If you’re kids haven’t been eating their fruit lately, here’s a simple twist to make fruit more fun: Put it on a stick! Because I worry about pricks from pointed skewers, I recommend threading children’s kabobs onto lollipop sticks instead.
Ingredients:
There’s a fantastic nature playground near our home, where the only “structures” are those found in nature (think balance beam tree trunks, stepping stones made of rocks, a pebble sandbox, and more). I love the space because here, imagination is king! To wit, today Veronika and I set out to see how many different ways we could play with sticks we found in the area.
First, she designed a little hut for her toy kitty cat. Depending on what your child loves, the tiny house could be for a fairy or a gnome, instead!
Keeping up the whimsical theme, I tied a scarf around one stick and it became a streamer that she could wave through the air.
Or perhaps it was a magical wand in my big fairy’s hand.
The sticks were also great for drumming (on tree stump drums, naturally), leading to an impromptu jam session!
Of course sticks are great for learning, too. Collect a few and then sort them by some attribute, whether length, color, or another feature. We then decided to take a few favorite sticks home, where they were perfect for arts & crafts!
Veronika loved painting directly on the sticks with silver and gold. She decided another should be black with pink spots.
There are so many tried-and-true sticks games that we didn’t even get to today, like drawing in the dirt, forming alphabet letters, stacking sticks into towers, and stirring up some nature soup. As long as you’re careful, sticks can even be used for a quick game of Jedi lightsaber battling.
What’s your child’s favorite way to play with sticks? Please share in the comments!
We spent the morning tucked inside from a heatwave, and a simple art collage felt like the perfect way to pass the time. This activity relies on items already in your craft bin, especially any scraps left over from other art projects.
To start, I set out a tray of materials, including torn pieces of paper. I chose hot oranges, reds, and yellows to fit our 90 degree day! I also added blue sequins, a tube of glitter glue, and regular white glue.
Veronika immediately wanted to stick the sequins on the page, but we needed something else to make them stick – the glue! Together we squirted white glue pretty much all over the page so that wherever she placed an item, it now would be sure to stick. First she pressed on pieces of the paper. Once we had a layer of paper, we added a second layer of glue.
Now she could sprinkle down handfuls of sequins. (Note: Just tilt the paper to shake off any excess).
Next she wanted to try squeezing out the red glitter glue and was so proud she could do this all by herself. And then of course she needed to squeeze out more white glue.
Pretty soon we had a vibrant summertime collage. She had so much fun that we immediately filled up a second sheet of paper!
What materials will go on your child’s collage? Please share in the comments!
joyful parenting 