Leaf My Stick Alone!

I love taking the boys outside for education-based activities. They just connect with nature and don't see it as learning, as much as exploring. Besides learning from play, I can teach them about using senses, taking direction, discussing weather, and finding bugs and other objects. We can talk about color, texture, and size. By the way, here’s a great link for kids’ outdoor scavenger hunts. Usually I don't find the activity; the boys lead and the activity finds us! This is, of course, all pending the 180% humidity, 110 degree heat index that we so enjoy during July here in Texas.
Today was one of those days, and determined to get some fresh air and learn something new, we decided to go out into the backyard. Technically, I had two pairs of shorts thrown at me and was drug, by hand, into the mud room toward the back door. Yes, why not make this an activity while we're at it.
So we have the most popular home on the block – for fire ants. And despite us using every ant poison sold at Lowe’s (including yes, boiling water) they still want to live and breed in our yard. So, I have to carefully watch the boys and shoes are always a requirement (at least until I can call another service out here). Shoes on the feet, and we were off to discover!
It's funny what two 22-month old toddlers start to notice. Of course, while Taiter was ready to get out the gate, both of their gazes turned toward the ground and they started to notice all the little ants and bugs. It was just too cute and I had to include pictures of it.

Once the newness wore off, they started wandering around to explore and I used the opportunity. “Can you find me some sticks?”
“Huh?” they seemed to say. Changing their trains of thought, they flipped through their mental files of “outside objects we have discussed” and starting looking around, though I am convinced they didn’t know what they were looking for.
“Sticks. You know, sticks. Find me some sticks!” I picked one up and we picked up a few more together. “Okay, they are getting this,” I thought. We piled them up on the step. “Now let’s find some leeeaves….”. With some guidance, we found a few and piled them up. We then did the same with the Spanish moss or “maa” as they call it, and also with some blades of grass. I then used a kid’s shovel to dig some dirt to dump on the step.

So I thought this was a good idea of recognition of objects, following direction, categorizing and grouping the items on the step, and repetition. I recounted our treasures out loud. Then grabbed a few more samples and asked the boys to show me where they go. Taiter was a little bored at that point and wanted to go play. Cammy did place the objects with their correct groups. “What a little genius,” I thought boastfully. Then he proceeded to grab the dirt for a post-lunch treat. “Ugh, maybe not so much...” Then I remembered the ant poisons we had put out and quickly went for a mouth rinse and anti-bacterial soap for hands and feet (for both!). So please keep that in mind if you treat your yard!
With a bit more attention, I would have compared and contrasted the physical properties of the objects. But with both of their interest gone and Texas heat pounding my head, I defaulted to seducing them with the child’s lottery of all phrases.
“Who wants ice cream?” Mommy does.

DINO- Might!

While doing my regimented morning clean-up of the path of the twinadoes, the boys usually enjoy a post-breakfast treat of PBS Kids. 

Have I told you I love PBS Kids? Well, I do! It is so nice to expose the boys to something with educational components than something that looks like it was conceived on a drug-induced high. It also makes it tolerable for me, because I like to watch it alongside them and ask them questions to see if they comprehend it. One of their favorite morning shows on PBS Kids (and mine too) is Dinosaur Train. Cute, cute, cute! Not to mention, I never thought Pteranodon and Cretaceous would become part of our regular vocabulary.

Dinosaurs seem to be a big thing for boys (you can’t buy boys’ pajamas, clothes, toothbrushes or toys without seeing one sort of dinosaur or another). I know there is an aggression factor that we obviously correlate with boys’ interests. But there is so much more that the study of these creatures can offer – like knowledge about life science, natural history and paleontology. Do you hear me, parents of girls?!

While Grandma and I were searching one day for kid-friendly outings, we discovered a “Dinos Alive” exhibit at a local attraction. To quote the website, it is a pre-historic stomping ground with more than 20 life-like, animatronic dinosaurs.

After much discussion about the possible spectrum of reactions we might get from the boys (from boredom to night terrors for life, along with adult psychotherapy), we decided we should at least try to take them and that we could always bail out if necessary, with only minor injury resulting.

 

From the moment we walked into the tent, I mean jungle, the boys looked on, wide-eyed and in total silence with gaping mouths. They were greeted with moving, roaring dinosaurs of all kinds – a few inches up to 50 ft high, both on the left and the right. I couldn’t believe how quietly they sat in their stroller, taking in all the sounds and sights in amazement. I think the pictures say it all.

Taiter: Dinosaur by day, toddler by night.

While I made a bee-line to get out of the strategically placed gift-shop that followed the tour, I did get an idea. I plan to get some museum-quality miniature dinosaurs and start calling them by name when we play. While neither boy may ever become a paleontologist; I hope exposing them at least warrants an added appreciation.

Thinking back to the tour, I think I could probably only name about five of the dinosaurs, but I am certain of the day the boys will correct me, “No, Mom. That’s a Micropachycephalosaurus..."