Soft Rain and a Basket of Imagination
"and the soft rain-
imagine! imagine!
the long and wondrous journeys
still to be ours." - Mary Oliver
Well, I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate the solstice last Friday than to make sun tea. We made a strawberry herbal tea. Satch was very excited by the whole idea and kept checking the color. "It's turning red!", he yelled with delight.
And the summer is now officially magical as the fireflies have just arrived! Satch squealed with excitement when I brought him to the window. We ran outside in the evening and caught one to look at closely and gently. Then it began to rain. It wasn't a soft rain, it was the large and juicy grape sized drops that I've mentioned before. We ran inside and I decided to fill a little basket with activity cards. Well it's not a basket really, it's a hot air balloon lamp that I made for Satch on Sunday. It hangs in our living room/play area. I used a Chinese paper lantern for the balloon and made some wire loops on the corners of a little basket. Then I knotted bits of cord through the hoops and around the inner wire bar of the lantern.
On rainy days, when we run out of ideas, we will pick an activity card from the basket and give it a whirl...
I used three packs from the Lynn Gordon series:
52 Rainy Day Activities - AH, String Spider Webs, now that looks like fun! Perfect for the garden!
52 Amazing Science Experiments - I can't wait 'til he picks the Grape Blast Off experiment because I'm all about launching things and what could be more fun than flying grapes, right?!?! Let us not forget about the catapult we made.
52 Activities for you and your Toddler - a bunch of standard sillies that I totally forgot about until I opened this pack.
Another series that we're diggin' right now is the Mudpies Series by Nancy Blakey.
The Mudpies Book of Boredom Busters - When I was searching for solstice ideas, it was this book that reminded me about the sun tea. It was like one of those V8 commercials wherein I bopped myself on the head and said, "OH...we should make sun tea"!
Lotions, Potions, and Slime: Mudpies and More - A recipe for sidewalk paint...need I say more!
And I've just introduced Satch to the classic game, Go Fish, with some minor adjustments for his age. eeBoo has a lovely set. The card stock is nice and thick and it comes in a sturdy drawer style box.
eeBoo also has charming Animal Rummy cards for ages 5 and up! It was one of my favorite games when I was a wee and I look forward to playing it with Satch when he's a bit older.
It's early morning and the chipmunks are already running about. I can hear them chattering as I peck out these few words. The birds have started their sun salutations. It occurred to me recently, when I was watching the brown bunny, that I haven't heard a whippoorwill or a bobwhite since my childhood. I was talking to my mom about this recently and she said that she hasn't heard any either and the bunnies and the deer have disappeared with the onset of the suburban sprawl. I haven't seen any toads and there used to be so many. I can't stop thinking about these things as I finish the last few sips of my coffee. My wee boy is about to awaken and the wondrous journey will begin again. Imagine...Imagine.
imagine! imagine!
the long and wondrous journeys
still to be ours." - Mary Oliver
Well, I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate the solstice last Friday than to make sun tea. We made a strawberry herbal tea. Satch was very excited by the whole idea and kept checking the color. "It's turning red!", he yelled with delight.
And the summer is now officially magical as the fireflies have just arrived! Satch squealed with excitement when I brought him to the window. We ran outside in the evening and caught one to look at closely and gently. Then it began to rain. It wasn't a soft rain, it was the large and juicy grape sized drops that I've mentioned before. We ran inside and I decided to fill a little basket with activity cards. Well it's not a basket really, it's a hot air balloon lamp that I made for Satch on Sunday. It hangs in our living room/play area. I used a Chinese paper lantern for the balloon and made some wire loops on the corners of a little basket. Then I knotted bits of cord through the hoops and around the inner wire bar of the lantern.
On rainy days, when we run out of ideas, we will pick an activity card from the basket and give it a whirl...
I used three packs from the Lynn Gordon series:
52 Rainy Day Activities - AH, String Spider Webs, now that looks like fun! Perfect for the garden!
52 Amazing Science Experiments - I can't wait 'til he picks the Grape Blast Off experiment because I'm all about launching things and what could be more fun than flying grapes, right?!?! Let us not forget about the catapult we made.
52 Activities for you and your Toddler - a bunch of standard sillies that I totally forgot about until I opened this pack.
Another series that we're diggin' right now is the Mudpies Series by Nancy Blakey.
The Mudpies Book of Boredom Busters - When I was searching for solstice ideas, it was this book that reminded me about the sun tea. It was like one of those V8 commercials wherein I bopped myself on the head and said, "OH...we should make sun tea"!
Lotions, Potions, and Slime: Mudpies and More - A recipe for sidewalk paint...need I say more!
And I've just introduced Satch to the classic game, Go Fish, with some minor adjustments for his age. eeBoo has a lovely set. The card stock is nice and thick and it comes in a sturdy drawer style box.
eeBoo also has charming Animal Rummy cards for ages 5 and up! It was one of my favorite games when I was a wee and I look forward to playing it with Satch when he's a bit older.
It's early morning and the chipmunks are already running about. I can hear them chattering as I peck out these few words. The birds have started their sun salutations. It occurred to me recently, when I was watching the brown bunny, that I haven't heard a whippoorwill or a bobwhite since my childhood. I was talking to my mom about this recently and she said that she hasn't heard any either and the bunnies and the deer have disappeared with the onset of the suburban sprawl. I haven't seen any toads and there used to be so many. I can't stop thinking about these things as I finish the last few sips of my coffee. My wee boy is about to awaken and the wondrous journey will begin again. Imagine...Imagine.
Labels: corners of our home: fairgreen, dog-eared, play
4 Comments:
so i'm thinking you might possibly be the most amazing mama i've never met ;-)
xo
and i'm thinking that ALL mamas are amazing :-)
I was thinking what Kirsten said ... and think it more after reading your response to her. ; )
So, I gotta make one of those hot air balloons for my girls. Well, probably two. We went to a hot air balloon festival two weekends ago and now they are a tad obsessed. What a cute idea to add in activity cards. I love it!! I do not have any of those card packs so I'll be saving up my extra cash for those.
Just adorable. Happy Summer! I can't wait to show my girls the fireflies that arrived here, too.
Aw...thanks!
The paper lantern I had sitting in the studio closet as I was saving it for this very purpose. It's a Chinese lantern and you can find them just about anywhere. The cord set I bought at Ikea and I also bought the floor dimmer attachment so Satch can turn it on and off by himself. The basket was from Joann's (I think) and was approx. a buck and change. The wire I had laying around the studio...you can probably use twist ties or eye hooks even. And then some bits of cord - Ta dah! EASY!
Post a Comment
<< Home