Category: Activities for Kids

Today was our second day of homeschooling!

I woke up in the middle of the night with an idea to bring down a huge stuffed animal out of each boy’s bedroom for them to use as their computer buddy (a bear for Jonas, a dolphin for Xander, and a monkey for Roman) and to create a sensory space in Roman’s room for him to go to when he’s close to or in meltdown mode.

We continued with our Spring Writing Prompts this morning (I joined them again…I love to write). For rotations today, the boys did Math, Typing, and Mommy and Me Time. In our special time together:

Roman and I read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.
Xander and I made his bed (I helped him put the sheets and blankets on and tossed him his stuffed animals as he organized them in his amazingly thoughtful way), played stuffed animal hide and seek, and tossed the lacrosse ball back and forth.
Jonas and I played Ticket to Ride.

For Science, we made Wildflower Seed Bombs. Basically, you cut or tear construction paper into little pieces, separate them into bowls by color, let stand for 20 minutes, squeeze out about half of the water, shred each color in a blender/food processor, mix in wildflower seed, form into a ball, and let dry overnight. It was a little bit much with all three boys at once, so I ended up having two of them go upstairs to play together which made space for me to work with each one of them individually. The Wildflower Seed Bombs turned out well, and we’re excited to gift them to friends as a little ray of sunshine in this dark time.

We took our first official stab at homeschooling today.

I thought we would pilot our schedule and see how it feels. We have a list of WCS resources we can use, so for right now I decided to use those for Math, Coding, and Typing. I’m adding in Writing, with a page of prompts to choose from that will change each week, and a different fun activity that the boys can do each day for Science/Art (thank you, Pinterest!!!). The first block will be Writing and Rotations (Math, Coding M/W/F or Typing T/TH, and Mommy and Me Time for each boy). After the first block, it will be time for outside play, lunch, chores, and quiet time with tablets. Afterwards, we’ll finish up the homeschooling day with the second block, a Science/Art activity. (Over planning is a manifestation of my anxiety…still I’m grateful for what I feel like have been Holy Spirit downloads of creativity in homeschool lesson planning.)

Aside from Jonas and Roman getting into a fight while writing in their journals, during which I literally had to body block Jonas to keep him from hurting Roman for throwing a pencil at his head because Jonas made a snide remark about his writing and send Roman to his room for throwing a pencil at Jonas’ head and overreacting himself into a meltdown…we had a pretty decent first block. HaHa! During our Mommy and Me Time, Roman and I sorted his Pokemon cards (a boy after his mother’s heart), Xander and I played Forbidden Dessert (I’m glad he knows how to play that game and can explain it to me because I have no idea…it’s so complicated) and baked a cake (mix), and Jonas and I built towers with wooden dominoes and played several rounds of Jenga (Jonas dominated, of course).

For outside play, we went on a bear hunt around the neighborhood which was really fun. A mom in our neighborhood encouraged everyone to put bears in their windows for kids to find and count on bear hunt walks…such a great idea. There are several other neighborhoods in Nolensville participating now…I love our little town. Roman hung back and rescued worms, Xander ran ahead and recorded the number of bears and their addresses in a little notebook, and Jonas walked with Petra and helped me look for any bears that Xander might have missed. We only made it around the back part of our neighborhood because Roman took off through the woods to put the worms he rescued in our garden.

During our second block, we made peanut-free bird feeders out of empty toilet paper rolls, soy butter, and cheerios. It kind of made a big mess, but oh well. (I think it ended up being a good thing that the honey was solidified and we couldn’t add that to our concoctions.) It was fun to do, and I’m hoping the birds will appreciate it.

The boys and I had a Make and Create Day today!!!

Roman has been really into water beads lately, so I looked up activity ideas on Pinterest…this one popped up and looked messy but fun…Shaving Cream and Water Bead Cupcakes. Yes!!! The boys had a BLAST filling their bowls with shaving cream, adding drops of food coloring, dumping in handfuls of water beads, mixing it all up into cupcake and cake creations, and decorating them with shaving cream icing and sprinkles.

We also made journals…this is one of my favorite things to do. We sat in the floor and cut out a bunch of different images and phrases we liked from a stack of magazines. Then, we collaged them onto the front and back of a Mead composition notebook with glue and sealed them with ModPodge. Such a fun creative exercise! It always relaxes and energizes me to do something creative…I think it has the same effect on my boys. Yay!

The boys painted pavers this afternoon to complete the pathway they’ve helped me create through the garden. I love their artwork!!!

Jonas’ creations…

Xander’s creations…

Roman’s creations…

The boys and I painted rocks this afternoon. Once they dry…we’ll write “615 rocks” on the back, add a sealant, and hide them…just a little summer fun…

The boys and I did some tie-dyeing today!!! They each worked on a pillowcase and a t-shirt: Jonas chose a crumple and a spiral, Roman tried a bullseye and a spiral, and Xander just did his own thing. They turned out great, and we even had some dye left over. So, I think we might try it again later in the summer.

Before winter break started, I tried to stock up on a few activities for the boys to do at home in between outings. Today we busted out the Gingerbread House making kit!!! The boys watched a how-to video on www.wilton.com/gingerbread-wm while I worked on getting everything set up (gingerbread, candies, and icing). We ended up learning a few fun, helpful things from the video…you can use sugar as snow, a gumdrop can be rolled out flat and then stamped out with a small cookie cutter shape, and it works better if you decorate your gingerbread (and let it dry) before you put it all together. Here’s what Jonas, Xander, and Roman came up with…

The boys enjoyed making and decorating sugar cookies this morning…

The boys and I went blueberry picking this morning and picked almost three pounds of blueberry goodness…

I loaded up on rainy day activities for the boys this summer. So, today we did some tie dyeing!!! It was so much fun.

Roman and I visited the Adventure Science Center with some friends several weeks ago and LOVED it. So, when Aunt Jean gave the boys some money for Christmas, I knew one of the best gifts ever for them to enjoy would be a membership to the Adventure Science Center. We went today, and I practically had to drag them out of there to go get some lunch…haha!!! They were all over the place like pinballs in a pinball machine. Jonas had the great idea of bringing walkie talkies…so, in case we got separated, we could find each other…it worked brilliantly. Among the favorites of the day were the rocket launcher, the parachute pulley, the play structure that goes all the way to the top of the pyramid and looks out over Nashville, and the water table. We can’t wait to go back and explore some more. Thanks, Aunt Jean!!!

Going to the Breakfast with Santa at our church has become a holiday tradition. We eat breakfast, help the boys with crafts and games, and snap a picture of the boys with Santa. This year they stamped treat bags, made Santa puppets, played Christmas bingo, and loved on the dog (sheep) in the live nativity. So sweet!