Breakin' the Law

Yes, that's right. We're riding our tricycles inside. You got a problem with that?

All Aboard!

You're going to need some chairs and preferably a hallway.

We used index cards to put numbers on the seats.

With matching cards for tickets.

B sold the tickets.

Then... "All aboard!" Those boarding with small passengers (or those who ARE small passengers) can board first. ;-)

Then the conductor picks up the tickets

Plenty of storage for the "luggage" under the seats

"Everybody keep your feets inside the train so you don't get owies."

Sir, could you please take your seat?

Oh dear. Seating mix-up.

No worries.

One of those cheapo echoing microphones really added some oomph to this. I could not for the life of me find our train whistle at the time. Of course, we improvised.

S, why are you doing that with your arm? "Because I love myself."

We made it to our destination... sliding Mountain!

Of course, we saw some unicorns there. We see unicorns everywhere.

All Aboard! (again! and again! and again!)

Campfire with Daddy and other weekend fun

Found the little turkeys and their dad playing in the playroom this weekend and was pretty impressed by the creativity going on in there!

A campfire! (those are blocks around the outside.)

Roasting marshmallows (those tinkertoys really come in handy for lots of stuff.)

Graham crackers (wooden dominoes).

I guess we're really getting our money's worth from these safety cones found in the Target Dollar Spot in the Spring.

I had to run out for a while. When I came back from my errand, they were playing birdies in the nest. This birdy was perfectly content.

This one was upset because her nest didn't have enough pillows. And she hadn't had a nap.

Another thing they like to do with Daddy, is watch him play Mario games on the Wii. We get them from the library. He reads them the storyline as it pops up, and they get to help him decide which direction to go and which stars to try and catch, and so on. I neglected to get a picture of this, but they do love it.

And lastly, one of our favorite activities when Daddy is home... swinging in blankets and getting thrown onto the bed!

I will admit, that my forearms kinda hurt this morning. Swinging and tossing 40 lbs is nothing to sneeze at!

Book Play

Guten Tag Turkey Pie Peeps.

I am one of Jill's BFFs and a honored guest blogger.

And man, do my boys and I LOVE to play.

I've got Bookie who's 4 and 3/4ths and Smudge who's 1 and 1/2.

And one of our favorite things to do it to pick a good book for inspiration and build play scenarios around it.

Here's one of our most recent along with what activities it inspired:

Curious George

The Boat Race

Activity 1. Make paper boats of course!

This was an easy starting activity seeing as the Curious George readers always have an idea or two in the back already thought out for you.

And folding is a great small motor skills activity for pre through grade schoolers.

Activity 2. Use what you already have that goes along with the theme.

You've got a treasure chest at home... use it!

We made lots of Lego boats... you can use anything really.

Activity 3. Pretend play fun!

Find a boat (we have a rockin' park here) or make your own and set sail.

We were on the run from pirates of course.

Our captain :)

Activity 4. Sail some boats of your own with some water table play.

Don't have a water table... fill up any old thing.

Activity 5. And let it lead you into all sorts of fun water play...

try to figure out why boats float and rocks sink,

try to find ways to make a homemade boat self propelled

or, if you're 1 and 1/2, just throw the water around :)

Activity 6. Pre-bed boat races.

Take turns being the boat and the motor.

(Um yeah, it's like light until 11pm here :))

Now have at it... and viel Spass!

Car Wash

Hello! I'm guest blogging for Jill today. I'm Tanya and have two busy boys - Andrew just turned 5 and Jonathan is 2. Also, I'm pregnant and tired. So, finding activities that require minimal work on my part are a main goal of mine! The other day I was trying to water a brown spot in the yard while the boys played. They immediately noticed the unattended hose and started watering every thing in the yard, mostly our cement slab that didn't need water. So, I directed them back to the brown spot and a car wash was born! They also found their paint brushes and painted, with water of course, until it was time to go in for rest time.




The down sides of this activity: a slightly higher water bill and more laundry. Jonathan was soaked from head to toe and required a new outfit. That was partly due to Andrew's wild spraying mostly directed at his brother rather the cars. Now if I could just teach them to wash our real cars...

Treasure Hunt!

Hi friends! We've been busy this morning going on a treasure hunt. It was a big hit.

A Treasure Hunt? Fun!


Maybe I should have gotten them dressed and cleaned the house before taking pictures... but hey -- we're all about keeping it real around here. It's 11 a.m. and what you see is the truth, the real truth, and nothing but the truth.

I gave them the first clue... a drawing of Syd's bed with an X in the "cave" underneath it. They figured it out quickly (if you aren't into drawing, plan ahead a bit more and take pictures of the next place, but the drawings added a little, since a few of them they had to pause to think about.)


Check in the cave, S!

I see it!



Some of our clues were on the fridge, the van (in the garage), our storage shed/playhouse, a bench in the backyard, the garden tub, the fireplace... .




And the last clue led them to B's bed... where they found (after searching a little)... a Pringles can with a treasure inside!


Which we split in half and enjoyed immediately. Preschool happy hour.


Currently, S is downstairs drawing pictures and hiding treasures for B to find. This was a fun activity. For older kids, you could come up with rhymes or riddles about different places in your house. That would also make this a reading activity. You could also hide the clues better. Ours were right out in the open. Probably best to write all your clues on the same kind of paper, so they know what they are looking for. I can already tell they'll be asking for another treasure hunt again soon. Next time, I'll probably do it first thing in the morning and have the treasure be a certificate for an outing, which we would then go on.

Okay, this is pretty darn cute. Here are the clues S made for B. From left to right: the bathroom sink, the rug by B's bed, and under her bed.