Front Yard Camping

Charlie checked out the book Amelia Bedelia Goes Camping from the library and after we read it, he started to talk about going camping. While I would love to take the kids camping, it will require some planning, including getting together the proper gear. In the meantime, I thought of some ways that we could pretend we were camping to satisfy Charlie's interest.

It started one night when we built a pretend campfire out of Lincoln Logs in his bedroom before bedtime and pretended to roast marshmallows and hot dogs. Then a few days later, I dug out Ellis's old play tent and sleeping bag and set it up in the front yard. Get some snacks, crawl inside, and voila! Another cheap, easy kid activity.

Listening Walk

I'm a big fan of activities with kids that require no or little money, not a lot of planning, and simple implementation. It's even better when they come up with the idea themselves. "Let's go on a listening walk," said Ellis on Saturday. It turns out a listening walk is one where you walk around your neighborhood and notice the different things you can hear. My eight year old, it seems, had discovered a form of walking meditation. I was completely game for this makeshift exercise in mindfulness, movement, and sunshine.

Ellis got to be the walk leader, determining our direction. We decided that any sound counted except for our own voices and that we should try not to talk during the walk. This was harder for Charlie who chattered quite a bit, but he can grow into this activity. I added the idea that we go back and write down five things that we heard and share them with each other (guerilla academic skill building). When we got home, Ellis asked if he could draw pictures, too, in case he didn't know how to spell something. Ellis's pictures are always awesome (see above) so of course the answer was yes.