• Go fishing! Fishing is a wonderful family activity, and it’s a wonderful opportunity to spend some time quietly talking one on one with your child while you’re waiting on the next bite. The kids will have fun catching “the big one,” playing with worms, and tangling their pole in anything they can find.
• Take a hike! We have several parks, and trails in our area to walk and hike on. Take along a field guide for birds, flowers, or trees in your area and spend some time identifying them with your child.
• Teach your child a summer sport. Head to the park, or driving range and work with your child on their baseball, basketball, tennis, or golf skills.
• Find a quiet spot to do a little nature journaling with your child. Find a beautiful quiet spot while you’re hiking, fishing, or just out and about. Bring along some pencils and a drawing tablet. Take a little time to write about what you are experiencing, and draw the scenery around you. Write a story about a person or  the animals you see around you.
• Take a bike ride with your children. There are several bike trails in our area, most have beautiful scenery. Even if you don’t have a local bike trail, if your children are old enough take a bike ride to the library, ice cream shop, or to pick up a few things at the grocery instead of driving the car. It will be great exercise and bonding time for you and your child, and it’s good for the environment when you leave the car at home.
• Do some gardening with the kids. Teach them about the plant varieties they are growing, and talk about where their food is coming from and how to care for our Earth. Let them dig in the dirt and enjoy their time in the garden, don’t make it all about work.
• Get outside and blow some bubbles, or play tag, play on the swing or in the sandbox with your kids. Get down on their level to play, and they will be totally thrilled to have you!
• Have a water fight, or break out the hose and sprinklers.

What kinds of activities do you have planned with your children over summer break?

Image via sxc.hu

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• Let your children help you get your garden started. Teach them how to plant and grow things. It is wonderful to watch your child grow up in tune with nature (versus video games).
• Go fly a kite. It’s still March, which means in many areas there are several windy days as the March winds blow out the cold and blow in the warmth of Spring and Summer.
• Play a game of hide and seek, or tag. Set definite boundaries before you begin to avoid any confusion, and to keep children out of anyplace dangerous. Then run around the yard like you were ten again.
• Go for a bike ride.
• Get the whole family, and the neighbors out in the yard for a game of backyard baseball, or basketball if you have a hoop.
• Go for a walk in the woods, or hiking on a local nature trail.
• Have a campfire in the back yard. If you’re like us you have plenty of sticks and twigs from the winter winds and storms to fuel your fire. Just make sure the children are well supervised, and not playing too close to the fire.
• Get friends and neighbors together for a backyard party.

What are you going to do to get more outside time with your kids this Spring?

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An early Happy Mother’s Day to all of you mommies out there! I know that for me, the ideal way to honor me for Mother’s Day would be allowing me to sleep in as late as humanly possible, followed maybe by a pedicure, and dinner by myself with a book (only time for dinner when you sleep until about 4 in the afternoon ).

However, I thought it would also be fun to throw out some ideas of events to do with those little people who make it possible for us to bear the illustrious title of “Mom”, our kids.

Here are my ideas:

• Plant some flowers or a garden together.
• Movie night with popcorn and treats.
• Have a picnic at the park or in the backyard.
• Bake something special together.
• Visit a homebound neighbor and surprise them with flowers and treats.
• Have a photo taken with just mom and the kid(s).

Do you have any special Mother’s Day plans or traditions?

Photo credit: me

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One thing I’m looking forward to doing with the kids this year is gardening. We made our first vegetable garden last year, and our oldest had fun with us planting and watching our little plants grow and produce great big tomatoes and banana peppers. Even the then 2 year old loved going out to the garden to harvest the veggies (I think he called it, “going to the jungle”). This year, I’m hoping to get the kids a little more involved. We’ll start with helping them pick some of their favorite fruits and veggies, and then figure out which will grow best in our yard. Flowers will be fun, too, I think! I’ll be looking to Rebecca who has joined b5media at Mother Earth’s Garden for guidance and ideas!!!!

We do have little gloves and gardening tools just the right size for the kids. It’s fun for them to have their own tools made for their own little hands to feel like this project really is about them, too, and not just a Mommy and Daddy project that they’re getting dragged along on, you know? That’s my hope for this season, that this year’s garden is a chance for all of our family to participate and feel ownership in the renewing of our garden. And, hey, it’ll be something to do to get out of this house! Cabin fever, anyone?

What spring traditions and activities do you share with your kids?

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