Category: Kid Friendly Fun

Summer Bucket List Ideas For You & The Kids!

~ quirkymoms486 ~ 16 Comments

Warmer weather is finally here!!

There is just something about Summertime with your kids.

The days are longer and you just feel a sense of freedom for them and yourself. No more cold cooped up days.

Making the most of Summer matters so much for us moms. Anyone else feel the same?

It’s just such a great time to make special memories and just slow down. Soak it all in, take a breath of fresh air.

I feel like moods are lifted everywhere.

The sunshine and warmth just does wonders for everyone.

I thought it would be fun to come up with a bucket list for my family to check off this Summer.

Beach day

Fair Day

Zoo Day

Exploring your town

Slushy run

Summer sports

Park day and picnic

Long naps

Camping

Swimming

Outdoor movies

S’mores by the fire

Splash pad

Long walk

Bubbles

Baseball game

Outdoor concert

Ride bikes

Boat ride

Wilderness exploring

Watch a sunset and sunrise

Painting outside

Firework shows

Summer parades

Star gazing

Road trips

Putt putt

Cookout

Ice cream date

Lemonade stand

Make our own popsicles

Water gun/ water balloon fight

Dance in the rain

Read in a hammock

I am just so excited for Summer with the kids and my husband! Definitely checking off as much as I can on the Summer bucket list and adding as we go!

What’s on your bucket list this Summer?

Any exciting plans?

Get outside as much as you can and just enjoy every moment.

Slow down, take it all in and soak it all up 🙂

Enjoy those dirty little barefoot feet running around.

Top 7 Rainy Day Activities.

~ quirkymoms486 ~ Leave a comment

I know for me rainy days can sometimes be a blessing and relaxing! I love curling up with a good book or finding my favorite movies on TV. The gloomier the better!

But for kiddos!? Not so much! Spring/Summer time can be tough to keep these little ones from going crazy with all the back and forth weather. I know here in Michigan it’s 80 degrees one day and then 40 degrees the next!

So I’m sharing 7 rainy day activities that kids will love!

Build An Indoor Fort.

My son is obsessed with this lately. He loves building blanket forts and playing with his toys in them. For older kids it’s fun to build one and read in them or even play games or watch a movie on a tablet. So many possibilities!

Paper Airplanes/ Crafting.

Who doesn’t love making paper airplanes? You can either have a paper airplane toss or even make those paper footballs and click field goals. Anything paper crafting is so fun for all ages!

Board Games.

Always a classic. My kids are still very young but I always say I can’t wait for the days until we can have family board game nights! Something I always enjoyed as a child and even as an adult.

Play-Doh or Sensory Bins.

This is geared more towards the toddler age like my son but play-doh and sensory bins can keep him busy for a while! Kinetic sand is always fun as well.

Library Day.

If you must get out and about, I think the library or a bookstore is such a great rainy day activity! Nothing better then finding a good book to bring home and read the rest of the day! Plus sometimes your local library has fun things going on.

Indoor Bowling.

So fun! If you have some plastic cups laying around and a ball you are good to go! I love bowling in general and bowling toys or making your own are so fun.

Baking.

I love baking and I plan to get my kids involved when it comes to baking and cooking as much as possible! It keeps you busy, plus it’s just fun and the outcome is delicious of course.

I hope these ideas help you for the next rainy day coming your way this Spring.

What are some of your favorite rainy day activities?

Five Valentine’s Day Family Ideas.

~ quirkymoms486 ~ 31 Comments

Although you still have your occasional date nights, Valentines Day sure does change once you become a parent.

The best part though? It’s still so much fun, but instead of romantic quiet dinners as a couple, it can become a loud family date night.

I’m here to give some great ideas to celebrate Valentines Day as a family. It is after all, a day full of love and what better way to spend it than with ALL the people you love the most?

Let’s check out some fun ideas for the family below 👇

Ice skating/ roller skating night out.

How fun does this sound? Ice skating is such a fun winter activity in general but I feel like it, along with roller skating if that’s what you prefer could be such a fun Valentines family date. I wish my kids were just a bit older so we could do this as a family this year!

Family game night.

These are always my favorite type of nights. Game nights are so fun for any type of night but it would be a great Valentines Day family date! Order a heart shaped pizza to go with it and you’re all set.

Movie night in or movie at the theatre.

There are finally good movies coming out again and movie nights are such a great classic family night idea.

A trip to the bookstore.

