I am pleased to partner with Oak Meadow to bring you this sponsored post on how we welcome summer in our home.
Goodness it has been almost an entire year since we started this series! I have shared with you how we welcome fall, winter, and spring into our home, and today I get to share with you how we are welcoming summer.
In my very first post in this series I shared with you how I have learned that it is the tiny, small things that truly bring me joy. When I discovered Oak Meadow I fell in love with the concept of rhythm. The Oak Meadow curriculum really flows beautifully with the seasons. As we have progressed with our homeschooling I have found that I really embrace the changing seasons fully. We use the start of a new season as a wonderful way to shift our days so we don’t get caught up in the mundane. With the shift to summer, we embrace being outside so much more.
Happy summer! Today is officially our very first day, though thankfully we have had some beautiful summer weather over the last few weeks getting us off to a wonderful start.
Today I am excited to share with you a wonderful summertime activity, tips for gardening with kids, and a summer recipe I cannot wait to try.
One of my favourite Oak Meadow books is, “Crafts for the Early Grades” (I see it is now available in Digital form as well) . The crafts in this book are the purest and best grouping of crafts I have ever come across. Flipping through that books with my little ones is as exciting as Christmas morning!
I am very excited to do this bicycle tire weaving activity this summer. We have been working on patterning a lot lately, and it is proving to be something that is not coming too naturally to my 5 year old. We have had our best luck with physical patterning (especially sewing), so I believe this weaving activity will be excellent for him.
We can begin with the simple pattern of over one, under one, over one, under one. From there we will progress to more challenging patterns: over two, under one, over two, under one. I love how activities like this can be so simply modified to fit every single child’s ability.
One of the reasons we are outside so much in the summer is because of our vegetable garden. We love doing a great big garden each year. This year however, I am having some bad luck!
I always buy new seeds each year and generally only use about half of each package. Thinking ahead, I saved my seeds, kept them in the cool basement carefully all winter, and proudly produced them this spring. I planted them in the garden and we then had a spell of about 8 of the hottest and driest days you could imagine. Even with watering each morning and night, only the green bean seeds sprouted.
Not to be discouraged, I re-planted! We were calling for a good rainy week, perfect for little seedlings. I pulled out the last of the saved seeds and popped them in the garden. Well wouldn’t you know that a family of deer now frequent our garden. I didn’t even know they would do such a thing! But the tell tale signs (and lack of plants) assure me that they do.
So this means so far we have some green bean plants, a few zucchini, and some cucumber trying their best. And it means I will be re-planting yet again and perhaps fence building?!
My very best tips for gardening with little ones is to only do some of the gardening with them. If it is very important to you to have beautiful straight lines of veggies, do that part on your own. If you are worried about little plants getting trampled, work alongside your little one giving her your full attention, saving your hard-labour until you are on your own. My boys love being in the garden with me, but they also love running off to play with the chickens and their bikes giving me lots of time to do my own thing.
A huge realisation for me lately has been that I really like to be in control of things. I like crafts done in a certain order, chores done in a certain way, and my garden tended just so. This is all well and fine for me, but when my little ones are helping I am trying to be more mindful of letting them explore how they want to approach a task and supporting them as they learn what works for them and what doesn’t. Gardening is a wonderful opportunity for kids to learn so many things about nature, science, and themselves.
Another idea is to give children their very own piece of the garden to tend. This was something we had planned to do this year, but due to our gardening difficulty it never happened. I do love this idea though. My boys would plant and weed and water their own little patch of land! Since they are both very much entrepreneurs at the moment, plans were already in place for veggie sales too.
Finally, a delicious summer recipe we plan on using tonight to help us truly welcome summer – campfire cones!
I found this yummy recipe for Campfire Cones over on Hip2Save and have had it pinned on my pinterest board for months. It seems like the perfect kickoff for summer to me. Fruits, marshmallows, and chocolate in a yummy sugar cone? What a treat! These are the things summer moments are made of.
Now that is one heck of a way to kick of the summer! I hope you found an idea or two that puts you in the summertime spirit friend.
I also want to thank Oak Meadow for all they do and for partnering with my today to bring you this post. Please take a moment to pop over to Oak Meadow and learn more about all that they offer. From crafts and supplies, to resources, to curriculum, they are a company I will endorse from the roof tops! It is a beautiful company supporting families and children to live their best lives.
Thank you so much for joining me here and reading today. I will write to you again very soon! Happy summer!
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