Tuesday, August 7, 2018

Summer Week 9

July 23 - 27

There were some winning activities this week! Make-your-own-pita bread-pizzas and Amusement Park Body Painting were the two hits, but the bounce house definitely came in third favorite. We finished our 50 States theme and spent A LOT of time in the mud kitchen. Here's a look at our week:



This was the first time we broke the bounce house out in a year and a half! As we were setting it up (over the weekend), I realized this is the first time it had been out in this house. Needless to say, all of the kids were thrilled and a few of the kids got their first jump ever in it. In the past it's been a jumping free-for-all. This time I paired kids up (size wise) and had them take turns, two at a time. It worked great!


We finished up our 50 States theme with a geyser experiment for Wyoming. I made Harrison (the middle mini) drop 10 Mentos into each bottle. Surprisingly, no one got sprayed with Diet Coke! 


The mud kitchen was my best idea for the summer! The kids have spent hours upon hours "baking cakes" and cooking meals for dolls, digging holes, and making flowers. It's going to get a good cleaning and maybe upgrades this fall. These toys were played with harder than I expected, but it will definitely be back for next summer!


Lazy mornings waiting for kids to come. At 6 a.m. I was barely alive and they were bummed they couldn't be running in the backyard yet. The kids have spent every day outside, from 7:45 a.m. (a no screaming or yelling policy is in place until 9 a.m.) until 5:30 p.m.


Building toys are quite popular. Some of the favorites are: Magformers, Lincoln Logs, Gears, Crystal Climbers, and the Panda homes.


Baking "cakes."


Pizza Day was a hit (as usual). There was "pizza dough" (also known as homemade play dough) outside and the make-your-own pita bread pizzas was a summer lunch favorite! Plus a cookie pizza for dessert.




And more mud because that's how they spend their days. Our water bill has gone up considerably this summer because of all the extra showers my kids have had to take at the end of the day!


Girls night out at El Fogon. It was amazing to get away from kids for a bit!


I laughed at this one: a younger child brought a Spiderman puzzle to do, but needed help with it. Two older boys volunteered to help. They did the entire puzzle with the younger child watching the whole time and offering encouraging words. When the older kids finished, the younger one said "I did it! I did my puzzle!" The older boys let him take complete credit.


My helpers and I have it figured out: one of us outside and one of us inside, as there's always kids who want to play outside and some who want to be indoors. I'm usually the one inside so I can be there as parents come and go. I love looking out the windows to see what the kids are up to outside. I have no idea what they were playing but it looked like an interesting scene.


Two girls made a "roller coaster" one day, which was inspiration for the other kids to create their own amusement park called Wacky Land. Read about their creation and our body painting to go with it here.



Breaking out some of our STEM activity boxes I picked up back in April at Toys R Us going out of business sale. I still have new toys to bring out from this sale!