Get Out(side)!

They say the days are long but the years go fast when you have children.  What they don’t tell you is that when you are sequestered in the house with small children, the months are long too.  For many of us, March was a long year.. 

One way to make the time pass a little faster is to get outside with your kiddos.  I recently asked Stephanie Bozzo, Director of the Audubon Nature Preschool in Chevy Chase, Maryland to share some of her favorite activities with small (or not-so-small) children and here is her advice:

It can be as simple as digging in dirt and climbing stumps or trees.  Try rolling a log toward you (just in case there is an insect or animal who wants to escape) or peek under a rock or flower pot outside and check out the cool critters that are living beneath. 

Simple scavenger hunts are great too.  Put a few words or pictures on a paper lunch bag.  When the kids find the pictured leaf, rock, pinecone, squirrel, etc. they can put it in the bag (except that last item, of course).  Or if you’d rather not bring home their treasures, you can print out a sheet with pictures of the items and bring along stickers or a pen to mark their finds.  Make it a bingo game!

And here is a video of Stephanie explaining nature tic tac toe (all that’s needed is 4 sticks and some matching leaves).

Here are some thoughts from my sister Kirsten, who has decades of experience* teaching 4 and 5 year olds, on entertaining children outside: 

·         If your kids are bouncing off the walls or couch when indoors, they may need some proprioceptive activities, like doing wheelbarrows with you, carrying heavy things around, jumping off things, swinging, and hanging from a monkey bar.

·         Long walks in the woods, if possible, are always a good idea, especially now that it's spring and things are starting to grow.

·         Turn on some music and have a dance party in your yard! (Check below for some songs that are particularly fun to dance to.)

Songs to dance to:

1.       Listen & Move, Greg & Steve 

2.       Bop Until You Drop, Greg & Steve 

3.       Freeze, Greg & Steve

4.       The Goldfish (Let's Go Swimming), Laurie Berkner Band

5.       Drivin' in my Car, Ralph's World

You’ve got this..

*..and is clearly smarter than I am since I have no idea what proprioceptive means.