The two youngest have been asking for days to go to the playground, but the temps this past week have been in the burning hot range of 80-90 degrees.  Today has been mix of sunny and breezy, so it was finally the right weather to go.  Earlier this afternoon, we gathered up water, hats, and a picnic lunch and headed to the playground. The kids were so excited!!

After eating lunch and playing in the sun for awhile, we decided to cool off under a shady patch of Pinetrees. On the ground under the trees lay dozens of Pinecones.  My two little ones thought they looked fun to collect and play with.  They were quite resourceful and discovered that they could collect more at once using their hats to gather them up.  Papa later gave them each a shopping bag to collect the Pinecones in which made it easier to carry many at once.


My daughter, aged 4, pretended to put the baby Pinecones to bed in her hat. Her brother, aged two, loves to count things, so he spent time lining them up and counting how many he had collected.  They played with the Pinecones until they were cooled off and ready to climb and run around again.

I love how much fun they had playing in and with nature. It goes to show that the best things in life are truly free.  I also think today's family outing proved to be a success. Not only did they get to run around and move their bodies, they also did some imaginative play and even some counting too! Hopefully we can do this again soon!

There are always natural items just laying around on the ground.  What do your kids gravitate towards in nature and how do they play with them? Do you have a favorite outdoor space to take your kids?

The littles and I were playing in the yard earlier; and I started to admire all the mushrooms and wildflowers growing in our yard.  I instantly got inspired to setup a nature painting activity for them.

I setup a kid-sized table outside, with poster board, fingerpaints, and assorted wildflowers and mushrooms. It got really windy, so we moved the art fun into the garage.  My daughter got right to work making her masterpiece.  It was fun to watch what she chose to work with and how. I left it up to her to choose.

Little brother got in on the fun as well.  He mostly explored the paint.  He also pulled the paper off the table a few times too. Lol!

If you are worried about little ones sampling the mushrooms...you could use mushrooms bought in the produce section at the grocery store.

This fun art activity could be changed up by using seasonal produce, like apples. It's a fun way to tie in food and foraging with nature and art.  Just another way to get kids excited about food and nature.



Do you do nature art with your kids?  Please share in the comments.