Outing Adventures!

In my last post, I talked about some of the ways the kids and I have fun at home.  But we also have a (usually) enjoyable outing every morning!

Our weeks go as follows:

Mondays--Library. Our library is just a few minutes down the road. We attend Storytime, with books and songs (Clara likes the songs, Eli likes the books, though he did fully participate last time!), do a craft, and spend time playing with the train table, puppets, puzzles, and stacking blocks.  Eli chooses a few books he'd like, and sits down to look at them.  I browse the shelves and pick up several more (usually take 10ish home).  Clara gets soaked at the water fountain.  Eli's made a good friend out of one of the ladies at the circulation desk.  Her name is Tammy and she's always been very sweet and friendly, genuinely listens to him and asks him questions.  Eli even gave her his Valentine craft.  : )  Eli doesn't even know her name, he just excitedly tells me, "I'm gonna go talk to my friend!"

Tuesdays--Joy School.  The first of the month I teach at my home, then the other three are at other homes (the other three times Clara and I just run errands or do some "fun" shopping.)   Eli really loves Joy School.  He's always excited about what we learn, and he loves getting to play with all the cool toys at the other houses.  :)

 For January's Joy School I taught about snow and ice.  For our crafts we made snowflakes with glitter and rice; and we also made a 'Q' storm where they used Q-tips to paint glue around Qs, then sprinkled on epsom salt that crystallized.  They loved it!

February's lesson was on Dental Health.  We talked about cavities and looked at an old cut into apple that was all brown and yucky.  We had "Happy Tooth" and "Sad Tooth" showing pictures of what's good and bad for your teeth.  We flossed playdoh out of legos with yarn floss.  Took a little while for them to catch on, but then they liked it.  And for craft we brushed our yellow teeth clean and white, using a toothbrush to paint (brush) with.  That was a big hit with Eli!











Wednesdays--Playgroup.  I organize a playgroup for moms from church.  It gets a lot trickier during the winter, with sickness, weather, some kids in preschool, finding a location, etc.  We've done a couple at people's houses, some at a local Nature Center, one at Trader's Point (an indoor climbing playplace in a different city), and some at a sports store where you pay a small fee to play with their playsets, trampolines, etc.  Here's some pictures taken at the Nature Center (were there on our own that day).


The first thing Eli does is scoop up some coins from the treasure chest and take them to the scale.  There's a basket that has little bags that equal the weight of different birds.  You try to make the weight of the coins equal the weight of the bird.  He tries counting the number of coins, then he gets to choose a little prize.

There's a great big window for bird-watching.  This visit there were so many birds, and such a variety!  Tons of squirrels out, too, putting on such a show chasing each other, and running and climbing up and down everything.  Sometimes they'd even walk right in front of our faces!

Eli got such a kick out of seeing the woodpecker!

Clara playing peek-a-boo with the puppet stage

Thursdays and Fridays--These days are open for whatever we want/need to do.  One of them is often a grocery shopping day, sometimes visiting teaching or appointments.  Fun things we use them for are-

--Train Store/Pet Store.  There's a PetSmart right next to a Barnes & Noble.  We go to the pet store and the kids have a ball.  We watch dogs getting their hair cut, play with and pet the cats in the cages, watch the forklift in the back of the store bringing in crates, laugh at the rascally chincilla, and gaze into rows and rows of fish tanks.  Then we go read/look at books and play at the train table at Barnes & Noble.

Conner Prairie.  Last Fall my mom became a member of this interactive history museum.  All of her grandkids are free under her membership, and she was able to list me as a caretaker, so I am free, too!  We LOVE this place!  There's one large room that has all kinds of equipment for great imaginary play, and also a craft corner.  Outside of that room there's a hallway full of science and learning activities.  There's a whole slew of outdoor activities, but they aren't open in the winter.  I bet we'll spend a lot of time there this summer!

Clara always heads to the veggie patch first!

Eli  loves puppets!

Clara always wants to sit on the doll bed.  :)

Eli building forts and playing with other boys.  One of my favorite things about CP is that Eli always makes friends!  

We were also gifted a membership to the Children's Museum.  It's a harder trip to make happen, being farther away and a HUGE place with lots of walking and kid-losing.  I took the kids twice by myself the past couple months, and while we love it, it's almost too much for Eli.  I think it over-stimulates him or something, but we just stay two hours and that's too long.  He always leaves sick or cranky (or both).  Last time we went he had a HUGE tantrum, so I think I'm a bit hesitant to go back.  : )

I love that we live in an area where there's so many great things to do!  We are so blessed to be here and take part.