With the weather warming up and school about to come to a close, we’ve been looking at ideas on how to keep our family active and fit this summer. After reading 5 Practical Tips to Encourage Your Children to Get Into Fitness, I decided to get my ideas down in black-and-white, so I can refer back to these ideas when my memory and creativity take a vacation day. Hopefully you can use these ideas with your own children this summer as well.

1. The Swimming Pool - If you have frequent access to a swimming pool this summer, you have an easy way to entertain the kids and stay in shape at the same time. Practicing strokes and doing laps are great exercise, but even just a fun afternoon splashing around in the water gives you and your children opportunities to use muscles in different ways that you use them on land. Water games like Marco Polo and water volleyball also offer different ways to play at the pool. No pool? Try a sprinkler in the yard or a Slip N Slide, which gets kids outside but keeps them cool and refreshed. No matter what, don’t forget the sunscreen. And we have a great selection of Water and Sand Toys for play in the yard, at the pool, or at the beach.
2. Jumping Rope - A jump rope represents a great chance to improve both your cardiovascular health in your coordination skills. There are lots of different ways to jump rope, from one person with a single rope, to two people using the same (longer) rope, or three people where two turn the rope and a third jumps in the middle. Use two ropes for double-dutch jumping! Also, combining the basic jump with fancier skills such as hopping on one leg, handstands, and more will build additional skills and confidence. JumpRope.com offers great videos, teaching materials, and ropes. Plus we have our own adorable Carrot Jump Rope and, for a different twist, a Solo Chinese Jump Rope with stakes so it can be used by a single person.
3. Family Walks - Taking a walk with our family is one of my favorite ways to unwind after a long day. It’s a great alternative that gets the kids outside instead of watching a cartoon for 30 minutes. Our walk may be as simple as one-time-around-the-block, or on days when we have more time, we walk to one of the neighborhood parks and let the kids play on the playground before we walk home. Walking is easy on your joints, usually allows for easy conversation, and it a great way to get some fresh air, observe wildlife, and greet your neighbors.
4. Gardening - While caring for plants may not be as aerobically effective as the previous ideas, I love the way it combines nurturing, science, and activity. Plus, indoor container gardening is impervious to rainy days. Children learn the responsibility of caring for a living thing, and gardening offers opportunities to talk about plant parts, pollination, insects, and more. Consider planting a vegetable garden, which has the added benefit of providing healthy food that kids may be more interested in eating, since it represents the “fruits” of their own labor!
5. Family Yoga - Ever since we invested in a Wii Fit gaming system, the yoga exercises have been one of our kids’ favorite activities. We take turns using the balance board, but everyone can participate at the same time. It’s perfect for stretching tired muscles and calming down frazzled nerves (mine and the kids’!) So many of our activities involve shortening our muscles, so good stretching activities like yoga and Pilates help balance that by working to lengthen muscles. The focus on breathing is also great, particular in its calming effect.

I hope that these ideas will give you some inspiration to stay active over the summer break. If you have other good ideas, please share them in the comments!

He has really aged well, hasn’t he?!?! Eric Carle’s classic book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, is celebrating its 40th birthday today. The book is a much-loved children’s classic featuring a caterpillar that eats and eats, leaving holes in everything he munches on, until finally he grows large enough to become a butterfly.

The Very Hungry Google Logo

Even Google jumped on board with one of their famous logos! It features the caterpillar on top of various pieces of fruit, with the holes in the letters becoming the signature mark of what the caterpillar has eaten.

Eric Carle is a former art director who later became an author and illustrator. He has more than 40 books currently in print, including The Very Hungry Caterpillar, his most famous work.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Stuffed Animal

ABC Game

We carry a variety of Eric Carle toys, including several based on The Very Hungry Caterpillar book:

You may also wish to visit Eric Carle’s official website for more information about his life and work.

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Warmer weather is here for many of us, and for those of you “up North”, the days will soon turn balmy for you as well (I promise!).  With warmer weather we get to enjoy budding plants, more outside playtime, and (our favorite) BUGS!

Exploring the world around us should be an integral part of growing up and learning.  Studying nature and the outside world allows children the opportunity to learn more about how we, as humans, work and live with and in the environment, taking care of our planet and the inhabitants thereof.  Through nature, children can explore patterns and solve problems.  They can learn to make decisions based on how that decision affects others around them, and they can observe life cycles of other creatures to learn more about themselves.  And, nature is simply COOL.  Bugs included!  Just ask any child what a worm or a beetle is, and they can certainly tell you!

