A Weekend at the Mountain Park

A few weeks ago, we took a break from our busy lives and went to an outdoor adventure park.  We had fun!  The place was beautiful, everything there is like a huge nature playground for the family and kids.  Mavi enjoyed the trip the most.  He’s everywhere!

Mavi and I did some boating activity as well. Oh he was so ecstatic!  The boating experience for him was a lesson 101 on paddling as well. 

There were zipline for kids, tree houses and just about anything!

          

          

And while big brother is busy with his “big boy” activities, Vito our little one is all happy and contented riding the baby swing.  Oh look at that smile!

And yet the best part of the trip is when we were just sitting down on the grass, relaxing, admiring our view and thanking God for the gift of family and having happy healthy kids.

  

Happy Monday!

Animals in the Freshwater Ecosystem

A few weeks ago, I would take the boys in the park for nature walks.  And we would always stop by in this huge pond were we get to see different animals and insects like swans, flies and ducks.  It’s a good thing that we previously had Insect Unit as Mavi was always on the lookout for insects and identify them. 

So I was thinking then that since we have the Marine Animals, why not talk about the animals in ponds, lakes, streams etc.  And that’s what we exactly did yesterday.  I made picture cards similar to our Marine Animals Cards and talk about each of the animals in the picture and identify in which freshwater ecosystem it belongs.

If you would like to have a copy, simply click on the image below

And this is how Mavi interprets the pond in our park.

 

 

 

For books here’s the list:

• Ponds Nature Trails
• Oceans
• Rivers and Streams Nature Trails
• Seashores Nature Trails
• What is an Ocean?

Hope you like the file. Enjoy!

Finding Balance

For a healthier me, I've been running/strolling lately and I took the boys with me. Mavi scoots and Vito rides in his buggy.  With less than 3 months of this glorious heat, we're not wasting it at home... we'll grab the opportunity of enjoying this summer heat by spending our afternoons outdoors.  I grew up in a tropical country and I never stayed home when I was their age :) In a nutshell I am an outdoor person and believe it or not I get sick when I am physically inactive. 

That’s what I’ve been showing Mavi and exposing him to mother nature.  As I said , it’s healthier… not just for the physical body but for the soul as well.  Being with nature helps me commune with our Creator and keeps me calm.

But no worries, we’re still doing home “school” activities in the morning so there’s still something to look forward to. It’s just that I have less time to blog and read other blogs as well :(  I will try my best to catch up.

Oh and Mavi will be joining the football camp this summer as we are not yet sure if there’s still a place in the swimming class.  I am so excited for him!

What about you, how do you find balance in your life?

Serenity at the Beach

Our little family was at the beach last weekend for rest and recreation and to get-away from the four corners of our little house.

It was a beautiful day.  Mavi enjoyed the rocks and sand.   

          

See that hill at the far end of the beach? We went up there.

The view is sooo beautiful from up there!  

And just before we headed home, we saw these swans flocking at the parking lot.  Again, Mavi couldn't be even more happier!

And our little boy, he's happy and contented witnessing all these while in his buggy.

Thanking God for these kids and for my family.

Happy Tuesday!

Fun Under the Sun

If you are wondering what we're doing when the sun is up, here's a glimpse.

First I would take the boys in our backyard and do some little picnic.  The little one stays on his Mamas & Papas Baby Snug (Green) and plays with me.

Now for the big brother it's a little bit different.  Here you see him playing with his "fossil collections".   These are actually rocks in the yard that he gathered.  The Dinosaur Train inspired him to collect "fossils".  So these rocks are now piled in the yard.

 

After he checks his collection, I made him do some splatter painting.  A few days ago, I was telling him the story of Pollack, of how he paints using splatters.  After that we watched this video of a little girl who's famous of her painting.

 

Now that he is inspired, it's time to put his artistic side to action :)

             

Oh boy, how he love it!!  We just have to move to the grass though because it's getting messier.

Go out and enjoy nature!

The weather was really really good this holiday weekend so we spent most of our time in the park.  We're so thankful that we have this wonderful park just 10 minutes away from our place.  The park is HUGE and lots of areas to explore. 

