Sunday Afternoon Fun

The past couple of months have been great fun, full of celebrations and traveling and being with family- but we've also been away from home a lot, our normal routine has been all but a distant memory, and we've been plagued with one illness after another. So, it's been nice to settle back into home the past week or so and just have a normal routine. Unfortunately, I feel like all we've been doing is getting through each day instead of making the most of each day. This is due to us still being sick on and off and tired! Also, when Mama is tired, well, the day just tends to take a whole different spin. So...

...what a blessing Sunday was for us! After two nights of great sleep, all four of us took a sleeping nap (which NEVER happens anymore). After waking up from my nap I actually had energy and felt creative! I spent a couple hours just creating and having fun with Sophia and then Riley. It was wonderful! This is one of my favorite parts of being a Mommy - playing and learning with my kids.

So, if you ever are in charge of entertaining kids around Soph's age, try out some of these activities! They are simple, fun and also contain a lot of teaching/learning opportunities!

1. Activity #1: Dye white flowers. Sophia got to pick out her color of food coloring for the water and then put the white flowers in. I know this works with Queen Annes' Lace, but I've never done it with Baby's Breath, so I'm crossing my fingers that those Babies will turn purple! :) This created the opportunity for a really simple science lesson.

2. Activity #2: Using flower petals (in this case red rose petals) to draw with! If you have some cut flowers in the house that are just about ready to be tossed, let your kids pick off the petals to use. What a great way to teach about how dyes are created and used! - Sophia actually discovered a few days ago that when rubbed on paper the red petals created a lovely purple dye, so this activity was really her idea!

3. Activity #3: Play with snow... inside! Pretty self-explanatory. Bundle up with an extra sweatshirt and some gloves, send some pour soul outside to gather the snow, spread it on a large cookie sheet with sides, and PLAY! Riley even got in on this activity and had a blast, mostly eating it! :)