Grab a hot chocolate, a heart shaped treat and hit the book store! Pick out a good book and have a cozy family reading night.

Family karaoke night.

Along with game night, I think karaoke is so much fun even if I do have a terrible voice. Get creative and have fun! I’m sure the kids will love it as much as you do.

There is so much you can do to have a great Valentine’s Day while including the kiddo’s.

I hope some of these ideas helped you out and as always, thanks for reading!

1000 Hours Challenge

~ quirkymoms486 ~ 16 Comments

Happy New Year, friends! I hope your holidays were filled with love. We had the BEST holiday season. I loved just spending time with our daughters and my husband. We made so many memories!

I wanted to share with our community a challenge my family agreed to do this year. You may have heard of it… 1000 hours OUTSIDE challenge!

It can be REALLY hard to WANT to go outside in the winter, when it’s 7°F outside, and actually do things. I mean there are the usual outside activities like, sledding, snowman building, skating and snow ball fights, but what about those cold days, where there is just no snow.

I wanted to share some tips, ideas and some links that I have found super helpful! The team over at 1000 Hours Outside has a ton of great resources and that’s what I used to start finding fun activities. I will link their website here.

Make sure you have really good snow gear! That’s my top tip. Invest in a nice warm winter coat. We went with the Columbia Bugaboo II coat for both of my daughters. I like it because it’s a 3 in 1, so the can wear it all year long! My younger daughter always gets the hand me down snow pants from her older sister. Insulated boots are a must, too!

Another tip, make sure you prep the water for cocoa BEFORE you go out! That way it’s ready when you come in from the chilly outside.

Next year, my husband and I are going to try to make an ice rink. We thought about doing it this year (and we may still if I can convince him), but he’s afraid by the time we get it up to use, it’ll be time to take it down (LOL). There are so many great ideas on Pinterest and google on how to build. When we do ours, this year or next, I’ll be sure to share that tutorial!

Another fun thing I saw was building an igloo! A friend of mine, her husband and her two kids are actually working on one right now! I can not wait to see how it turns out! we have our fort (I will insert a picture below) and it is so fun. I love watching the girls use their imaginations when they’re in it!

How do you track each of the 1000 hours you spend in the great outdoors? A coloring sheet of course! They have so many options for trackers. They hold a contest on their social media each year to design the next years trackers. If you’re crafty, it’s a great opportunity to share your art.

I hope you use these tools and resources to help enjoy winter again! I’ll update you in the spring with how many hours we will have on the tracker!

Create A Learning Nook for Your Toddler.

~ quirkymoms486 ~ 20 Comments

With a busy bee of a toddler running around at all times, books and coloring are so important to have accessible when it’s time for some down time.

Redfin reached out to us and asked to write a short piece describing an at home learning area that would work well.

You can read the full article here but I thought it would make a fun post to show you the little nook my toddler has for all his fun activities.

When it comes to at home learning or activity areas it’s so important to have everything open and easily accessible because I feel like it makes less of a mess. That way your kids will see it automatically and be able to grab what they need.

I love using little bins for crayons, art stuff and activity books. I use this cute personalized basket for my toddler’s things.

Another great tip is storage cubes! I feel like they are so great for toy organizing, book organizing or even learning and school organizing.

Adding pops of colors with books and crayons are always great to keep your kids engaged.

I like to keep our seasonal or favorite books on this bench ottoman and a couple inside it as well for easy reading access since majority of our time is spent in our main living area.

Also it’s a great place to store toys away and still have your living space look nice!

So many fun ideas you can do for a little learning nook but these are some of my favorites!

What type of areas do you have for your children when it comes to their learning and activities?

Thanks for reading!

https://www.redfin.com/blog/how-to-enhance-learning-at-home-for-kids/

Peep Play-Doh

~ quirkymoms486 ~ 22 Comments

Those fluffy sugarcoated marshmallows are good for more than just eating! Today we made ‘Peep Play-Doh’! I have seen this idea going around on Instagram.

My girls said it felt more like Peep slime, rather than Play-Doh.

I’m going to share the recipe with you today. It is super simple and so easy. A great activity to do with your kids with Easter right around the corner.

All you need is three simple ingredients. Peeps, shortening and flour.

Just add five peeps to a microwave safe bowl.

Add 3 tbs of flour, and 1 tbs of shortening.

Put it in the microwave for 30 seconds.

When it comes out, stir with a spoon. The mixture is super hot, so make sure your kiddos don’t do that part!

