It can be tricky when everyone is home keeping all the kids occupied and engaged in activities especially when they vary in ages, abilities and like different things. This break I really wanted to limit our time with media things and focus more on other worthwhile activities at home. Since I never go anywhere with all the kids except maybe the park I needed to find fun things we could do at home. It is just too hard for me to take everyone somewhere by myself. Brooks is such a handful and Ryder is getting to the age where he doesn't just like to sit in his carrier.
I found these great technology punch cards on one of my favorite blogs(brownpaperpackages.com). Each circle is worth 30 minutes of technology time. They get a punch card a week. They can use however many they want a day but when they are gone they are gone. The kids really learn to use them wisely. I love it and so did the kids.
I found a lot of great new ideas from Pinterest. I love trying new things with the kids at home. Especially learning and educational type things. It must be the old preschool teacher in me! :) It has really been a fun break.
Playdough and Gak never get old for my kids. Especially the boys; they LOVE it! Usually they like Gak the best. Dalton's favorite thing to do is bury these little plastic farm animals in the gak. Brooks loves to use the cookie cutters and plastic knives to cut it apart. It is a great activity if I want the boys to calm down and do something a little more mellow.
Brooks is obsessed with outside. All my kids go through this stage at around the same age. But I always forget about it until I am in it again. Funny how that happens! From the time he wakes up in the morning until it is time for bed no matter what the weather is like he is begging to go outside.
He is always in his boots, a coat and one glove. It is pretty hilarious. He LOVES to swing. It is his favorite thing. He also likes to throw balls, rocks and sand. It drives me crazy(not the ball part just the rocks and sand)! He is such a boy!
He also loves to climb. He can get to the top of the playhouse roof and the top of the rope ladder on our playset all by himself. He is very cordinated but it is really scary what he is capable of let me tell you. We also found out at his 2 year appointment that Brooks is a very big boy. He is in the 95th percentile for height and weight. Pretty crazy if you consider Ryan's height. Ha!
We have also been doing some cooking together. Our favorite were these homemade no bake chocolate chip granola bars. They were so easy and really good! I've already made them 2 times since then. Seriously yummy!! The kids love it when we cook together, especially Dalton. He is always wanting to help me make dinner. I need to cook with them more often.
I discovered Brooks really loves to do things with his hands. He loves doing puzzles and putting things together. So I thought this activity would be perfect for him. I just got out some pom poms and put them all in a bowl. Then I got out an old ice cube try and gave him some tongs. He loved putting the poms from the bowl into the ice cube tray over and over again. It is a great fine motor activity because they really have to use their hand and finger strength to get those tongs to open and close. He loved this one.
Funny Bunny Faces I found through Pinterest on the website http://www.housingaforest.com/. I have seen these done in the classrooms at school a lot. I really like these drawing/dice worksheets. They are so much fun. This website also has one for Halloween. Ashby really loved this one. You roll the dice and whatever number it lands on you look to see what part of the bunny you are supposed to draw. You end up with a different bunny every time. They turn out really cute too.
Another favorite blog I discovered from Pinterest is All for the boys (http://fortheboys.squarespace.com/). It is a blog dedicated to crafts and projects for boys. It is awesome!! We tried a few crafts from it. One of our favorites was the straw airplane. It worked way better than the paper airplanes you can make and it was really simple. She does fort Fridays with her boys every Friday they make some kind of cool new fort. I love that idea.
Ashby being the creative girl in the family of course decorated hers with crayons and stickers. They both loved it.
Brooks has been really into his colors and shapes lately. So we have been thinking of all kinds of things to do with these pom poms. This simple sorting colors game kept him busy for a minute or two. :P
Who doesn't love water color painting?! It is such a simple activity but the kids really love it. We haven't done it in awhile so they were especially thrilled when I got out the paints. I love saving those papers they wrap fragile stuff in at Michaels craft store. They make the best papers for art projects!
Dalton was so proud of his Angry Birds painting.
Brooks loved the water colors too. I think he was so surprised I was letting him paint like the big kids.
Ashby's cute painting. I love childrens artwork. It is my favorite.
I also did finger painting with the kids. They loved it, especially Brooks. I couldn't get any pictures of it because it was so messy. It was a riot watching Brooks. He was really getting into it!
Ashby's last Saturday on break we decided to get pedicures together. We've been a few times together and it is one of our favorite things to do. It is always so fun spending some one on one time with Ashby. I love doing Mother daughter things together. It is the best!
The finished product
Afterwards we always walk next door to My Favorite Muffin shop, sit down and eat some yummy bagels and drinks. I love the Swiss Onion bagel toasted with butter. Yummy!
We tried this fun Jelly Bean experiment with Ashby and Dalton. I found the idea from here. The experiment was to test the jelly beans reactions in different liquids. The worksheet let them write a hypothesis and then the end results.
Ashby and Dalton checking out their jelly beans.
The liquids we used were Root Beer, Salt Water, Water, Baking Soda Water, Vinegar and Vinegar and Water.
The results varied from the color coming off to the coating completely eroding and bubbling and fizzing. It was a fun little experiment. I think the kids really liked it.
We had a lot of play dates for the kids this break. I always enjoy having friends over for the kids. They love it too. This play date we had Ashby's cute little friend Katelyn over. We baked home made cupcakes together. The girls and Dalton LOVED decorating and helping me make them. Katelyn said it was the 1st time she has ever made cupcakes before. She kept telling me how fun it was again and again. I was so happy to share this experience with her. She was just loving it. So cute.
Cousin play dates are the best! We love having Katia over to play. I really enjoyed watching Dalton play with Katia. They had a really cute game of Grocery shopping going upstairs. Here they are eating a snack together.
Grandma Becky brought over these really cool Color wonder stickers for the kids. They colored the pictures, peeled them off, then made a scene on the sliding glass door. I was so surprised how long this kept Ashby and Dalton busy. They did this together happily for at least a couple of hours. It was wonderful! Thanks Grandma!
Pretzel marshmallow structures was another fun activity we tried. Brooks just ate the marshmallows but Ashby and Dalton really liked building their little structures.
Another sensory activity we tried was playing with rice. For Brooks I put the rice in a shallow pan and hid some magnetic letters in it. He loved it. Especially when I got out the cup and measuring spoons. He just poured and poured for quite awhile.
Look at the concentration on his face!
Ashby and Dalton liked this one too.
I really liked the idea of this activity I found on Pinterest. You write the alphabet on clothespins. Then you write all kinds of different words on index cards. The kids can spell the word by attaching the clip to the card. Pretty fun and great for reading and spelling practice. I was a good quiet time activity.
There has also been a lot of everyday things like eating, playing and reading together too. I love being at home and having nowhere else I have to be. It really simplifies things when we are on break. It has been so great. I love being a Mom and taking care of my babies! It is the best job in the world.
Ashby is the best big sister anyone could have. She is always so helpful with the boys. I honestly could not do it without her. She is such a big helper. We are so blessed to have her in our family.
Hairstyles . . . oh the fun hairstyles I get to try on Ashby! She is such a good sport and lets me have some fun. Being off track we have more time to try some fun hairdo's. Here was our try at a clover hairstyle for St. Patrick's Day!
Waterfall braid. One of my faves.
Hunger Games hairstyle (Katniss braid). I LOVE this one!
Floating braid. This one is really pretty too.
1 comment:
You are SO going to be asked to give seminars at Womens Conference at BYU! Fabulous ideas on how to entertain and educate your children! Kudos!
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