Wolfe's Neck Farm

It was not really a St. Patrick's day activity, but on Friday Braden and I went to our last music class at Little Music Maker.  Then we headed to Freeport to join some friends at Wolfe's Neck Farm.  

Some of the moms had decided to plan the play date, because twin baby goats had been born earlier in the week.  When we arrived we heard and saw that another set of twins had been born the day before.  The older set were hidden under a trough and their mother was making it difficult to see them.  But, the new babes were out and about.  

Braden did not really enjoy the animals.  He basically stood frozen in one spot at the entrance to the barn.  He just did not enjoy the sheep and their constant baaing.  

Eventually we walked around the outside of the barn and saw some cows (from a distance) and he found a toy tractor to play with.  He did NOT want to leave that tractor.  I tried to get him to go play on the grass with his friends and try to snap a photo of the group and he did not want anything to do with that.  He wanted to walk back to the "tractor".  

In the end it was a very short visit, because it was so cold.  We found a slightly warmer place to eat some lunch and then we headed home for a nap.  

Other Activities

As I mentioned before it took me a while to recover from sickness, and then find the motivation to start planning weekly activities again.  It was also because Braden had a lot of other activities going on and we had busy weekends away with birthdays and a memorial service.  

There was a week and a half where we didn't do any themes (we missed Dr. Seuss' birthday - I had some cute ideas, which I will have to save for next year).  Here are a few of the events/activities that have been going to keep us nice and busy!

Braden and I started a mommy & toddler yoga class with some of our friends.  We did a trial 4 weeks and a new 6 week session begins on Monday.

On Tuesdays we try to walk the mall to get a little bit of exercise.  Once it is warmer we will start walking outside.

An impromptu play-date where we made some crepes and the moms visited.

We missed our Valentine's Day play-date, because many moms & babies were sick.  So, we did a re-do.  One of the mom's (Jasmin) has an amazing blog and she wrote a post about the play-date: http://ouvrezvosyeuxjdr.blogspot.com/2013/03/belated-valentines-day-play-date.html

We also had two birthday weekends away.  

This week we tried a few new story times (Kennebunk & Gorham).  I think we will try the Saco one this week and decide which we like the best.  

We also participated in a toddler nutrition class.  The first class focused on green smoothies and "sneaking" vegetables in.  Braden took two sips of the trial one in class and said "all done".  So, we will have to try a few to see if we can make it taste a little better for him.  The second class is in two weeks.  

Oh and I almost forgot last Friday we had our Toddler Busy Bag play date.  It was something that I had organized for the end of February, but we had a snow storm and it was cancelled.  I had set up a spreadsheet with different toddler oriented activities that could be made and stored in ziploc bags.  Then each mom chose one to make and made one for all participants.  Then we came together to swap & the kiddos could play.  It worked out really nicely.  Again, Jasmin wrote an amazing blog post all about it:  http://ouvrezvosyeuxjdr.blogspot.com/2013/03/toddler-busy-bag-exchange-and-making-of.html  

Now, things have kind of settled down a bit and I have planned a few activities for this week around St. Patrick's Day.  So, hopefully Braden and I are back on track with our themes!  

Lucky Charm

By midweek we were ready to start a few little St. Patrick's day activities.  On Wednesday Braden and I emptied out his numbers sensory tube (because it didn't work too well).  We refilled it with some green shower gel, a little bit of water and gold glitter to make a different sensory tube.  Braden was only interested in it for a little bit and then he went back to the water table.  

Thursdays pot o' gold at the end of the rainbow ended up taking all day.  Someone was not into painting today!  Once mommy decided to participate (yellow) he decided he wanted to paint again and we were able to get the rest of the handprints finished! 

So excited to paint.

"all done paint"

Taking a break

Finished product!

Alien Goop & Rockets (a week later)

It took the rest of the week for me to recover from being sick and even the weekend I was still a little sluggish.  So, the next week I tried to continue with outer space, but we only made it through one more day.  There were just too many other activities with friends and busy weekends to prepare for.  

First we made some gak, which I referred to as green, Alien Goop.  I was a little worried that Braden wouldn't want to touch it once it was ready.  But, I convinced him to carry it over to show daddy, and that seemed to work!  

Concentrating on pouring the glue

Time to stir

Pouring in the water

All ready to go

Stretch!

Picking it up to go show daddy!

Afterwards we made a rocket ship out of cardstock - Braden's handprint was the flame.  Then we had a lot of fun creating a flight path and watching the rocket ship (balloon) blast off!  

Coloring the rocket ship

Flight path

Braden counts for the rocket blast off!

Balloon Planets

On Tuesday, Braden had so much fun with balloons.  As I was blowing them up and getting them sized to represent different planets he was kicking/throwing them all over the room.  

Playing around with bouncy balls that look like planets

Balloon Fun

Jupiter

Trying to hit the balloons

Planets

For lunch we had some sun pancakes with mandarin orange rays.  

Smoothie

Outer Space Postponed

Well the Outer Space week did not go as planned, because I ended up getting sick in the middle of the week.  We made it through 2 days of fun activities, and then the week just fell apart.  

The first day after nap I worked on creating the starlight cave.  It was not a very fun project for me - poking all of the holes in the box.  So I was very disappointed when Braden did not want to go near it and continuously said "all done!" whenever it was on.  Thankfully, later in the week when I was feeling a little better we tried again and he did go inside and look at the "stars".  

Helping Mom hang up outer space pictures upstairs

Getting started on the starlight box

Hmm, what is this for?

The lights are placed

Starlight Cave

Week 6: "Outer Space"

Outer Space

February 18th - February 24th

Crafts/Activities:

Cave of Stars - something he can climb into all week

Paper Rocket

Constellation Cards

Sandpaper Sun

Stained Glass Earth

Sensory/Discovery:

The base of the sensory bin this week is black beans again.  I am hoping to find some items tomorrow that will go in the box.  Hopefully a few astronauts, stars and maybe some bouncy balls as planets.  Braden would LOVE that.  

Sensory Bin - similar idea

Balloon Planets - set up early in the week so Braden can see, touch, hit all week

Blastoff Rocket - something Braden can have fun with all week

Alien Goop - green of course

Glow in the Dark Bath

Puffy Paint Moon

Snacks:

Grapes (planets)

Sun pancakes w/strawberries for rays

Saturn cheese

Sun orange

Pancake sun

Alphabet:

"P" - Planet "S" - Space, Stars, Sun  "E" - Earth

Books: