Nature Scavenger Hunt

If you’re like me, you have a little one that loves to be outside.  And if you’re like me, you’ve discovered there’s not enough chalk, bubbles, and ride-on toys to keep that little one occupied all Spring and Summer.  So I’ve started to develop some games and learning activities to help us have a little more structured time outdoors and to stretch those independent activities a little further.

Matthew loves walking through the  yard neighborhood and notices everything.  So I thought he’d enjoy a scavenger hunt.  But I knew I had to bring it to his level.  I used basic pictures (and it’s never too early to add words!) for a simple find-and-match hunt.

He thought this was great fun.  I was interested to see if he’d get the concept of matching a picture representation of an object to the actual object.  First, we went through the cards flashcard style–I was super-impressed he was able to name each object!  We did the first one completely together including talking about the picture, walking to find a rock, and putting it on the mat.  By the last card, he was able to do it completely independently.  Where did my baby go?!  I think 6 cards was a good number for this age.  As the Summer wears on, I plan to add more cards involving things we notice around the yard.

I left these on the shelf with his outdoor toys, and he’s asked to do it twice more this week.  Funny enough, he goes to the exact same spot to get the object each time.  I wonder what he’s going to do when those dandelions finally die. Ha!

I designed these using basic Microsoft Clip Art and fonts (Century Gothic is a great font for kids because the “g” and “a” come out like print instead of wonky), printed them on 8.5″ x11″ cardstock, then laminated them using these laminating sheets.  Now they’re durable for outdoor play!  If you’d like to skip the entire design-your-own thing, you can download the ones I made here: Nature Scavenger Hunt Cards.

Happy Hunting!

Munchkin Meals: Muffins!

A few weeks ago, I finally figured it out.  What’s “it” you may ask? “It” is why my little guy has been going into the pantry, pointing at a sack of cornmeal, and begging to eat.  Over and over, I would reply with, “that’s not a snack, that’s for cooking.” After a particularly bad crying fit, I finally lifted him up, and told him to show me.  He jabbed the sack of cornmeal. Over and over, with a look on his face that said, “Mom, it’s obvious. Don’t you get it?” And I finally did.  There’s a picture of a muffin on the sack of cornmeal.

Me: OHhhhh, you want a muffin?
Matty: Thinks for a moment about the meaning of muffin. Yah, a MUFF!

Needless to say, I felt so bad about denying the poor kid the pleasure of a muffin for so long that we had an afternoon Mommy-Son date at Panera…complete with muffins and juice.

So obviously, someone is on a muffin kick around here.  When I noticed this week that we had two bunches of overripe bananas (seriously, how does that happen?), I scoured Pinterest for uses.  Combining a few ideas, I came up with these:

Fruity Muffins

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour (I used 1 c white, 1/2 c whole wheat)
• 1/2 cup old fashioned or quick cooking oats (not instant)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
• 1/2 cup  honey (I was a bit short, so I added a little pure organic maple syrup, mmmm)
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup almond milk
• 2 bananas, mashed
• 1 medium apple, peeled and grated (I used a green delicious because Matty had eaten a slice earlier and I needed to use it.)
• 3/4cup -1 cup diced strawberries

1. Mix dry ingredients 
2. Whisk wet ingredients (including fruit)
3. Slowly add dry mix and stir until combined
4. Spoon into greased muffin tin or tin lined with muffin papers

Bake at 350 for 22-25 minutes (though I used the toaster oven, which tends to cook faster…). Makes 12 standard size muffins, filled to full.

You could also make a ton of mini-muffins, which apparently most toddlers like.  But my kid prefers muffins that are as big as his head, so yeah.

I made these after Matty went to bed, and I was certain he was going to wake up to come see what the delicious smell was!  I surprised him with these for breakfast the next morning, along with some scrambled eggs and apple-carrot juice (orange juice was causing some serious tummy problems, but he still wants his juice to be orange–so hello carrot juice!).

Pssst…I’m linked up at A Healthy Slice of Life for Munchkin Meals.  Click on over to find other great toddler eats!

