Toddler Camp

This afternoon Landon participated in a Toddler Camp offered through our local conservation district. Our topic was caterpillars and butterflies.

After some books about caterpillars and butterflies and a reading of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, we headed outside to learn more about what it's like to be a caterpillar or butterfly.

Here Landon's pretending he's in a chrysalis.


He's carrying his butterfly wings.


And sucking nectar from flowers with his straw-like mouth.


Back inside, we did a few projects, including decorating butterflies. To learn about symmetry, the kids painted one wing, then folded the paper in half to transfer the design to the other side.


The kids ended their camp with pretzels and baby carrots that they could arrange to look like butterflies and "flower nectar" (lemonade) that they drank through straws, like butterflies use their straw-like mouths.

Landon had a lot of fun at camp. Next year I'll register earlier so we'll be able to sign up for more than one session.

Fourth of July

We had a very rainy holiday. It rained all day long. We went to the parade anyway.


Landon has a rain cover for his stroller, so he didn't mind the rain at all. He liked the fire truck and the drums.


We had red, white, and blue treats. We made apple muffins in star-spangled muffin cups and ice cream sandwiches with homemade chocolate chip cookies and patriotic sprinkles.


We took the ice cream sandwiches to a "cookout" at our friends' house. The town fireworks were postponed, but the kids looked out the window to see ones that people were setting off in the neighborhood. Landon thought those were great, but when we walked out to the car, he stopped liking them. Seeing them from inside made him feel much safer. We could have gone to the rescheduled display on Sunday night, but we decided that he needed to get to bed early that night instead. Since I don't think he would have enjoyed it anyway, I didn't feel bad that he missed out.

Landon and Simon

Toddler Racer Recall

Last summer I linked to our Toddler Racer pool boat. These were recently recalled, so if you have one, please stop using it and contact Aqua-Leisure for a refund.

Superspiral Spinkler

We tried out our new Little Tikes Superspiral Sprinkler today. It was a big hit. It took Landon a bit to warm up to it, but by the end of the day, he was sticking his face right in the spray.

The sprinkler comes with four balls that you drop into the spiral chute, and the water shoots them back out the top. If the sprinkler's positioned just right, the water will keep the ball suspended in the air for a while.

From the above link, it looks like these retail for about $25, but we got ours for only $10, perhaps because the box was broken. However, it's been a great toy so far, so I'd pay more than $10 for it.

We're taking it to a little July 4th get-together tomorrow. Hopefully the other kids have as much fun with it as Landon does.

Our little summer trip

We took a trip to my parents' last week and filled our time with quite a few summer activities, including park after park, the zoo, and the pool.

We also participated in a kids' fun run--an organized event where children run around a track. Each kid got a ribbon and treats after completing his/her run. It sounds like many communities offer running activities like this one, so it might be worth checking into whether there's one in your area. Landon had a lot of fun, and if we lived closer, we'd participate again.

Landon at the fun run with Daddy and Grandpa


One of our many park visits. He's wearing swim trunks because the park had a splash area, but he wanted nothing to do with that. He much preferred the playground equipment.


This is the only picture I managed to get at the zoo. It's not too good, but it's all I have. Once again, he's wearing his swim clothes for the splash area, but he didn't play in it.

Free July 4th eBook

Visit Favecrafts.com for a free eBook about 4th of July crafts and recipes. I just downloaded my copy, so I've just barely skimmed it, but it looks like a nice resource.
http://www.favecrafts.com/Fourth-of-July/4th-of-July-Crafts-and-Recipes-eBook

Summer Activities

Summer is in full swing here, it seems. Our library's summer reading program started this week, so we attended the first program at the park. The theme is Read on the Wild Side, and this week the kids learned about bugs and other creepy crawlies. They looked at a book about insects, made foam and paper notebooks decorated with bug stickers, and ate a snack that included gummy worms. Of course, we took some time to play on the playground equipment too. We'll have several more weeks of these fun programs. Our library opens the reading program up to kids of any age; I know of several others whose program begins at three years. Check with your local library to see if they offer a program in which your young child can participate.

Another source for fun kids' activities in the summer might be your local Conservation District. Ours offers several toddler camps, so Landon and I will be participating in one in few weeks. We're also thinking about going to a Conservation District program on insects at the local library this week.

Last night I hosted a Summer Fun Night for the kids at church. We played water games, such as water limbo with the hose and a water bag toss (like a water balloon toss, but with Ziploc bags instead--much easier to clean up). The kids also decorated bug catchers. (Ours came from Oriental Trading. I tried to include a link, but it seems that the ones we used aren't currently available.) For our snack, the kids got to make their own ice cream sandwiches. We used Chips Ahoy cookies, vanilla ice cream, and multicolored sprinkles. I saw red, white, and blue sprinkles at the store, too, so I think that Landon and I might make more for the 4th of July using those sprinkles and homemade cookies. The ice cream sandwiches were a big hit with the kids.