Just a note, I am guest posting over on Progressive Pioneer today about Tips on Baking with Toddlers. Thanks to Amy!

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I don’t know how eco-friendly this really is. (I suspect these are the petro-derived sort of writing utensils.) But I feel proud that I finally figured out how all those soccer families write “GO TEAM” on the back window of their minivan. With these window crayons of course. (I feel I am stuck in the last century sometimes…so behind the times. I am not that old am I? Maybe it is just other things are more important in my life than keeping up with popular artsy crafty ideas. *wink* *wink*)

Actually now that I think about it, I think these are just glorified tire markers. We used these when I was a kid and they only came in white. Living up north, you need chains and snow tires to get around in the winter. 4-wheel drive and a couple of sand bags (or a plow) could also do you, or possibly your neighbor, some good too. So how do you remember which summer tire to put back on where when the tundra-country finally thaws and the red-breasted robins return? You use tire markers.

In the late fall, my sibling and I would help Dad change the tires on the cars. After napping in the basement during the summer, when the leaves were full color and autumn was plush, up those tires popped, out of the bulkhead doors. We’d roll them up the small slope to the unpaved sandy driveway and we’d push them on their side next to the car.  Sweat came off our little bodies all bundled in down vests and sweaters as we helped crank-jack the cars up into the cool air. Using the cross-iron, we’d pretend to loosen the bolts and Dad would lift off the summer tread tires. Then, we’d take that waxy white crayon and write “DF,” driver-side front, right there on that black smelly rubber. After, we’d roll those summer tires down the slop to the bulkhead to hibernate for the winter.

For the kids, who barely know what snow is, these window crayons are just fun. They clean up very easily, and they really look kind of cook when the sun comes through the window. AND, they keep my kids crazy busy for an hour on a lazy summer day.

Today it is supposed to feel like 105° F outside. We are staying inside these days with the AC running and hoping for a bit of cool so we can peek out of doors once again. I wonder often how Virginia inhabitants survived the summers here in the south 100 years ago without AC. Maybe it wasn’t this warm and humid because global warming wasn’t yet a consideration. (Okay, that is a post for another time.)

So, we are re-inventing the ordinary and the mundane during these lazy, long summer days. Endeavoring to keep the TV silent, we are exploring new ways to play with “old toys.” Yesterday, (when it only felt like 96° F) the kids set to work making Stone Soup. The same mundane kitchen, a few ordinary beans, and a bit of water equaled hours of cooking. (And just a wee bit of cleaning up for me.)

As a mama who still needs to guide playtime, this is a fabulously easy way to keep these pre-schoolers busy. A handful of small pebbles and a mix of various dried beans were the base for an extraordinary stone soup. (No one around here sticks anything in their mouth besides food. If you know of a little some who likes to consume all things small, I’d suggest a recipe other than stone soup.) The mundane plus a little ordinary can be fascinating. Play can be simple. Play can be small. And play can be easy.

This week our learning theme was about houses. Traditional, igloos, tipis, and tree houses to be exact. We watched videos of their construction, talked about different types of houses, and constructed a few miniatures of our own.

We started with igloos.

Then transitioned to a modified gingerbread construction.

We have yet to construct our mini tipis and tree houses, maybe next week.

This is my lesson plan but in true child-led-learning fashion, we didn’t follow it exactly.

House Lesson Plan

House Theme Lesson Plan PDF & House Theme Materials ListPDF

House Videos

Building a House is Easy

Setting Up a Tipi

How to Make a Perfect Igloo – Ray Mears World of Survival – BBC

How to Build an Igloo – A Boy Among Polar Bears – BBC

Tree House Living for Adults

Tree House Living

Amazing Tree House in India

Home Construction

• Gingerbread houses, attention to features such as roof, chimney, windows, doors, walls, walk way (use a milk carton, or small cardboard figure to help support the walls and roof of the house)
• Construct a traditional home using Lincoln logs, legos, blocks
• Make a paper bag tipi
• Make a fabric tipi with wood, canvas, pins and paint
• Construct a marshmallow or sugar cube igloo – use royal frosting, or white glue
• Make a tree house out of nature finds: twigs, leaves, pine branches outside, decorate with acorns, pine cones, and stones

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It was a very positive week. I am continually amazed at how much children want to be engaged, guided to knowledge, and love getting messy. (Well my daughter at least.) Surprisingly there was very little consumption of gingerbread or igloo making supplies. And for our igloo and gingerbread sessions we had young guests join us. All present had much fun. *Here is to really fun summer learning.*

P/S I am guest posting on Marci’s blog Overcoming Busy today. Visit her at Green Bath if you’d like to learn how to make a couple really simple all-natural bath and beauty products that can help your personal health and the health of our earth!

