Spray Parks and Paddling Pools

The kids and I took a trip with friends a couple of weeks ago to a city about 3 hours away from us.  We had lots of things planned for the kids to do, but one of the things on our "to do list" was to visit a spray park - to knock yet another item off of our Summer Bucket List.  We have visited the spray park at the park beside us many times this summer, but it's always fun to explore new ones!  And to our wonderful surprise, not only did this city have spray parks, they also had PADDLING POOLS!  Yes, this is a wonderful surprise because we have none, zero, nada, zip in our own city.  The kids had a blast and we knocked something off our list that wasn't even on it!

Taking a trip to the Spray Park or Paddling Pool?  Make sure you pack a park bag and put the following items in it!

• Water Bottles
• Hats
• First Aid Kit
• Sunscreen
• Bug Spray
• Tylenol
• Sunglasses
• Comb

Bulk Bubble Dispenser

What a great idea!  Instead of having the kids spill the whole containter of bubbles while they are playing so that I have to go out and buy brand new bubbles, I can make my own and if they spill it, they can refill it!  I can't say that I made the bubble solution in the container, though.  We actually used this at my preschool and another teacher made the solution and at the end of the June, I just took it home with me.  I got two cups - one for each kid - and a bubble wand and let them have fun.  My son is still learning how to blow bubbles.  He blows so hard that sometimes he actually falls over.  It's quite funny actually.  My daughter, well, she had a blast popping all of the bubbles that she blew.  They were both able to refill their cups when needed (not because of too much bubble blowing but because of spills) and they had so much fun being independent!  Be warned - my son decided that the cement needed a good dose of bubble solution and just watched it pour out while his cup lay abandoned on the grass . . .

• Here are a couple of bubble recipes to get you started!

1/2 cup of dishwashing liquid (Dawn or Joy)
2 cups of water
2 teaspoons of sugar

• And this one that I found on Pinterest!

12 cups water
i cup dishsoap
1 cup cornstarch
1 tbsp baking powder

Grilled Vegetable Pasta Salad

Original Recipe: Kraft
      

Ingredients

2 red peppers, cut into small pieces

2 ears of corn on the cob (kernels need to be cut off the cob)   

1 zucchini, cut into bite sized pieces

1 170g bag of snap peas

3/4 cup of Italian Dressing     

3 cups rotini pasta, uncooked

4 green onions, thinly sliced

1 cup Cheddar cheese, shredded

 

Directions

Heat the stove to medium heat.

Mix the corn, snap peas, peppers and zucchini with 1/4 cup dressing; place in the pan and saute for 10 min. or until vegetables are crisp-tender, turning occasionally. Cool.     

Cook pasta as directed on package, drain.  Place in large serving bowl.
Add the vegetable mix to the cooked pasta as well as the remaining dressing, onions and cheese.  Mix carefully.

This salad I believe was meant to be served cold - but the kids were hungry so we ate it warm - not hot - and it was really good!  The next day I ate some leftovers straight from the fridge and it was also good, but I actually prefered the warm way.  Your choice! 

    

Circle Jumping

When you look at any developmental checklist, "Able to follow __ step directions" is on every single one of them.  My daughter can do this (when she wants) and so can my son, but it's always fun to turn listening into a game.  First I moved all of the furniture off of the patio and I chose different coloured chalk to draw many different circles all over the cement.  We started out with just single instructions.  "Jump to a BLUE circle".  Even my son could do this, and he loved it.  Once we lost his attention, we moved on to harder instructions . . . a sequence of colours!  "Pink, Orange, Blue, Green"  At first, she had a hard time.  But reminding her that she needs to look at who is talking and repeat it in her head, she was able to follow the sequence no problem.  Here is the original link.

• By the age of two, children should be following two step diretions
• By the age of four, that should have moved up to three step directions
• If your child is learning their numbers or letters, you can add those to the circles as well
• Make sure you keep it fun! 

Summer Bucket List - Halway Point

Way back in June I came up with the Summer Jar that held our Summer Bucket List!  There were a LOT of things on that list!  How many have we done?  Check it out!  It's halfway through the summer and I think we've done pretty good.  Note - If the item is highlighted in blue, that means that we HAVE done the item but I just have not (due to technical difficulties) got the full length feature on the blog yet.

• Play with sidewalk chalk
• Homemade sprinkler (Pinterest)
• Ice Cube Treasures (Pinterest)
• Night walk with flashlights
• Farmers Market Trip
• Make and Eat Ice Cream Sundaes
• Sidewalk Painting (Pinterest)
• Feed the ducks
• Run through the sprinklers
• Have a picnic
• Blow Bubbles
• Make a pet rock
• Make Your own watering can (Pinterest)
• Jump rope for 20 minutes
• Play Frisbee
• Make and eat a popsicle
• Ice Cube watercolour (Pinterest)
• Plant something in a lemon (Pinterest)
• Bike Painting (Pinterest)
• Go to the park
• Go to a spraypark
• Go on a park scavenger hunt (Pinterest)
• Play hopscotch
• Lay on the grass and look at the clouds
• Take a trip to a Nature Preserve
• Fly a Kite
• Visit the Bird Sanctuary
• Water Balloon fight
• Learn how to play soccer/baseball/basketball
• Learn how to rollerskate