Instead of a "Bucket List" - April Activities for Kids

Back in December I suggested to come up with a list of fun activities for winter, a so called "bucket list", and we did! For spring, I am posting a suggested activities calendar for kids. Its fun! (Source: http://kidsactivitiesblog.com/calendar) Grab your ideas for the play dates, moms!

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Summer outdoor activities: parks

One of the main reasons we moved to Newmarket was the beautiful scenery and lots of parks. I would like to share a few of our favorite places to enjoy outdoors. They all are located within walking distance for us, which is great, and they are also all different and mostly very well taken care of.

The park on Wayne st., near the Glen Cedar secondary school. We like that it is located very close to our house, there are several slides of various heights, a sliding pole (this is important for a fire-truck-obsessed toddler), and a huge field to run around, a "forest" with a river and bridges, hiking tracks and even an apple tree. We used to love coming to this park back in the spring and the beginning of summer, but when it got too hot we switched for other parks, that have more shade. I am also not a big fan of the little stones that cover the playground in this park. I noticed that all babies and toddlers keep trying to either eat or throw them; they also make clothes very dirty.

George Richardson park, just at the end of Elgin st. This is one of our favorite parks. It is not as close as the previous one, but still just a 15 minute walk. It has lots of shade from big trees, benches to rest on, a picnic table, a baseball field with the seats for spectators, and even a practice cage. There is a huge field divided into 2 smaller soccer fields, a river with a beautiful bridge, and a Tom Taylor Trail right across the street. The playground is covered with wood chips, which is much better, as they are softer and not as inviting for toddlers to put in their mouth. I also find that even though there are always kids at this park, they are more contained and better supervised, as they come with parents, whereas at the previous park there are lots of school kids playing "grounders" and making the play difficult for toddlers.

 

 

Then there is our favorite for the summer time, the "Dinosaur" park. It is located at the end of the Tom Taylor Trail, on the other side of the railway from the water feature and Newmarket Community Center. I like the separate areas of this playground, I like that there are areas with sand, with wood chips, and even with a soft rubber flooring, like in a gym. I also love the fact that it is so close to the water feature, and after an hour of play in the sand, we would go straight to the water and run around there. It was beautiful back in the hot summer days.
 (I somehow didn't take a good photo of this park, but I do have a distant view snapshot).

We also love the  beautiful walking trail that leads to this park, a river, the ducks and the "dinosaur" bones that you can find in the sand.

 
We visited a small park on Queen st, behind the Southlake hospital. It is way too small, and the climbing wall was a bit too advance for Santino at his 22 months back then. We will try again next year.


There are other beautiful parks just a few steps away, like a huge playground near the Fairy Lake, and many others. Its hard to visit them all, but please do join in the conversation and share your photos of the beautiful parks in Newmarket and the area!

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Camping With Little Ones

My husband and i have been camping for year now.  I camped right up until the week before Jonathan was born and we have been determined to keep at it every year since.

Camping is still a lot of fun in our house.  Granted that things are different now that we have a little one (and arguably a little more challenging); however its a family tradition that we feel is an important one that we'd like to keep up in our house.  So here is some information on how we do it!

Tip #1 -- Plan in advance!

We camp on long weekend in order to maximize the vacation time my husband gets off of work.  Long weekends tend to be very busy but also a lot of fun!   So for this reason you will find me booking for July long weekend camping in January and for August long weekend in February.   Its hard in the depths of winter to be thinking about your summer plans; but its a must if you want to make your life easy and your site!  Mark the date in your calendars and set it up to recur each year to remind you!  You won't be disappointed.

Note that we only camp at Ontario Parks and that their policy is to release camp sites 6 months prior to your check in date for reservations; thus the reason for us booking as early as January :)

Tip #2 -- Be Smart about where you camp!


Long car trips + tired mommy and daddy needing a holiday + cranky toddler DOES NOT equal a good start to a camping trip :)  For this reason; we try and stick really close for our camping trips.  Our favourite while I was pregnant and even now that we have little ones is Sibbalds Point.   For us who live in Newmarket, its only a 40 minute drive away; however its on beautiful lake Simcoe and we feel like we are in the Muskoka's (without having to drive 3+ hours!). 

