Take it outside

So~ Day tripping Mom is one of my long time favorite blogs. She recently started a series called "Take it outside" and she promotes the priority of playing outside. I started to spend time in our backyard more and my sister got my Sweet A a bike also. I let my kids get dirty...like bum dirty, it's kinda fun for me but skirmish when they touch things I wouldn't.

Today I got the chance to babysit my nephew and it was a blast! He is full of energy and is very observant of all things around him.We ate breakfast, played with all sorts of toys, built things...and cleaned up before heading out.

We had just finished a round of messy play so I gave them cups with water and a paintbrush. They were given no boundaries to "paint water" in the patio. This is a fun activities for any age as well.

When they're little you can have them draw shapes or imagine their most exciting interests and/or simply pretend that they're painting the fence/house/box. But for older kiddos use this time to practice phonics and letter recognition. Later they can practice spelling words and as the sun dries up their last word, they can replace it. Next thing you know, it's 10x's each. :)

After I noticed that the water fun was getting to a lull, we moved into real colors and they had a blast!

Here's Sweet lil C and her first water painting piece. She was so cute faking the funk by dipping her paintbrush, picking a random color (once in a while getting yelled at by her older sis and cousin for mixing colors), and dab dab dabbing her paper as if she knew exactly what she was doing. I'm framing this one. :)

So spend some time outside. Enjoy the beautiful weather and God's nature around you!