This year I decided to wrap our gifts in a more sustainable wrapper. A cloth wrapper actually. It is like creating a gigantic napkin out of the pretty printed fabric of your choice. Roll up the edges, and press. Edge stitch. (If you need a napkin sewing refresher, I posted a tutorial here.) Fold the corners around your gift and secure them with a bit of ribbon, or seam binding tape. (I knotted the ends so they wouldn’t unravel.) Presto, quick and easy, and sustainable way to wrap gifts.

When the gifts have been revealed, fold up the fabric (I know you try and save the paper too, so this is the same thing, just less expensive) into a bundle and put it in a small sack for the next time you need to wrap that little surprise.  There is nothing to throw away, and just think of all the beautiful printed fabric choices out there! Infinite I tell you. *Here is to a greener kind of gift giving.*

P/S I don’t think I got one good photo of the gifts all wrapped in their pretty fabric prints. But you get the idea. Ripping off the wrapping, the anticipation, the wonderment, and supreme excitement…*oh wow*! Next time my shutter finger will have to be a bit quicker.

We celebrated Mini Mister’s fourth birthday this weekend past. It is really difficult to believe he was once like this!

But four years have slipped by, and he has grown into such a wonderful little person. I love his chubby hands. I love his undying obsession for all fast cars. And I love his mis-pronounciations. Porcu-”fine” (porcupine). Croco-”donel” (crocodile). And “stunk” (skunk.)

I love that he takes after his mama and adores all things logical and mathematical. But I hope to continue to encourage his creativity, abstract eye, and desire to imagine novelty. This birthday I contacted Imagine Childhood and asked for some “imaginative” gift ideas. Their personal e-mail back to me suggested so many wonderful ideas that might open those awesome doors to a land of make-believe.

We selected this magnifying glass.

This fabulous castle.

And this adorable life-like stuffed piggy for Little Miss.

We spent the day wandering the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., eating at Ted’s Montana Grill, and eating chocolate, gluten-free birthday cake. It was a simple, wonderful, family filled, 4th birthday celebration for Mini Mister.

(Thank you Imagine Childhood for your attention to quality products, keeping kids connected to nature, and opening the eyes of childhood-wonderment.)

Little Miss reading with her little buddy.

Visit Soule Mama if you’d like to share your moment!

We are very sleepy today. Really exhausted tired. It has been as many nights as I can remember since I got a full night sleep. 5 hours or more of uninterrupted sleep is a simple figment of my vague memory. Maybe it was March last….I feel hot. I feel edgy, I feel shallow.

My younger hasn’t been sleeping well at all. She used to be the best sleeper in the house. Went to sleep well, stayed asleep and awoke perky and happy. Not so now. Is it a dietary issue? Is it not getting enough exercise? Is it a no-nap transition? Is it something environmental, like her brother kicking the wall during the night? Is it co-sleeping? Is it not co-sleeping?

I don’t know. But it is a phase I hope. And this too shall pass. Even if in my sleep deprived stooper I can’t discern the passage of time…I am trying to nourish my body. Exercise when I can manage. Keep hydrated. Set productivity expectations low. Pray. And remember at 2 1/2 years old, waking mommy six times in one night is not being knowingly mean. It is simply that we are 2 1/2 years old. This too shall pass….zzzzzz.

Yesterday we took full advantage and went to the park. Sun. Breezes. Fun. This is what summer is really about.

But keeping the kiddos away long enough for me to finish my jump-squats, kenpo kicks, and downward dogs is a serious feat I have yet to master. Little Miss is the problem. Coming down from a jump-push-up onto a toddler is just not good. (And yes, I am not bragging, but I can actually do one of these…okay on my knees.)

So the other day, since Little Miss didn’t want to nap, I set them up outside for a little water play while I tried to get in a little workout time.

But, alas, no luck. Little Miss wanted to come back inside. Who could blame her. It felt like it was 98 degrees in the shade! Oh, why can’t naps last into adulthood? This would be so much more preferable for all parties I believe.

(I still giggle looking at this silly picture. I think Mini Mister thinks she is a body pillow.) Other things we’ve been doing to keep occupied this summer…a little “oh…sticky”…as my daughter puts it.

And a little racing.

And a little bit of this new development..

What are your kid’s favorite indoor-because-it-is-a-bad-air-day-activity?