Week 9 - Get Outside!

Welcome to the Peaceful Parenting Challenge Blog Carnival: Week #9 – Spending Time Outside.
This post was written for inclusion in the 10 Week Peaceful Parenting Challenge Blog Carnival hosted by Prenatal to Parenting. This week our participants have written about spending time outside. We hope you enjoy this week’s posts and consider joining us next week when we share about a week of practicing yoga.

I had to laugh of the irony of this post this week because we went camping this week. We lived outside all week. It was awesome! I loved teaching my boys about nature, fire, sparks, marshmallows, hiking, stars, bats. It was a great week. I can't say enough about how important it is to unplug and get outside! The memories you create are priceless.

My children were fascinated with everything. They are 4 and 2 years old, so everything was new. My 4 year old worried a bit about bears and my 2 year old always wanted to know when it was snack time. Both loved playing cars in the dirt and going for walks. My 2 year old was running everywhere and came home with tons of scraps and scratches on his legs. Well loved camping wounds. He also got the brunt of the mosquito bites. I had brought camping story books and my 4 year old loved to compare this trip to Curious George's story and Bearinstein Bear book stories. I thought I'd have to worry about 'homeschooling' but there was so much 'natural learning' that it wasn't even a thought. My 4 year old read the signs about pool hours and where the bathrooms were. They learned about dangerous berries and 'pokie bushes.' They learned about fire safety and how to put out a fire. The 2 year was potty training, so naked a lot. Peeing in the bush is the extra benefits of having boys.

I've added some pictures here. The boys kept asking me to take pictures of them, telling me how 'cute they were.' The 4 year old really liked learning about sparks and how to write your name in the sky with a stick with sparks on the end of it. The 2 year old was fascinated with the bats daddy was showing him. The 4 year old was a bit worried the bats might want to eat him, but we explained they ate the mosquito instead. We had to read our Magic School Bus Bat book.

Overall, I wish I was still there. They were happy to be home too though.

Amanda
www.stickyhands.ca

 Realizing a little dirt in the pancakes is not a big deal.

 Daddy's cook too!

 Finding sweet hiking spots.

 Colouring, cars and characters are the new tv.

 Dirt bike riding.

 Geran won that Diago at a children's festival they had at the camp.

 Learning about fire safety.

Beach time and sinking in the mud. Science!


Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants:

Some of My Favourite Things - Sarah from Prenatal to Parenting shares some of her favourite things to do outside with her kids.

Get Outside – Peaceful Parenting Challenge – Week 9  Katrina from Kalem Photography has made quite a few changes since this challenge began and wonders if you have.

Nature Promotes Parental Sanity – Amber from Strocel.com declares getting outside a fantastic coping mechanisms for difficult parenting days.

Week #9- Spending Time Outside – Jennifer from the Children’s Directory let the expert lead the way.

Amy from The Connection We Share takes a break from work to go fly a kite.
Week 9 - Get Outside - Amanda from Sticky Hands spends the week camping.
Week 9 – Spending Time Outside -Kathryn from Curiosity and the Kat learns that her agenda isn’t always the same as her twins.