If you skim through my blog... this is where we usually go when the weather is good.  I am an outdoor person and was an adventurous kid growing up. I grow up in a tropical country and our house is near the beach so imagine all the adventures I have there. And my boys experience this as well.  But living in a cold country has a lot of limitations especially here that we seldom have Mr Sun.

So in a time like this we just have to go out...

... and play with the trees!

.... and check the pond for tadpoles and other insects breeding!

.... and see how the clear water flows in the creek.

 

Weekend at the Park

We were blessed with a wonderful weather last weekend so we decided to visited a leisure park for rest and recreation :) 

First thing we did was of course visit the animals, as my son looooves animals!  We were so happy to see them all out in the open and were eager to entertain the kids.  I was glad that we get to see most of the birds from our Bird Study Unit I.  Rhea, Emu, Turkey, Chickens, Peacocks, Stork etc.  And surprisingly, there were lots of farm and zoo animals as well.

 

Oh and these are Bisons!! My first encounter with them.... such beautiful creatures!

 

When we're done with the animals, we proceeded to the activity  area the little boy to have some fun.  And look who's not scared of the Air Jump!

  

And the highlight of the trip was the pony ride :)  His teacher told me he can't stop talking about it in school LOL.

Linking to:

Montessori Monday
TGIF Linky Party
Teach Beside Me
Preschool Corner

Bird Watching!

Oh the weather is just so wonderful today that we decided to skip indoor activities (read our Bird Study Part I)  and do some bird watching and look for some bird's nests :)

 

And look what we found along the way, feathers! 

Hoping to visit the port this weekend so we can see some gulls too!

Linking to:

Montessori Monday
TGIF Linky Party
Teach Beside Me
Preschool Corner

Define Sun Bathing :D

Happy Sunday!

One Snowy Day

All activities were put to a halt when it started snowing a few weeks ago.  Our after school activities would be mainly playing with the snow in the yard or in the open spaces at our estate. 

The little boy was ecstatic when he woke up one morning with our yard covered with snow.  He couldn’t wait to to go out and play, so we took him out for a little fun before heading to school.

He couldn’t stop playing!   We’re happy we have plenty of open spaces for him to run around to enjoy the ice. Unfortunately, it started to rain and he doesn’t want to go back home after a few hours in the cold. I have to remind him that it’s not safe to stay too long in the freezing temperature.

   

We started walking back home but by the time we reached our yard, it stopped raining and he wanted to play a little bit more and asked me if we could make a snow man.  

 

And so we did! I formed the snowman and he’s the one who added the details.  He was so happy and proud. That night he can’t stop telling his Dad all about his snowy day adventure and his snowman :)

Rocks, rocks and rocks!

Mavi started collecting rocks lately.  Everytime I pick him up from school he would always bring a rock with him... and would say that it’s his collection.  Funny because he doesn’t have a collection.  Once we arrive at home forgets about the rock and so I just simply throw them in the bin.  But yesterday, when we were at the library and he specifically handed me these books (about rocks) and asked me if we could study rocks.  And how could I not resist!

And that’s what we did.  To be honest, I’m hesitant with rocks for the reason that I don’t have resources.  And it’s untimely to do go out and collect rocks due to the freezing temperature.  

Then I realized I can make my own “printable” rock cards.  It may not be as real as an art kit... but it’s close to that anyway LOL. I often forget collecting rocks during our travels :(

There are three group of rocks:  igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic.  I made us a rocks cards, 5 samples for each group.  All pictures in the cards were taken from geology.com.  But I edited out the background because I don’t have enough ink to print it.

IGNEOUS. 

  

SEDIMENTARY.

 

METAMORPHIC.

 

You get a copy of the materials from here. Just note that ALL THE PICTURES USED were taken from Geology.com.  I just removed the colored background of the images because I am saving printer ink.

Aside from reading the books and examining the pictures, we also watched this video in youtube.  It’s a short presentation of the three groups of rocks, and is animated. 

We’ll be doing experiments in the next few days, recreating these rocks.

Stay tuned!

 

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