When the mixture is all stirred, knead the dough on a hard surface for a few minutes. It might be sticky at first, but it gets better as you knead the dough!

My girls are a little older, so they were able to do most of this activity on their own.

This would be a wonderful craft or activity to do on or before the holiday. Even if you don’t celebrate Easter you could always just make this for fun!

Do you like peeps?! I’m not not a huge fan of them, but I love sugar so I eat them anyways.

Let us know if you try it, and make sure to follow our social pages for more fun activities!

7 Fun Spring Break Activities For You and The Kids.

~ quirkymoms486 ~ 36 Comments

Spring is upon us and with that comes Spring break!

Even though my son and daughter are still toddler’s, I still think of Spring as the start of fun activities school aged or not.

We can finally get outside and play. Bring on the mud and grass stained clothes because I am so ready!

Today I thought I would share some great Spring break activities that you can do as a family, that still is a little more social distanced.

1. Break out the bubbles.

Just like bubble wrap, I feel like you’re never too old for bubbles! Bubbles are such a great inexpensive activity. You can make big bubbles, get a bubble machine or make some fun in a bin with bubbles and water. Definitely a great outdoor activity for the kids.

2. Take a day trip.

I love making a day out of a fun activity. We recently went to an indoor water park and my son had a blast. Even a trip to your local library or just finding in town activities to do are great as well!

3. Have a family movie night.

You can never go wrong with a movie night. One of my favorite things to do. Make some popcorn, set up a snack bar or ice cream station. Make some homemade icee’s. So much fun can come from a movie night.

4. Paint a masterpiece.

Painting is such a great activity no matter what age! Get creative with it and there’s so many things you could come up with! Or grab your chalk and head outside to chalk paint.

5. Have an outside adventure.

Check out your favorite trail, rock hunt at the beach, ride bikes, go rollerblading. Head to the park. Outside adventures are what I’m most excited about as the days get longer and hopefully warmer.

6. Sensory bins.

There is so much you can do with sensory bins and they are a hit at any age as well! I have lots of water bin ideas in mind for my son this Spring.

7. Fly a kite.

Spring is so perfect for kite flying! It can still be windy so get to the park and run around with a kite!

Let’s make this Spring a great one and enjoy it as much as we can! I know we all and definitely our kids need it!

What’s your favorite thing about Spring? Mine would be everything blooming and the excitement that Summer is coming.

Have a wonderful week!

Five Ways To Have A Low Key Halloween!

~ quirkymoms486 ~ 17 Comments

Hi Friends! I hope you’re doing well.

I can’t believe it’s already Halloween week! I love this Holiday. It’s just so fun and creative, plus all the activities are my favorite.

I think as the holiday’s keep coming, I am enjoying them more and more now that I am a mom. Even though my son is still little, it’s exciting to watch him learn new things and have fun.

We had our first family pumpkin carving this weekend and I love watching bub get curious about what we were doing and have him help us and do his own thing.

Although, I am probably the worst pumpkin carver. I totally did the stencil wrong and mine was a flop….ooops.

Of course my husband laughs at me, but then he attempted a tough stencil and his fell apart too sooooo…. ha 😉

I am thankful my son is still very little, so this year won’t be any different but my heart goes out to all the parents that have trick-or-treating aged children and are just trying to make the best of it!

For all of you that are trick-or-treating I pray you have great weather and a fun and safe time!

In case you aren’t though, here’s some fun ideas to have a fun but low key Halloween!

Have a movie night!

Put on your costumes or your Halloween pjs and watch some spooky movies. Don’t forget the candy and popcorn!

Game night for the win!

I absolutely love game nights and you can even make it fun by creating your own Halloween games.

Pumpkin carve/ Halloween crafts

It’s always fun to get crafty! Plus save your pumpkin carving for Halloween night.

Visit family

Trick-or-Treat at your family’s houses. That way you feel more comfortable and the kids can still get some candy.

Baking day!

Make some fun spooky cookies. Bake an apple pie or pumpkin bread. Have fun with it!

There’s so many things you can do that will still make this year a memorable and special one!

I hope you all have a fabulous Halloween week!

I hope it’s full of fun and adventures and as always, thanks for reading!

Happy Halloween 🎃👻

Pumpkin Crafting Fun For Toddler/Kids!

~ quirkymoms486 ~ 26 Comments

Happy Monday my lovely friends!