WonderBrains offers a variety of products to promote observation of living creatures in a safe way - safe for children as well as the creatures!  Products, such as the Bug Explorer, are perfect for safely “catching” a variety of insects and observe them in a non-threatening way.  And, the insects can be released back into their natural habitat.  Or, look into products such as an ant farm or ladybug farm to bring insects that might be more difficult to capture into a safe observation area.  One of our favorite insect-toys in our family is the butterfly habitat.  With it, my boys can send off for caterpillars that the boys then watch as they grow and metamophosize into beautiful butterflies.  We then release them in our own back yard, where they can be spotted for quite some time afterward. 

Whether using store-bought product or making your own collection system (jars with holes in the lids, plastic containers, nets), bugs can be easily observed and recorded.  Even little tikes love to draw pictures of what they see.  Simply stapling a few sheets of paper together to make a journal or record book can open up many doors and opportunities to learn.  Encourage your child to ask questions, to look for answers, and to write or draw what they see.  Keep a journal of types of bugs found in your backyard, and encourage your child to keep track of the numbers of each kind they see and find.  Take photos of different insects to use as a reference when looking for more information at your local library or online.

As with any type of creature, teach your child some safety tips when handling living things.  Try not to touch any creature so as not to harm the animal (or have the animal harm your child!).  Always ask an adult before attempting to capture an animal/insect in order to make sure that the child is being safe and aware of the surroundings.  Try not to disturb the animal’s habitat, and be sure to release the animal back at the same place it was found so as not to confuse it.

Bugs can offer a multitude of learning opportunities and adventures!

As the school year continues to fly by for me, I know that it isn’t quite the same for my son.  The bus ride is no longer a novelty; it is a way home and apparently not high on the “fun” list anymore.  I decided to mix up the routine a bit and offer a bit of cheer in celebration of the warmer weather we are having here in the South lately.  We’re having a Spring Fling Snack Party!

The bus stop is literally at the end of our driveway, and about a dozen or so neighborhood kids disembark at our stop.  Our plan is to set up a picnic table on the driveway, loaded with juice boxes, fruit and other healthy snacks.  Kids will have the chance to grab a snack and even stay for a bit to shoot some hoops, play with sidewalk chalk or throw a Frisbee.

Some important points to remember about this kind of mini-party is to notify parents ahead of time, even if just a day or so in advance.  No one wants to be waiting on the porch for a child who ends up staying for 20 minutes to play.  It is also a chance to gather neighborhood parents together to get to know each other and network.  Allow siblings who might not be in school yet the opportunity to come and play as well.  And, don’t forget - many kids will still have homework and other commitments after school, so keep the gathering brief.

My older son is a sports fanatic.  He’d rather pick up a ball (basketball, baseball, football, soccer ball…) over anything - including FOOD - most any day.  Give that boy a ball and a big grassy area and he’s in heaven.  So, it only stands to reason that those are the things that he should have for his 10th birthday this year.  Thus, the tailgate birthday party is born!

For my son’s birthday this year, we are decorating our family vehicle with window paint and markers, much like the high school kids in town do for a football game.  We have permission to use our church’s multi-use sports field, and all of our guests are meeting there.  We are grilling in the parking lot (hamburgers and hot dogs), serving up root beer in the bottles (complete with koozies that we are personalizing for the occasion), and then the kids will play some ball in the field for entertainment.

An additional idea for this type of party is to plan it around a local high school’s sporting event.  Depending on the time of year, most schools offer some sort of sport during the school calendar.  Purchase tickets to the game, and tailgate in the parking lot beforehand.  Then, watch the game or event and cheer on the local team!  It is a fun and economical way to celebrate with your little sports fan!

Our older son grew up with grandparents, aunts, and uncles all within an hour of our home.  He was truly raised by a village of people!  However, before the birth of our second son, we moved four hours away from our amazing family support system.  We knew, though, how amazing those relationships with extended family were, so we came up with a way to help our younger son identify his kin as he grew older.

We took pictures of all of our relatives and printed them out on sheets of photo paper.  Then, we mounted these pictures to magnetic sheets.  Next, we cut out each individual person (I cut close to the outline of the person to make them “paper dollish”) and cut out names for labels for each person as well.  Our refrigerator and dish washer are decorated with smiling faces of family and close friends, and our sons both love to “play” with their family.  When we talk to relatives on the phone, the boys can look at that person they are talking to and make a connection with them!