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At the beginning of the year, I have started a parenting challenge to help me build a better relationship with my child, a choice that I am very glad about! I really enjoy it and I feel that following these monthly challenges allows me to focus more on my child and to do a lot of wonderful activities with him.
We already had 5 amazing months of our challenge, when we focused on: connection time, arts and crafts activities, books and stories, music and dance and nature activities.
This month will be dedicated to outdoor play and I can’t wait to try a lot of fun activities with Bogdan!
Before sharing our plan for this month, I will share with you last month’s report to see how much of our last plan we managed to accomplish.
My report for May: How the “Nature activities” month went for us
Last month we focused on different nature activities and Bogdan liked this a lot! We had our list of nature activities that provided us with a lot of inspiration and we had the chance to do many nice things together!
We also had two snails that were our “guests” for one week and Bogdan was very glad to take care of them. He learned to feed them and to be responsible for them.
And this was a great lesson for him!
I was a little bit worried that he will have a difficult time when returning the snails but it wasn’t the case! He was happy to find a nice place for them to return to nature! We read some books about flowers and leaves at the library.
We were able to stick to most of the plan, with two exceptions. First, we haven’t visited a natural park this month. Instead, we went on a road trip to Los Angeles and we enjoyed the nature along the Pacific Coast.
We also visited the Natural History Museum in Santa Barbara, which gave us a perfect opportunity to learn new things!
Also, we haven’t started a garden on our terrace yet. I hope to be able to do this soon. Now we only have some basil but I plan to buy some more plants and seeds.
My plan for June: The “Outdoor play” month of our parenting challenge
The plan for this month is a little bit different. I want to allow us to have a lot of freedom in choosing our schedule.
We expect Bogdan’s grandparents to visit us for two weeks, so we really don’t know how our schedule will look like this month. What I do know is that I want us to have a lot of fun!
And outdoor activities are a perfect way to do this!
My goal for this month is for us to spend at least 2-3 hours a day playing outside every day. As preschool ended and we spend the whole day together now, this should be easy!
{Read also: How to create a “Bored Jar” for young kids (+ printable activity list) }
During the weekdays, I wish to try a new activity every day. I am thinking about really simple activities, like playing hopscotch.
I am curious to see what activities Bogdan will enjoy most and the best way to do this is to try as many new things that I can! 🙂
The activities for this month will be included in one of these 7 categories:
1. Running games
Bogdan likes any kind of game that requires running together or catching each other.
Here are some of the ideas that I plan to try:
– Egg race (running with a plastic egg on a spoon)
– Sack race (I’ve discovered a nice idea: to use pillowcases for sack races. It seems really easy and fun!)
– Obstacle course (this is one of my favorite games but we never tried it outdoor, so this month is a great time to do this!)
2. Water games
Outdoor activities with water are always fun! I plan to create a pouring station with a lot of different containers and utensils. Also, I want to try some games with water balloons.
Here are two other ideas we plan to put into practice:
Painting with water from Happy Hooligans
FILL THE BUCKET OUTDOOR WATER GAME from The Resourceful Mama.
3. Ball games
I plan to try a lot of new activities using tennis balls or plastic balls because I know that he really likes this. Here are some ideas that we tried indoor and I want to use outside too: Playing with small balls: 3 easy and fun play ideas.
4. Jumping games
Jumping is great for burning out energy! I have a lot of games in mind, so we’ll certainly have fun!
I like the Color Hop game for toddlers from Learn Play Imagine. Maybe I can even make it a little bit more challenging by adding letters and numbers.
5. Playing with rocks
My favorite idea is to play with rock dominoes but I also found two other nice ideas:
ALPHABET LEARNING WITH CHALK & ROCKS from And Next Comes L
Rock Toss with Chalk Shapes from Smile and Wave.
6. Sidewalk chalk games
I love this idea from B-Inspired Mama: SIDEWALK CHALK ART THE KIDS CAN PLAY IN – A GIANT CHALK ART TOWN. We will certainly try it!
I also like these ideas:
COLORS AND SHAPES SIDEWALK CHALK GAME from Hey There, Home
Number Recognition Play from Danya Banya
SIDEWALK CHALK ANATOMY ACTIVITY FOR KIDS from True Aim Education
A Big Chalk Maze for Preschoolers from Hands On as We Grow
NOISY LETTER JUMP PHONICS GAME from The Imagination Tree
7. Hula hoops games
Here are some great Hula Hoop Games from Learn Play Imagine. They seem so fun! I can’t wait to buy some hula hoops and try them!
Other activities that I want us to try this month
Here are 3 other ideas that I’ve discovered and added to my list:
OUTSIDE STICKY WALL from Busy Toddler
Take math outdoors into the garden classroom from Nurture Store (setting up a simple treasure hunt using chalk)
Simple Balloon Toss from A Mom with a Lesson Plan.
This is our plan for this month, I hope that Bogdan will enjoy it! If you like the idea of a month dedicated to outside play activities for your kids, I would be glad if you would join us!
In the end, I can only wish you a happy first month of summer, with a lot of wonderful activities with your children!
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