We’ve been feeling the coming of Spring for a few weeks now–baby chicks, unseasonably warm weather, and open windows. The cherry blossoms are beginning to bloom and our bird friends have been making their way back to our yard (not the chicken kind).
Around here spring is welcomed with open arms and bare feet.
1. Read outside. We love reading and with Spring’s warm sun peaking through the trees, casting shadows all around it seems the perfect time to take a literary adventure. Not everyone stays to listen, but it’s fun just the same.
2. Have a picnic. Eating outside on a warm day with a light breeze is one of life’s simple joys. We ate dinner outside one night last week and while there was good food and beautiful weather, my husband and I had to switch off and on chasing after little Olivia. She loves to run…mostly toward the driveway and street. It wasn’t an idyllic picnic, but you just roll with it and have fun. {Two years later, and “little Olivia” asks for a picnic every day. :)}
Just watch out for the chickens!
3. Get planting! Plant bulbs, seeds, or seedlings. Or all three. If it’s still too cold to plant outside, start seedlings inside. When our babysitter went on Spring break, we got to babysit her plants and in one she had just planted seeds. I forgot how much fun it is to watch them sprout. In just a week’s time they went from seed to a few inches tall! It makes me want to plant seeds in glass, so we can see the process.
4. Buy a bouquet of flowers to decorate your table. I love flowers. I could have them always and always. About half way through the winter gloom I started making room in our grocery budget to buy a bouquet of flowers every week or so. It’s amazing how such a small, simple change can brighten your day and mood.
5. Hang or make a bird feeder. We live in South Carolina and don’t see much snow, but we did have one good snowfall of nearly a foot this winter and it brought out all the birds. We had a suet feeder hanging for a few months, but with the snow a variety of birds we hadn’t seen before started visiting, from Carolina Wrens to Chickadees and Cardinals to Red-Bellied Woodpecker and a Ruby-Crowned Kinglet. They just kept coming and coming. Now that they know we’ll feed them, many still visit regularly and we’ve become a little bird watching family.
6. Plan a children’s garden. We’ve set aside a section of our yard as the Children’s Garden. We’ve marked it with bricks laid in the ground, and there’s a little child-size bench my dad made, an old shelf we painted together and use as a planter. My parents live on a bit of acreage and brought over logs, tree stumps, and a few large rocks. The kids dig for dinosaurs (Joey’s determined there’s got to be some fossils in our backyard), build together, and take care of their flowers. I got a pinwheel from Hobby Lobby to greet the front of the garden. We have plans to make a natural tic-tac-toe board as well as hopscotch (and possibly a sandbox).
7. Make tin windsocks. One of the decorations we added to the children’s garden was hanging tin windsocks. With lots of Mama’s help, we used a hand drill to drill holes in a tin can and then loped twine on the top to hang it from the branches and tied colorful ribbons (of their choosing) in the holes around the bottom of the can. {These eventually rusted and the string worn too thin and they fell. 🙁 But, they brought a nice bit of color. Last year, we made a shell wind chime and every once in awhile we find wrens perching on it.}
8. Paint outside. What could be easier than painting outside? If you’ve got a bit of grass there’s no mess to worry about! It’ll get cut or wash off with the next mow or rain. We’ve painted old cardboard, wood, rocks, and paper. If you’re in an apartment, perhaps take some watercolors and paper to the park.
9. Go on a nature walk. My kids love playing outside and going on adventures. Before Joey learned to walk, my husband and I would put him in the baby carrier and go on nature walks in our local parks. We’ve called them adventures from the very beginning, so now we’ll take the occasional drive to my parent’s land and go on an adventure in their woods. It’s nice to let the meander along at their own pace. The boys now take along their “adventure boxes,” small wooden chests my mom gave them, and fill them with all their findings–rocks, bark, leaves, etc.
10. Stare at the grass to see how many insects you can find. This was one of my favorite things to do as a kid when the weather was warm. I’d lay in the grass (or on a blanket) and stare into the grass to just watch all the little creatures. Otto and I did this recently and he said, “I don’t see nothing!” but the secret is the longer you wait and sit still them more clearly you’ll see and then you’ll find more and more little creatures. {Or maybe, stare at the clouds and see what shapes you can find.}
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