​As with most kids, our children love nature. Being outside is cheap and easy entertainment and one we utilize every singe day. Once we move to New York, I'm not sure how that's going to play out in the winter, but until then we'll keep enjoying the Alabama sunshine! While living in Arizona, we had a lush (for Arizona standards) yard filled with a variety of plants and trees. I save our egg cartons for a multitude of projects and decided it would be a perfect container to go on a nature hunt and learn about all the flowers, trees, and foliage in our yard. I asked Addie to collect a sample from each type of plant or tree in our yard. If you don't have a dozen types in your yard, take a walk in your neighborhood or at a park to fill the carton. 

Last week I wrote a post about painting with food, and included the fact that Lincoln kept trying (successfully) to eat the finger paint. He desperately wanted to be part of the action, but was limited because I could only keep him from ingesting paint for so long. After a couple minutes I had to remove him from the painting process and he became an audience member instead. A really upset audience member. Luckily, Becky came to the rescue! She suggested I mix yogurt and food dye together so Lincoln (and I!) could more thoroughly enjoy the artistic process. Clearly, he was in complete enjoyment!

One of parents' greatest challenges is how to keep their young children from screaming incessantly (or trying to kill one another) while preparing a meal, at least that's true for me. I don't know what it is about dinnertime, but come 5:00 my kids typically decide it's the right time to utterly, and completely melt down. And somehow, I'm supposed to make dinner despite their madness. While making a stew the other night, both children were losing their minds. I knew if there was any hope of us eating that night, I needed to come up with something quick to keep them busy. Cue food painting. 

Staying at home with my three year old daughter allows me the privilege (and challenge!) of teaching her, well, just about everything. Although she would be happy to climb on a playground and finger paint all day (which we do plenty of), there is an entire world waiting for her to explore its possibilities. When I found myself focusing on similar areas over and over, I decided to create an activity chart to remind me of the array of subjects we can delve into through play.