I have always been a crafty person. I love doing crafts and DIY’s and I think they are the best type of presents you can give someone. Even better? Becoming a mom and doing crafts with my little man. It brings an even more special meaning to these cute little things we create.

As we come up into the holiday season, I will be sharing tons of crafts and DIY’s that you can do yourselves and with your little’s so I really hope you enjoy!

Today I am taking you along with me and bub on a craft we made the other day. A little pumpkin. We are working on his sensory and fine motor skills so lots of coloring is involved.

What you will need-

  • Empty paper towel rolls or toilet paper rolls.
  • Pumpkin shaped paper.
  • Washable crayons (I highlight washable because….toddler mom life)
  • Hot glue gun

This is such a fun project that requires minimal effort and supplies and it turns out so cute. The empty toilet paper rolls and paper towel rolls I had because I knew I wanted to do this craft. The pumpkin shaped paper I bought at the Target dollar spot.

I lightly colored the majority of the pumpkin and then for each one I let my little man scribble around and dot it all up. He was loving it!!

Once he was done coloring all of them I heated up my hot glue gun and got my paper rolls ready and then hot glued each piece of paper to the front of the paper rolls so they stand up.

They turned out to be the cutest décor!

We handed them out as cute little Fall gifts to some of our family and it was a hit.

So simple but I love it and I think it’s the perfect craft that you can keep and make more each year!

Please let me know if you do it with your little’s. I would love to see your pictures of the final piece 🙂

Since the holiday’s are coming up, I thought I would share a funny story with you all.

My husband and I are HUGE National Lampoons Christmas Vacation fans. It’s one of our favorite movies to watch each year. Almost 9 years ago when we started dating, we still lived at home at the time. So of course we would store our Christmas gifts at our separate houses.

Well my husbands dad went into their attic the other day and he found a Christmas present wrapped up, all dusty and the tag read to Amanda, From A.J.

He pulled a total Clark Griswold when he is stuck in the attic and finds a mother’s day gift to his wife from like 10 years ago.

We were both cracking up and the date of the gift was from 2012!

We just thought it was the funniest thing and even funnier since it happened in one of our favorite movies! So I had to share on here 🙂

Do any of you have funny lost gift stories? Please share in the comments!

As always, thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed my post, until next Monday!

Summer Days! The Best Outdoor Toys For Ages 1 and Up.

~ quirkymoms486 ~ 39 Comments

Hi friends!

Aren’t weekends just the best?

But summer weekends!? Even better! 

It’s so fun thinking back to last summer I did not so much at all because I had a newborn baby. But now it’s fun to enjoy the sunshine with my little man. 

I had a hard time thinking of summer toys that I thought bub (our nickname) would enjoy. 

I am learning that the attention span is nonexistent in these little ones. And that the tantrums are constant. 

So here in Michigan we had a super hot weekend and we finally got to enjoy all of our outdoor summer toys we accumulated with bub turning 1! 

I have rounded up a few that I think are perfect for 1-year-olds and up! 

Bub has been absolutely loving his water table and truck! The truck he can’t yet get the hang of that he can actually walk with it but he loves being pushed around. And the big wheels on this one is perfect for rides in the backyard!

Wagon rides in the backyard have also been a fav! I absolutely love this radio flyer wagon. So much storage space, two seats with seatbelts and once again with the big wheels for rough terrain!

Small swing sets and slides are also so great for the younger ones! He loves climbing all around this swing set and it’s fun to watch him.

Who else just loves their backyard? I enjoy being out in ours so much just relaxing and playing!

The last thing we have but I don’t have a picture of is this awesome bike! It’s so fun for short walks and bub loves it. It also turns into a little bike for him when he’s old enough so you defiantly get your moneys worth!

As for me? I enjoyed a great 3 day weekend full of family. 

Oh and High Noons which If you haven’t tried, you must! They are so refreshing. I’m not much of a vodka soda girl but I love grapefruit and I did really enjoy them. 

Plus I am now sporting a really nice sunburn! My first of the Summer and I totally forgot how much it sucks to sleep with a sunburn! 

You know what the best part about this weekend was though? 

I forgot about the laundry piling up in my room. 

I forgot about the dirty dishes filling my sink.

I forgot about the toys scattered around my house and the pillows that get thrown on the floor each day. 

And you know what? I loved it.

These days we won’t ever get back, so I am trying to soak up every fun filled day I can with my guys! 

Especially in the sunshine!