Ontario Parks I prefer as they are equipped with flushing toilets, running water stations and showers which are a must for us!   We like to rough it up but not that rough :)

Tip #3 -- Make a List... and check it TWICE (or three or four times)  ;)


A lot of stuff is required to camp.  Especially with little ones.  Each year my husband and I squabble over how we manage to fill our full size truck for a 4 day camping trip!  But we do!  What are we going to do when we have 2 kids we always wonder?

To make it easier on us over the years; I slowly created "camping bins".  These are 2-3 CLEAR Rubbermaid-type large bins that have dedicated camping things in them. i.e. misc. kitchen utensils, gadgets, sunblock, beach items, etc.    I slowly created these bins with old items from my kitchen and home that I replaced with new items so that I don't have to raid my homes "good stuff" each time we go away. This has been our saving grace!   Highly suggest that if you plan to camp regularly (yearly) with your family that you create such bins.

I also have devised what I like to call "the best ever camping list!".   You can get a copy of it here.   Follow this list and you won't forget anything you need to camp!   **you may wish; however; to customize it for your family**   Save it on your computer, update it each year you go with things you'd like to add / change and check off each and every items before you leave the house.

Jonathan Playing In The Sand @ The Beach

 

*SPF bathing Suites come in really hand!!  Also sand toys!

Daddy providing for his family by cooking up a campfire meal :)

Mommy Sporting his nursing canopy while camping!  How easy it was when everything I needed to care for my child was attached right to me :)  lol

Family Camping Trip

More Fun At the Beach.   This is one way to keep the kids still :)

Family camping Trip Hike.  Jonathan chooses to take a nap instead :)

Camping Bellies :)   *left* --> Daddy's belly contains beer.   *right* Mommy's belly contains a baby who was delivered 1 week after this camping trip!  YES YOU CAN CAMP WHILE VERY VERY PREGNANT.  I did :)

Best thing about camping while pregnant --> all the FOOD!  And I got to go first!

There is lots more to consider when camping. This is just to get you started!  Share your ideas and tips too!

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Bath time = fun time!

Santino takes a bath pretty much every night. Lately he started fussing more when the bath time approached, as that of course, means sleep time soon. I decided it's time to make bath time more fun.

These are not watercolors, this is an ice tray with colored ice. I gave Santino ice cubes one by one and he loved catching them while they were melting in the warm bath water.

Colored ice cubes are more fun, as the regular ice cube gets lost  in the water immediately. Colored ice remains visible and fun to watch until the very end.

I added some food color to the water itself, too. I wanted the water to be more of a sea color, blue-green. Next – sea toys, like sea horses, fish and star fish.

I found these great ideas here.

Original article

Nataliya

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Crafts for the Not so Crafty Mom

First of all, I suck at crafts. I am not at all detail oriented and I hate mess. But my toddler loves to be creative, so I don't have a choice but to at least try for his sake.

I came up with some craft ideas which Liam loves!

And the best part is they are practically free!



1.  My Obot - Robot Mask

What you need:

-A Box
-Scissors
-Paint to decorate

Step 1 - Cut a hole in the box for the eyes
Step 2 - Paint the box a neutral colour
Step 3 - Go nuts with the decorations




2. I Spy Goggles

What you Need:

- 2 Empty Toilet Paper rolls
- A stapler
- Markers to Decorate

Step 1 - Staple 2 TP rolls together
Step 2 - Decorate





3.  Money Box

What you Need:

- Hot chocolate, coffee or nesquick/nestea tin
- Scissors
- Paper
- Tape
- Markers to Decorate

Step 1- Cut a coin slot in the lid
Step 2 - Wrap tin in paper and tape on
Step 3 - Decorate!




So much fun!

Emma

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Fun with bubbles and color

I found a bunch of great ideas on how to create all kinds of fun with food coloring for kids. One of the ideas was adding food coloring to the lather. I know Santino always enjoys playing with the soap lather in the bathtub, so I was sure he was going to enjoy mixing colors in the foam.

I used a squirt of dish washing liquid, added water and voila - a bucket full of foam to play is ready to play! Then I added just a few drops of food colors, and fun began.

I think I made a little mistake and added a bit too much water, so my colors sank in the water. The water got color, and the bubbles - not so much. But that's ok! It was enough for a great game of picking up lather and trying to blow it off the hands!

What a great sensory fun at home!

Original of the story here

Nataliya

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