Crafts and backyard fun
All low-prep, works for a near-4 and a 2-year-old together.
Mud Kitchen Menu. Cook mud "soup" in bowls or a muffin tin, then wash hands and draw the menu at the patio table (or just serve it to you).
Story Cards. Draw pictures on index cards or jar lids ahead of time, then pull them out one by one to build a story together.
Lily Pad Jump. Letters on paper plates (each weighted with a rock) or tape squares. Kids jump like frogs to the one you call, by letter or by sound.
Plant Part Hunt. Each kid a basket. Hunt the yard together for a root, stem, leaf, and flower. A berry or seed-head counts as fruit.
Daniel Tiger Mail. Give a prompt ("draw Pretzel your favorite snack"). Each kid draws and writes a note. Mail it in a decorated shoebox.
Chalk Number Garden. On the driveway or patio, each kid draws a number and adds that many chalk petals.
Letter Card Hunt. Write letters on upside-down cups or rocks (mostly ones she knows, a couple of Y, Z, lowercase mixed in). Hide around the yard. Kids find and name them.
Cereal Necklaces. Thread O-cereal on a pipe cleaner ("jewelry for Pretzel's tea party"). Pull a number card 1 to 5, add that many. Keep a snack bowl of extra cereal nearby.
Freeze and Dance. Play music. When you pause it, call out a shape ("tree," "starfish," "turtle," "frog") and the kids freeze in that shape. Restart the music, they dance again. Let Hattie pick the song.
Journal of Our Day. Ask "what was your favorite part." Kid draws it, you write her exact words underneath. A few times a week, not daily.
Story Tent. Blanket fort. You start a story and each kid adds one thing, or read books with a flashlight.
Garden Diary. Water a fast-growing bean sprout in a clear cup. Look close. See what changed since yesterday.
Mud Letter Writing. Smooth out shaving cream on a tray (or wet sand outside). Write letters and names with a finger. Swipe, repeat.
Sound Basket Sort. Call a sound. Kids run and grab any object that starts with it and drop it in the basket together.
Flower Shop. Pretend shop with picked weeds and dandelions in cups. Arrange bouquets and "sell" them, counting buttons for the price.
Ice Rescue. Freeze little animals or letter magnets in a bowl of ice. Kids free them with warm water and squirt bottles, naming each one.
Bluey Keepy Uppy. Keep a balloon off the floor as a team. Count each bop out loud.
Hot day water ideas
- Squirt Bottle Letters. Chalk letters on the driveway. Kids squirt the one you call.
- Count and Splash. Draw numbers 1 to 10 on the driveway with chalk. Each kid gets her own cup of water. Call a number, kid splashes that number with her cup. Repeat.
- Ice Rescue (above) plus a hose.
Supplies
Mostly on hand: chalk, paper, index cards, crayons and markers, paper plates, a shoebox, a blanket and flashlight, old pots and a muffin tin, balloons, baskets, buttons, cups.
Worth grabbing for under fifteen dollars: O-cereal and pipe cleaners, shaving cream, a dried bean, easy-squeeze squirt bottles.
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