Alan getting some "outside time" Tuesday evening and Mimi & Gramps'. 
Dale showing Alan how it's done.
This is yesterday's attempt at getting Dale outside. He seemed to enjoy it, and the toys did need a good scrubbing. What kid can resist a bucket of suds, anyway?
How I entertained myself while Dale scrubbed...
Dale showing Alan how it's done.
This is yesterday's attempt at getting Dale outside. He seemed to enjoy it, and the toys did need a good scrubbing. What kid can resist a bucket of suds, anyway?
How I entertained myself while Dale scrubbed...
When I look back on my childhood, I can remember spending hours at a time playing outside. I loved our backyard. It had a fig tree, with humongous leaves, and it would produce real-live figs every couple of years! We also had honeysuckle, soft green grass, and plenty of shade trees. Not to mention a swingset, a playhouse custom-built for my 6th birthday, odds and end outdoor toys, and always a pet cat or two. Recently I wondered what I did out there all that time. After I thought about it, I was pretty sure I knew. I asked my sister how she remembered spending her outside time, and her answer was the same as mine: playing pretend. Separately or together, the two of us were the masters of pretend. Ahhh....but that's another blog.
Fast forward to the present. I want my kids to spend time and enjoy outside as much as I did, or even more! So far, Dale hasn't really taken to it. He just doesn't seem to 'get it'. Today I spread out a sheet for me & Alan so we could all get some 'outside time' together and keep Dale company.
Fast forward to the present. I want my kids to spend time and enjoy outside as much as I did, or even more! So far, Dale hasn't really taken to it. He just doesn't seem to 'get it'. Today I spread out a sheet for me & Alan so we could all get some 'outside time' together and keep Dale company.
At one point I tried a little 'treasure-hunt' type game: I asked Dale to go find a yellow leaf with green spots, thinking he'd head off across the yard in search. Instead, he looked down at his feet and picked up the closest one he could find. It looked kind of puny. I accepted it with some excitement and laid on the blanket.
"Okay! Now go find a BIG yellow leaf with green spots!"
Again, he hardly takes a step and hands me a slightly larger spotty leaf.
Then: "Why are you savin' leaves Mama, why?"
So much for that game.
We have been blessed with a pretty big backyard, with a wonderful shade tree.
Daddy and Gramps worked very hard one spring a couple of years ago and put up a privacy fence.
Dale has a tall slide one the side of an up-high, covered, fort-thing with a ladder and a ramp. (At the moment the wasps are still there...I know...bad, procrastinating Mommy! ....shows how often he actually uses it!) He also has a sandbox, which he does play in a lot.
In the front, he rides his tricycle in the driveway and colors with sidewalk chalk. Neither of those activities would work in the backyard.
We are entering a season of crisp, cool mornings and comfortable afternoons. Pleasant days that should be enjoyed. My questions to all of you:
How did you fill your childhood days outside? What did you do? What did you play with?
What did/do your kids do outside? Please click on "Comments" below and let me know! You can post anonymously or tell us who you are, but please share! I need your help! :)
3 comments:
How about a treasure hunt for real treasure? We have done a couple for the girls with chocolate coins. Put them in different places in the garden and do the "you're getting hotter, you're getting colder" thing. Then the next day do the same thing but find pretend things. Maybe tell him you just found a tiny spaceship behind a tree and you think maybe a mouse must be the astronaut (ok, I have a GOOD imagination). I think if you play pretend with him enough and get him to think of the 'pretend' ("I found the spaceship now see what you can find") he'll be the one initiating it. Good luck...
Love
Sam
xxx
Dale is not quite old enough, but an older child, giving a choice of helping out in the house, or going outside to play, outside will win, at least until the inside work is done. Of course, if he ever gets the idea you really want him to go or that you want to talk without him present, good luck.
I was an only child and had no problem finding something outside to do. In time this will take care of itself, even if you do nothing.
I completely forgot about playing pretend. Pretending to ride horses and I was a cowgirl was my thing. We lived in a house that had a fair amount of woods beside it. I remember I would always go in the woods and make my own trails and look at the trees and birds. I would make my own concoctions with dirt, leaves and whatever else I could find. I must say though I have a boy that when he was Dale's age did not entertain himself the way I did. Boys really like to take things apart, not necessarily put them back together, but take them apart. Kelvin LOVED it. My Dad had gotten him an Erector set one Christmas and Kelvin loved it. Taking things apart and playing in the dirt. Boys seem to think about things more than doing them, I'm guessing, I can't read their minds, but they are always thinking, and sometimes it's hard for a girl (Mom) to figure it out! If you ask them what they are thinking about or what it is that they are doing, the answer is not always what you had thought or their answer had absolutely nothing to do with what they were just doing! Boys, and they say women are difficult!
Post a Comment