Tag: winter fun

Mid-Winter Play Date

Did you know private schools now host play dates? OK maybe this info is new just to me?

Over the weekend, my girls and I attended a free bread making class at a local Waldorf school. I had no idea what to expect. The only thing I know about the Waldorf philosophy is that it is child lead. That’s it.

This is by far the most beautiful school room I have ever seen. It is warm, inviting and full of sunshine. Everything is simple and clean. It is like being in someone’s small home. It’s a new school so everything in it is still perfect.

Beautiful sunshine for the winterscape on the window sill.
Beautiful sunshine for the winterscape on the window sill.

Our time began with circle songs before moving to the child sized table to make our bread. The children were encouraged to knead the dough while the teacher sang songs and quietly explained the steps. My kids are still singing, “Pat-a-cake Baker’s Man.” We rolled our dough into a long tube before rolling into the shape of a snail. It was so cute! I never would have thought to do that- the kids loved it!

Little hands patting the dough.
Little hands patting the dough.

After the snails went into the oven we enjoyed a snack with our new friends- warm bread with butter, apples cut into a spiral (almost like a slinky) and tea. Each child had their own perfect sized little pot of mint tea.

Tiny little pots of tea for each child.
Tiny little pots of tea for each child.

Everyone cleaned up their own area at the table and the kids were sent off to play while the moms were left to chat. I have to say that is always my favorite part of play dates.

Every toy in the room is exciting to a small kid, from the wooden doll house with realistic furniture to the excitement of packing a small suite case. There are no hard plastic toys, or anything that requires batteries. My kids especially enjoy the hand crocheted stuffed elephants and felted hats. I enjoy that my kids had a really wonderful time!

Wooden dollhouse.
Wooden dollhouse.

The girls could not wait to dive into their snail breads once we returned home. It was a really fun time spent with friends on a really beautiful sunny day!

Our finished breads.
Our finished breads.

Inside snow

In my previous post I confessed my deep feelings for snow. I really hate spending time in snow. It’s cold. It’s wet and it makes me a whiny mess. But, my kids do find the snow interesting and fun to play with.

Subscribing to my “whatever” philosophy means letting go of the drama and chaos to find a more peaceful existence. I don’t mean Zen like peace- although that would be nice and a bonus if it included wine, but more of an ease to our pace. If you’ve never had to dress two three year olds before, let me share that it can be a pretty dramatic process. One twin is ready to go before the other and starts to get antsy. That’s when the chaos sets in (and the whining). No one likes to sit and wait for help with their boots so they try to put them on without my help, which is a frustrating process when you have little hands. After 20 minutes of whining, kicking and crying (sometimes by me) I’m usually done with the whole process before we’ve even opened the door. Thankfully, Pintrest has a solution! Snow table!

A snow table means I don’t have to put on boots. I don’t have to rummage for hats and mittens and scarves. I don’t have to pretend to have fun when I’m really freezing! I LOVE YOU PINTREST! We usually stay in our jammies and play for as long as the interest holds. I try to throw in extra things to mix with, build with or change the color with to keep it interesting.

I pulled out the water table we had stored in the garage, recycled a left over plastic party table covering and rummaged through the house for some fun things to play in the snow with.

Reused our summer water table for a snow table.
Reused our summer water table for a snow table.

The plastic cover under the table catches all the over flow of snow. I can wrap it up and throw away, or if the mess is small enough wipe it up and I can use the cover again. I have this in the kitchen where the floor is tile so really if it goes passed the cover it’s no big deal.

Ice Legos in the snow.
Ice Legos in the snow.

Next: fill with snow! Now you can be done at the point and just hand the kids a few wooden spoons, or plastic cups. But, this time (since it was our 1 billionth snow day this year) I added in some rainbow colored ice cubes, penguin spoons and little toy polar bears. The girls loved it and I stayed toasty- win/win! My one daughter said, “It’s just like ice Legos!” Suuurre… yeah…that’s exactly what I was going for. *wink*

This busy fun lasted about 30 minutes before it was too cold to handle and both girls discovered their hands were now stained from the food coloring.

Food coloring does rub off on little hands.
Food coloring does rub off on little hands.

Whatever… it was 30 minutes of quiet with my cup of HOT coffee! Well worth the effort and mess!

error

Building a community one click at a time.