Bringing back the bean bag

by Brie This snow is making for some long days. It is also forcing me to get creative. With all the activities I am coming up with to the keep the kids amused I suddenly feel like a camp counselor again. Except, you know, I'm definitely not 16 any more.

One day I decided to get crafty. Which for me means pulling out the needle and thread. And trying not to poke myself in the process.

Using some scraps of fabric leftover from the last time I felt crafty and decided to make a cover for my kid-stained couch, I sold the kids on the excitement of bean bags. We are going to make them! And fill them with beans! And then throw them! Seriously, how can it get better then that?

I had the kids trace around a square play dish and then let the four year old cut the fabric. I helped the 2 year old with the cutting. Then while I quickly hand stitched the two pieces of fabric together I had the kids fill their own bowls with dried chickpeas, dried navy beans and popcorn. This entertained them for awhile.

Once the bean bags were done, and the kids were excitedly examining them and practicing throwing them, I started taping the floor. With masking tape I created two starting lines and then filled the distance between them with squares, rectangles and triangles. I gave myself bonus points for building on the shapes and solids unit the girl is learning in kindergarten.

Days later and the tape is still on the floor. The bean bags are still being used and I have decided that masking tape is my new best friend.

Are you a bean bag player? Are there any bean bag games you can recommend?

Brie is the mom of a 4 year old daughter “the girl” and 2 old son “the boy”. You can read her blog at Capital Mom.

Making pizza!

by Vicky Pizza is a big favourite in our house. If the boys had it their way we'd be eating it every day. We often make our own pizza from scratch, including the dough. My husband has perfected his dough technique using a great recipe we found on A Peek Inside the Fishbowl.

Whenever we do make home made pizza, I give Joel his very own mini pizza to decorate. I put all the ingredients in small bowls and let him decide what he wants on it. It's a great activity which gets him involved in cooking without a lot of the mess. He's always eager to eat a meal he helped prepare!

Do your kids help you make pizza?

Vicky is the mom to 4 year old son named Joel and 19 month old daughter named Mieka. You can read her blog at blog Some Kind of Mom.

Snowshoeing with kids

by Joanne Winters

Ottawa can be cold, and when you factor in the windchill it can be downright nasty!  Although the thought of hibernating indoors does sound very appealing we have had to find ways to keep ourselves active and have some fun outdoors in our frigid city.   

A few Christmases ago, before we had kids, I purchased snowshoes for myself and my husband. We lived in area with an open field nearby where we could go snowshoeing and enjoy the crisp cold air.  It was so beautiful being out there late at night, enjoying the star-filled sky as we trekked across the fields.    Now fast forward a few years… 2 kids and dog later, and we still enjoy it!   

When we first decided to take the kids out for a trek in the snow covered woods they were very excited.   We grabbed our snowshoes and a sled with a warm blanket, bundled ourselves up, packed a snack and headed to Mer Bleu.  The kids were so excited.  At first we stayed on the well established paths throughout the woods but then I decided to let the kids try out my snowshoes.  My daughter loved it – we strapped them on her boots and away she went.  She had no trouble going off the beaten path and staying above the fresh powder. My son also had a turn and away he went leading the way through the snow with ease.    Along the way we stopped to admire and feed many birds and explored the trails. If you bring bird seed with you and stay really calm the birds will come eat out of your hand. 

There are many opportunities to go out and snowshoe in Ottawa.  The National Capital Greenbelt offers a variety of trails to explore.  Also Gatineau Park offers 60 kilometers of trails for snowshoeing, ranging from easy to more challenging treks.  

A wonderful thing about snowshoeing is that it does not require a lot of equipment.  All you need is to dress for the weather and strap on some snowshoes.  If you want to give it a try and not invest in the snowshoes right away many places like Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC), Trailhead and Gatineau Park do rent them.  I suggest calling ahead to check on the availability. 

The best conditions for snowshoeing are when there is about 10 centimeters of snow on the ground.  The more snow the more fun.  Snowshoes work on all types of snow and ice.  You also don’t need to head out very far for your first trek; you may just want to start in the backyard after a snow storm, your neighborhood park or any field nearby.    

So next time the weather office is calling for a dumping of 10 centimeters of snow, don’t just think about the snow blower or the shoveling, think of it as Mother Nature laying the base for an awesome family adventure!

Visiting the eye doctor

by Brie I have a tendency to put off appointments I don't like. You know, the doctor, the dentist, etc. But there was one appointment I was determined to make. An eye appointment for my 4 year old.

My husband has high myopia and macular degeneration. He has been receiving treatment for his eyes since shortly before the girl was born. And since then I have been wondering and worried that my kids would have problems with their eyes too.

In December I took the girl to her first eye appointment. We went to our local eyeglass store Eye Maxx, where both the husband and I recently bought glasses, and saw the in-house optometrist. I has so happy that she was great with my 4 year old.

It can be a little overwhelming to sit in a dark room and be tested but the girl did great. We had talked to her about what to expect so she was prepared. She was still a little nervous at first but was excited to try reading the letters off the far wall (the optometrist gave her the choice of reading letters or looking at pictures). The only tricky part was when the girl had to lean forward and rest her chin on a little ledge to look into some kind of machine. And even then the only tricky part was getting her chin lined up and her to sit still long enough!

The girl had a great eye exam. I was pleased to hear that she has 20/20 vision, but I was even more pleased to hear that her eyes are healthy and that it doesn't look she has inherited any of her father's eye issues. Yearly eye exams for kids under 20 are covered by OHIP and we will definitely be taking her back next year to check on the health of her eyes. The boy will be joining his sister for his first exam before he starts kindergarten, if not before. 

Have you taken your kids to have their eyes examined? Do you have any optometrists you loved in the Ottawa area?

Brie is the mom of a 4 year old daughter “the girl” and 2 old son “the boy”. You can read her blog at Capital Mom.

Snowman-in-a-jar and a teachable moment

by Vicky When I was in teacher's college, I came up with this fun little snowman craft to do with the kids. The bonus was that it  also provided a lesson in how water changes from solid to liquid, and the changes in volume observed. It can easily be done outside of the classroom, and will provide a teachable moment for your kids too!

Here's what you'll need:

-large baby food jars or mason jars -construction paper -glue -any other decorations you'd like to add - googly eyes are fun, so is felt for the snowman's scarf

Leaving the lid off the jar, decorate it to look like a snowman. This is where you can get as creative as you want! Once the glue is dry, take your jar outside and fill it to the top with snow. Put the lid back on, and leave the snowman on the window ledge or table. Come back in a few hours and see what happens!

If you want to take this activity to the next level, you can put the jar back outside and make some observations. Here are some questions you can ask your kids to talk about the changes they observed:

-Where did the snow go? Why did it melt? -What happened to the water in the jar when we put the snowman back outside? -Why do you think the snow filled the jar, but the water only fills half? -Describe the ice. What does it look like? Feel like? -What is ice made of? -How long do you think it will take the ice to melt if we leave it on the table?

For older kids:

-Water is the only substance that exists in liquid, gas and solid states. What are some ways to change water from one state to another? (freeze it, boil it, melt it) -Pour the water from the jar into another container or a bowl and ask your child this: did the ice change its shape when you poured it into this container? Why or why not? -Can you think of anything else that we can pour that will take the same shape of the container? -Pour the water back into the jar. Is there any way that we could change this water back to ice? How? How long do you think it would take?

Good luck and have fun teaching your kids about the changes of state in water!

Vicky is the mom to 4 year old son named Joel and 1 year old daughter named Mieka. You can read her blog at blog Some Kind of Wondermom.