Kids' Construction Zone

My kids love the outdoors, and what a better way to integrate learning in their outdoor activities. One fun summer activity that my kiddos enjoy is what we called, Kids' Construction Zone. We have a small structure area with slide and two swing sets within this rectangular box filled with wood chips. This is our construction site.  To add to the fun, I bought some hats and dump trucks from a local thrift store. We've also collected some gardening tools over the years so this is a part of their construction set. (The best time to pick up some gardening gear is after spring when stores try to get rid of their merchandise.)

Prior to their play, we talked about what we see at a construction site: what the workers wear, signs they see, and colors.  As a result, the following pictures are the creativity and learning experience while they play.

Things we have in our Kids' Construction Zone: (I'm sure you'll come up with other fun items)

1. Kid's Gardening Gloves
2. Dump Trucks of varies sizes
3. Hard Hats
4. Shovels
5. Trowels
6. Hoe
7. Hand Rakes
8. Buckets
9. Old Vinyl Table Cloth (if your kids wanted to make a sign)

Here are my three workers ready to start their day!

Mei scooping with her hand-held shovel.

Digging and filling their dump trucks.

Mei hoeing.

This cool dump truck actually tilts when a knob is turned!

This dump truck is pretty good for riding too!

Day 2: Buddy, my big boy, wanted to make a sign. I provided him with an old vinyl picnic table cloth (so it's waterproof) and now all the sibblings are helping.

We hung that sign.  "Kids at Work" sign is up and now it's official!

Now the three kiddos record their fun in their journals.

Here's Buddy's journal entry for his time at the Kids' Construction Zone. He was told to draw a picture and write about it. This is his effort in sounding out words. In the meantime, Chico and Mei were just drawing whatever came to mine like apples and bananas.

As an extension, your kids might like:

Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel.

For more  great ideas on outdoor activities, visit Flights of Whimsy.

And there you have, an outdoor activity that's fun, inexpensive, and a great learning tool.  Do you have your own that you would like to share? Please comment.

Nature’s Bounty Green Juice

Today we picked some tomatoes and kale from our backyard and decided to make our Nature's Bounty Green Juice. If you're in the Northwest, it's apple and pear season so now's a great time to add your apples and pears in your green juice. If you don't have any pears, just use two apples instead.  Here's what we did. See recipe below. Recipe makes about 30 fl. oz or 1000 mL. depending on the size of your juicing carrots and other vevggies. New to juicing? Click here to see the benefits of vegetable juicing. Do you have a favorite green juice recipe? Please share!

 

Ingredients:

2 celery stalks

2 kale leaves (ribs included)

1 small Gala apples

1 Bartlett pear

1 small tomato

Small piece of ginger (optional)

10 juicing carrots

Lemon Cucumber Invasion, a Math Lesson Part 2

 

You must think we are nuts about lemon cucumbers. That's probably true to a certain extend. They are usually gone soon after I pick them. Besides that, I, being a Home Educator Mom, try to turn everything into a learning experience. That's the perk in homeschooling! So to continue with the theme of lemon cucumbers, my husband, Bubba, created a worksheet for Chico. First Mei and Chico counted the cucumbers together; then he colored in the appropriate number of squares on his worksheet like the picture below.

This exercise gives him a visual presentation of what he's counting and allows me to ask him to compare between the days. Chico is only reading three-letter (one syllable) words so we went over the questions together. Click here to view or print a list of the questions.

What is Heaven Like? From a Kid’s Perspective…

One of our morning routines after breakfast is to have devotion from Keys for Kids. Today's topic is on Heaven. Before delving into our story, I was curious to know what my kids know or thought about heaven.  So, I asked them, "What do you think heaven is like?"

Mei at age 3 said, "God, Food".

Chico at age 4 looked up at the sky and said, "White, God, someone on top"

Buddy at age 5 looked up at the sky also and said, "Blue, a home for us, Jesus will take us to heaven, big, really big because God is really big."

We had good laughs talking about those responses.

So, "what do you and your kids think heaven is like?" I hope you share them in the comment section.

Lovely Green Goodness, A Green Smoothie

Hmmm… Doesn’t that look good? Our green smoothie today, Lovely Green Goodness was delicious. It’s found in Victoria Boutenko’s book, Green Smoothie Revolution. Here book is available at amazon.com or the Raw Family websit.The original recipe asked for Gala apple and Bosc pear, but all I had were a green apple and Bartlett pear and it tasted yummy!

Recipe:

2 bananas

1 Royal Gala apple

1 Bosc pear

1 cup kale ( I used Lacinato variety)

¼ cup water ( I used 1 cup)

Fred Meyer Family and Friends Discount Pass

Starts August 10-15

Ready to score some deals? Fred Meyer has released their Friends and Family Shopping Pass that "will help you save like a Frey Meyer Associate!" The printable pass is valid from August 10-15 and it's reuseable. Get a preview of the discounts before you head on over to Fred Meyer!

Here are the savings:

• 20% off Apparel, Shoes, Cosmetics and Accessories
• 15% off Home, School Supplies, Toys, School Supplies, Sporting Goods, Auto & Garden
• 10% off Home Electronics
• 10% off Nutrition (organic/natural section)
• 10% off Private Brand products (Kroger, Big K, Private Selection + more)

Thanks FrugalLivingNW!


Growing Kale From Seeds

Aug. 9, 2012

For my first post, I wanted to share about a super food that I have grown to love, kale. It's one of those hardy greens that can be easily grown from seeds or starts. In my rooky days, I've used kale starts purchased from the farmer’s market. But after a couple of years of growing organic produce in my backyard, I started my kale bounty from seeds. You can start seeds directly in your planter box or use small pots or paper-type egg cartons like I did below. These Costco egg cartons are great because they are free, biodegradable, and easy to transplant when they are ready. I'm all about reuse and recycle!

I started my seeds in early spring, sometime in April with seeds I purchased from New Seasons and Fred Meyer. You can also buy your kale seeds from Amazon or you might try Kale Toscano or Lacinato variety from Amazon. By two to three weeks old, like the picture below, they are ready to be transplanted. I simply use my hands and pull the individual “egg slots” apart and put it in the soil, egg carton and all!

Once your kale looks like the picture below or younger you can harvest the leaves for a yummy baby kale salad. I personally love baby kale salads, that's why I planted them closer together so that they don't grow too big and I harvest them often. Kale likes moist soil so make sure you water those babies. For a fall and winter harvest, plant kale again in July or August. Kale tastes best in cold weather. Heat, on the other hand, has a way of making kale bitter tasting. By the way, my kale survived the snow last year and I had the sweetest kale after the frost.

Happy planting!