Fun in the sun!

This week we spent a lot of time out doors. I figured it has taken so long to get nice weather that we should go outside and enjoy it. So, we just took our curriculum outside :) We started out the week by putting some purple sand in our sandbox and letting the children explore it for a while. They loved it! We added water and made multicolored sand castles.

We lined the bike track with paper and let the kids take of their shoes and socks and walk, crawl or slip and slide through piles of paint. This gives them sensory experiences that you don't find too many other places. They had so much fun! They were going back and forth seeing how the colors mixed, watching to see how their footprints changed as they got further away from the paint. Some were a little more hesitant than others, but by the end they were all having a ball.

Of course we had to wash off all of that paint, so what better way than water play? We broke out the sprinkler for the first time this year and let them wash off in that. We love this sprinkler, because it is a mat that sits on the ground. It didn't take the kids long to discover when you step on the edge the water shots up higher everywhere else. They were soaked, but not paint covered anymore...

We also put up our jump house for the kids to enjoy. They were beside themselves! It was great, they all learned some team work skills as the older ones learned how to help the younger kids navigate their way through. The kids were impressively good about taking turns and staying aware of their surroundings. Talk about hands on lessons of mathematical spacing and some gross motor development!

We decided that since we were outside it was a good time to do one of my very favorite activities, spaghetti painting :) This is where I prepare a massive amount of spaghetti by cooking it and them instead of sauce I cover it with different colors of paint. Then I hang a large piece of paper out back and the kids get to throw the spaghetti at the paper. The spaghetti makes a really cool print and sometimes the spaghetti even sticks to the paper. It is sooo much fun!