Play Theme: Squirming Worms

What’s Spring without a little worm play?  While preparing the garden for Spring flowers, I came across a family of worms.  I called Matthew over to take a look, and let’s just say he was enamored! He kept asking to go outside to look for worms, so of course, I decided to take it a little further and put together some activities involving worms.

Sensory Box

Inclusions:

• Coffee Grounds (dirt)
• Rocks
• Cooked Spaghetti (worms)
• Fake Moss
• Paper Grass (carstock folded into zigzags)
• Artificial Tulips (trimmed)
• Shovel
• Bucket

Total Cost: FREE (I already had everything from other sensory boxes or from around the house!)

I put a piece of styrofoam under the flowers and grass; this way, the flowers can be stuck into the styrofoam to help them stand up.  Matty likes to pull them out then push them back in.  And shovel the “dirt”.  And put the worms in the bucket.

Books

1. Are You Ready To Play Outside? I love all the Mo Willems books, but I was afraid Matty might be a bit young to understand a book based completely on dialogue.  I don’t know if he “got” the plot, but he loved it from the first page, which starts of with “Piggie!”.  He giggled every time I read a word.  This book is about Elephant and Piggie upset about the rain ruining their plans to play outside, until they notice worms having fun in the rain.  Worms! Yay! Cue requests to go outside to dig in the dirt…

2. Worms. This was a $.99 Kindle book.  I’m trying to introduce more non-fiction books, especially when dealing with science themes, but I forgot to get worm books at the library.  But this Kindle book did the trick.  Lots of neat pictures to look at. Plus, it was on the Kindle.

3. Baby Loves Spring.  Again, love these books. And there’s worms squiggling in the dirt. Which Matty reminded me of when he came running in the room yelling “borms!!!!” after discovering it on the shelf.

Activities

 

 1. Dig in the dirt for worms, of course! I considered doing a Worm Farm, but I figured we’d have to keep it forever or risk meltdown.

2. Worm in Apple Cupcakes.  I had everything laid out to make these, then bam! A month of sickness, including 2 stomach bugs.  We’re definitely on a bland diet around here that doesn’t involve cupcakes.

3. Playdough worms

4. Rhymes and Songs.  Here’s two of my favorites, mostly because they’re easy to incorporate movement.

Anybody else got a little worm lover?  Ever tried a worm farm?

Psst…I’m linking up @ My Healthy Happy Home for Toddler Tuesday. Check it out!

Free Smiles

This may be my most favorite picture in the history of pictures.  If it didn’t make you seriously LOL, then take some Prozac.  But there’s more. Stick with me for a minute, and I’ll make sure you smile.

We’re having a week from Hell around here.

• Eric worked last weekend. Like 5am-9pm.  This has been repeated pretty much every day this week.
• Matty was super-cranky on Sunday and Monday…
• Because it turns out he was coming down with something.
• He had a really high fever Monday night and Tuesday(over 103!), and was very, very clingy and crying uncontrollably for prolonged periods of time..
• On Tuesday afternoon, you know, riiiight when Matty started getting some energy, my back went kaplooey.  Like chiropractor-is-needed, can’t move, feel like I’m dying again kaplooey.
• Our dryer broke.
• All of Matty’s diapers are dirty (and unwashed…).
• All of our clothes are dirty.
• There are wet clothes in the washer.
• We haven’t been to the store in 2 weeks.
• We’re out of so many things, like, I don’t know, TRASHBAGS! And disposable diapers…Potty training is about to get realz up in herrr.
• We accidentally locked the kitten in the car overnight, and it used my car as a litter box. Yes, we’re horrible pet parents, but seriously? How does that happen?
• Our house is a disaster. If someone came to the door right now, I’d be all “sorry, you can’t come in. It’s for your own personal safety.”

Ironically, up until this weekend, I was going to post about what a GREAT month it’s been. We’ve gotten so much done. The weather is really getting nice. Yay! Then bam! Crapt, crapt, crapt. But, in the interest of choosing happiness and being positive and yada, yada, yada, I leave you with my adorable ghetto child:

And yes, he is this active All. Day. Long.