawing activity is just to draw dots like a geoboard.
The kids had fun connecting the dots and drawing shapes/letters. And of course we still do our regular scribbles, too.
Another art activity outside that doesn’t require chalk is painting or coloring large pieces of paper outside. We do this inside quite often, but sometimes taking an activity outside makes it more exciting. Plus, we did flowers so it was nice to paint them around actual flowers.
I drew flowers for them with a marker and then let them choose what they wanted to do. The Chiplet chose paint and the Fudgelet chose crayons.
Try to ignore our table which hadn’t been set up for spring yet, haha. I just moved the cover over a bit for the Fudgelet to color on it.
Stay tuned for more activities that are simple and able to be done at home.
fudgingahead 