Puttering

Yesterday the boys and I were outside most of the day.  It went from slightly blustery and rainy in the morning to beautiful spring sunshine.   While we finished a few tasks in the yard more moving dirt, pulling weeds, and planting some patio thyme we also just played.

The boys are amazing at finding things to do and invent.  At one moment S was "riding"our upside down wheelbarrow and he had pulled his bike onto to it and said,"I am Santa fixing a bike that someone returned."  T was working diligently on his roads and mountains.

Meanhwhile the boys were also "harvesting water" from wherever they could find it in the yard and adding it to their dirt to make mud and then using various toys/ tools for funnels.

At one point the boys next door asked us "what we were doing."
I replid, "puttering."
He said, "What it that?"
I said, "it's just doing stuff."

I am not sure that definition is adequate, but it made me realize how happy I am to know that I can putter and how happy it makes me to look out and see my boys putter about, making inventions, rolling down the hill, and then moving things about.

We invited the neighbors over and the play changed from quiet puttering to active building and chasing, laughing and occasional crying...thats what happens during unstructured freeplay.    In the end the boys also built "cobblestone" roads  and this lovely campfire made of stones and flowers.

Planting Community

Thanks to  dedicated neighbors,  Green Canopy Seattle and the Washington Native Plant Society our communities have great opportunities to reclaim forest lands and greenspaces that have been taken over by invasive species such as English ivy.  My boys are particularly pleased that they get to plant trees and native plants in their own neighborhood.  It is one of our families favorite outings!

GOOD DIRT!

I've just come in from playing with the boys and renewing the garden with two yards of fresh compost and I feel good.  The research isn't that new, but I was recently sent an article on the benefits of dirt and thought I should share it, especially if by adding a little dirt to our lives we can improve our immune systems.

I realize that dirt is much more complex than I can begin to imagine & that understanding soils will be key to becoming a solid gardener and now I realize  important to becoming a healthy being.

Bird Egg Hunt

On Saturday our boys attended the preschool Tales and Trails Egg Hunt at the Seward Park Audubon.  It was a fabulous way to use something exciting for children-an egg hunt-and provide a lesson in how different birds make different nests and even lay different colored eggs.  There were stories, songs, bird calls, and opportunities to touch real nests that all led up to an activity of painting bird houses and then searching for specific eggs.  Each child was supposed to gather 6 eggs...all different colors and marked to represent true eggs even though they were plastic.  The kids had a grand time and the bird houses remind the boys of a wonderful event.  Thank you amazing Teacher Naturalists!

Inventing Games

The privilege of parenting is that you get to watch the amazing process of young people growing up.  Each stage is so delightful and especially in the early childhood years when change seems to occur daily.  On Saturday I had the delight of getting to watch just one of my four year old boys playing in the backyard with me, while his twin brother had the more urban adventure of a walk with his dad to the park.  

In anycase, S was ready to play in the peace and safety of our own backyard.  In fact as soon as we got back there he started to pick up his play from where he had left it-- Was it hours or days before? He had a plastic planting bucket that was for his fish and a stick and he was using for fishing. Soon he was giving me fresh cooked salmon. 

Minutes later after we had eaten he was ready to play some games; which he has just started to invent. In this case he used a ball, a plant carrying flat and a plastic scoop catcher's net.  He started to think about how to get the ball to land in the "flat", but first it had to bounce over a stick.  He would try it one way and then try it another way.  Then he would feel success!  He always was checking to see if I was watching- even though I was also pulling weeds.    

I was amazed at how he is refining his coordination, coming up with a system of rules,  and creatively using objects that all had a different uses than what he was using them.  

Outside Time

This weekend our family spent most of the weekend outside.   We played and puttered about in the backyard for hours and hours and hours.  The fact that the hammock was brought out meant that it was just warm enough in the afternoons to lounge, although mittens were needed in the morning and a cup of tea in midday.  We even had a small fire in our chimenea last night.

I want to make note of just a few of the things that my just four year old boys did as I always find it helpful to see or hear other children doing the same things.

They ran around with the neighbors pretending they were chipmunks and putting each other in a "den".  Then S said, " I 'm going to cook you!"

They played in the hammock "boat"...first with three other friends just giggling and swinging and even singing.  Then falling out and saying "man overboard."  Soon the kids who fell out were octopus trying to wiggle and bump the boat.

The boys made pretend beans and rice and quinoa & pumpkin bread and served it at their hotel ( which was basically a little nook next to the azaelas.)

We watched a crow holding a twig on the wire, drop it and then go and get another.

The boys dug in their mud pits and worked on making bridges with sticks & the neighbor kids (age 3 &  5).

They danced around and taunted the lawn mower, staying a safe distance away while papa mowed.

They helped plant a new garden bed.

They played with sticks and balls and invented a game where the ball had to go through a "chute" which was the legs of an upside down chair.

They played on an upside down wheelbarrow.
Climbed trees.
Fed the neighbors chickens.

On a neighborhood bike ride, they stopped and investigated some new saplings and crosscuts of stumps that had been installed to keep cars from parking on the boulevard.   Then they climbed the stumps. Lifted their bikes on the stumps.  Played for at least 20 minutes.

Toddler Tales and Trails

Being a full time parent is a wonderful way to get to experience programs and find out what they are about.  They truly teach me as well as they teach my children.   Our local Audubon offers a great activity for youngsters and their caregivers, Toddler Tales and Trails.  Usually there is a staff naturalist who leads the program.  However, she has lost her voice and since I am a trained volunteer at the park yesterday I was able to lead.    I focused on spring and also nests.  Here is a brief description of our activities.  One hour was a short amount of time to delve into all the things I had prepared, but it was the perfect amount of time for the kids who were ready for free play at the end of our hike.

Opening activities and traditional songs

Read book called Wake Up It's Spring by Lisa Campbell Ernst which the young children seemed to love.  I think it is because of how expressively the illustrator drew the pictures.  It just seemed to resonate with the youngsters.

Sang Pete Seeger's" Litte Bird Fly Through My Window" Kids each chose a stuffed bird that made a sound.  They play the sound and then we sang to their bird. 

Looked at various nests to discover what they were made out of & then I handed each child a small egg carton with play dough to make a nest.  We  searched for things to line it with as we hiked along.

Then read In my Nest by Sara gillingham and Lorena Siminovich which is just a simple board book about what goes into a nest.

Then it was time to prepare for and head out on  our hike.   We stopped numerous times to listen for birds: To point what direction we were hearing them.  

We said "hello" to our friends in the forest such as the lightening tree and a baby cedar that was recently planted.  

We played games of follow the leader when we came to particularly long stretches of our hike- the leader got to choose an animal to move like & then we all moved like that animal.  

We stomped in mud.  Stopped in mud.  Spent time in mud.  

Sang a goodbye song.

Finally, this lovely hour was a full experience for me; however for my children it was just a warm up for a day of play.  The boys then had time to play in the park, read more stories at the "centers" library. Run through a spring rain.  Then home for time to work on their mud pits, which with so much water were extra inviting.