Spring Activities

Since it's officially Spring, I'm going to put up my list of activities to-do with the kids. Right now, we're more focused on Easter crafts, but next week we're going to start back checking things off our list! Some of these activities are completely obvious and others not so much. But maybe it'll help someone with their "what to do" dilemma. And the list makes a useful point of reference for me. 

1. Park
2. Roller Skating /Biking/ Skateboarding. ...you know, feet on wheels?
3. Bubble Play
4. Pool Play (I actually blogged about this, you can read that here. It's definitely something we're going to do again this year! )
5. Walks/Jogs
6. Milkshakes/Ice Cream
7. Painting Outside . Let the kids paint the yard in washable paint, it'll rain eventually!
8. Spring Photos
9. Rainy Day Outdoor Play - it's the perfect whether to play in the rain! We jumped puddles and danced in the rain the other day during our walk.
10. Cookout- the kids can help prep the food and you can enjoy a dinner under the stars/clouds/sun.
11. Field day. This is me reliving my childhood and giving them one all at one time. One leg races, bobbing for apples, tug of war, dodgeball; our family is gonna play it all!
12. Star Gazing ...or take it a step further with backyard camping or just go camping
13. Hiking. I wouldn't do this, because I'm not one with nature, but my husband plans on doing this with our boys.
14. Fishing. Again, another one I won't participate in.
15. Shopping Spree. It's nice to just let the kids blow $25 at Dollar Tree every once in a while. And letting them help pick out their much needed Spring/Summer clothes is a must do!
16. Chalk. Bring back hop scotch!
17. Slip n Slide. This is more fun than a pool, because you get muddy.
18. Sports. It's a good time to play some football, baseball, basketball, soccer, etc. Or to practice flips and cheers.
19. Water balloon fights.
20. Nature Exploration. Find bugs and plants, observe and discuss them.
21. Outdoor Interactive Story Time. Change of scenery.
22. Gardening.

I'll probably add to the list if I think of anything else they want to do, or if they think of anything else they want to do.  But for now, we'll have tons of fun focusing on the 22 items already listed. 

Fun with Boxes

I know you're crazy about the title right? We have a ton of boxes leftover from recent internet buys, I stopped my husband from throwing them out, and swore I'd find something to do with them. This was three days ago. Last night I was told to do something with the boxes or they were getting thrown out. So the boys and I spent the later afternoon crafting with boxes!

We only had small and medium boxes, no huge boxes.  I usually just sit them inside of huge boxes with some markers and let them go crazy.  I see big boxes as an opportunity to clean, and not have them behind me destroying everything.  

I didn't have that luxury today, but we did think of some pretty cool stuff to do with the boxes.
1. Picnics in a box - the clean up was quick and easy, and they got to eat dinner in front of the television. Everybody wins!

2. Backdrop for dinosaurs! - or dolls or farm animals. Make a stage for whatever your child is into. I'd like to take a second to brag on myself for this backdrop. It turned out pretty good and I have zero artistic talent. So I'm going to pat myself on the back. I used green paint and blue and yellow chalk, and it only took me 15 minutes.

3. Decorate and use for storage- It's a no-brainer: reuse the box. I think this would look super neat with random pieces of wrapping paper all over it, but we didn't have that at hand. So construction and computer paper it was! We spent around an hour decorating the box.

4. Make connecting pieces out of the flaps - they painted & colored them with chalk. I cut them out into shapes and cut (roughly) a 1.5-inch slit in them. When they actually played with it only the big non-triangular pieces with the slit in the middle survived. But the rest of the pieces actually proved to be pretty durable!

Do yall have any ideas on what to do with leftover boxes? 

(Sidenote: I have no idea why the text is highlighted.)