Super Mom Summer Series

Ok,  first off I'm soooo not a super mom.  I have friends who are, so I totally know the difference.  However, I'm really trying to kick it up a notch this summer with the Grantser and make the most of our time together.  That being said, I'm going to start posting this series on Saturday's as a way for you all to keep me accountable and on the top of my game. 

One of my good friends posted a link on Facebook about some cool summer curriculum with activities specifically for my area and that's what I plan to follow.  I used it as a jumping off point and created a bunch of activities to go along with it. Here are some of them that Grant and I did this week:

Week One: Bugs!

Buggy Hide and Seek- print off a bunch of pictures of different bugs and hide them around the house for your kids to find.  Grant is 2 1/2 so I printed 6 and hid them in the living room.  He had a blast looking for them.  We talked about all the different bugs then made a picture collage with them.

 

Bug Books- We went to the library and picked out a bunch of different books on bugs to read throughout the week.  Here's a list of a bunch to choose from. Grant and I both learned a whole lot about the Praying Mantis.  Grant's words: "They eat butterflies.  They are not nice." I agree buddy....

Bug Snacks- Ants on a leaf (because who really liked celery???) Grant helped me make these and thought it was a most delicious treat : )

 

Bug Snack Take Two- We made caterpillar treats, which was really just four crackers, covered in Nutella, then layered with a line of marshmallow for the "caterpillar" and raisons for eyes.  Grant inhaled it before I could take a picture.  This idea is much cuter. 

Bug Art- Making bugs, Grant loved this.  I used this pin as inspiration.  We then put them out in our flower bed. : )

 

We digressed pretty quickly....

 



Bug Art, Take Two- I found this site and got a caterpillar coloring page, cut up some tissue paper, put glue on the page and Grant layered the tissue paper in Eric Carle style.

 

 

Bug Scientific Investigation: We the pet store and picked up two crickets for $.34 and I got a magnifying glass at Michael's with a 40% off coupon, then we came home and did some bug investigation.  Grant thought they were pretty cool, then we released them into the "wild."

 

 

We then went and looked for some other bugs in the "wild." We found a cute little lady bug that Grant promptly tried to stomp on after looking at it in the magnifying glass. Boys. Luckily, it flew away.

 



Educational Entertainment: We watched this video on The Life Cycle of the Butterfly.  Fascinating.

 

Bug Movie Night:  We checked out A Bug's Life from the library (seriously, utilize your public library) and watched it for Family Movie Night.

 

Bug Outing:  The Children's Museum has a bug exhibit right now and we plan to go next week with some friends, Grant will love it!

 

All in all, it was a really fun week, it was so nice to have some planned activities to do to make the days fun and pass more quickly.  The hardest thing last summer was the time between afternoon nap and dinner, doing these activities really made the afternoons fun.  Next week is Sand, I'm pretty excited for some of the things we'll do.