A lot of our fun times this summer happened while we were hanging out at home. (Some of these fun ideas are ones that I did with Ian when he was two or three, and I wanted to give Ryan some similar experiences! Ian was happy to re-do the activities as well!) Most of these ideas I found in blogs or magazines.
One morning, the boys created some pictures (to be used as wrapping paper) with ping pong balls, paint, and a hair dryer. They had a system going where the boy that was not holding the hair dryer would dip the balls into paint and throw them into the water table while the other one would blow the balls, the paint, and often his own hair as well. The boys had a great time with this project!
Both boys helped with quite a bit of baking and cooking this summer. Since the Parmesan chicken (pictured below) didn't involve dessert or being able to lick the bowl, Ian wasn't as interested in helping. But Ryan happily helped measure, stir, and pour.
We spent lots of time this summer in water -- at our neighborhood pool, in sprinklers, and in big and small pools in our backyard. This little pool was just right for Nathan -- and just right to put at the bottom of our slide to make a "water slide."
One morning, the boys wanted to arrange their breakfast dishes into a "train" and "Mickey Mouse."
One day, we tried to do the Ivory soap in the microwave experiment. The Ivory soap is apparently supposed to expand into a flaky material. But ours didn't do anything. Epic fail.
So, we decided to grate up the soap, unroll a roll of toilet paper, and mix both with water to make "clean mush." The boys loved this activity as well and spent quite a bit of time mixing, stirring, and squishing. Once they got the idea to use the mush to have a "snowball fight," though, it got really fun. They ended up with clean mush all over themselves!
Ian spent a whole afternoon building and then painting a monster truck from a kit that a friend had given him.
We had Ian read us at least one book every day this summer. Some days, he decided to read to Nathan!
The boys caught dozens of lizards in our backyard. The boys' quick reflexes always impress me!
Ryan played with quite a bit of play dough this summer. Here he is creating a porcupine from play dough and toothpicks.
One especially fun summer day we received some diapers in the mail. Most exciting were the boxes they came in. Ian spent a lot of time cutting, decorating, and accessorizing his car!
One morning, Ryan enjoyed playing in flour -- especially driving his vehicles through "the snow."
Another fun activity was when we built a "water chute" from aluminum foil (a couple of layers of foiled with bunched-up "walls" on the sides). Then, we placed a hose at the top of the chute and tried to experiment with what would float the best. The boys had built boats from Mega Blocks -- which ended up being too heavy to float or move, even when we moved the chute to the biggest slope of our driveway. The best floating options were bath toys like rubber duckies and small bath boats. We had quite a few boat races. Ian enjoyed experimenting with how he could adjust the chute to make the water flow faster (closing the end, narrowing the beginning, raising the walls, etc.). All in all, a fun activity!
Having some fun activities like these planned helped make the summer mornings at home breeze by! Yay for the relaxing days of summer!
1 comment:
You are a hard-working, creative momma! Your boys looked like they thoroughly enjoyed themselves with these activities. Way to go! :) Also, I was impressed that Ryan can catch lizards, too!
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