Summer’s Here – Have some fun!

It’s hot, muggy (well at least summer is supposed to be.) Are the kid the kids already bored and driving you buggy?  What to do?  We recently asked you for ideas and I’m sharing a few with you here.

Many of you have heard about the Summer Bucket List idea.  Don’t be daunted by it.  Simple ideas can liven up a dreary, long day.  Having the ideas in mind will help you make plans that much easier.  Thank you Gwen Luzader for sharing your family’s list from last summer!

Brianne Cunningham shared a few places and activities her family enjoys:

• Kaleidoscope’s free 40 min. sessions and then playing at Union Station and the toy store in Crown Center
• Deanna Rose (information here)
• OP Arboretum is free on Tuesday’s and is only $1-2 per person on all other days
• setting up a water park in your own yard with a kid pool, sprinkler, and a slip n slide
• going the Shawnee Mission Park man-made beach ($7 a person??)
• free outdoor movies at Crown Center in July (take your own cooler!) (information here)
• free morning movies at the theater at the Legends (information here)
• nature/neighborhood scavenger hunts (here’s a link to one)

We all get comfortable with what is nearby, including our parks, but it would be fun to try new ones.  Here are a few that would be fun for kids of all ages:

 

Antioch Park (about 69th Street and Antioch Rd)  This park has the neatest little town set up for the kids to play in.  The pond is a great size for walking around.  For the adventurous kids there are large “stepping stones” to cross one area.  There is also a good playground area.

 

Black Hoof Park (also known as Lake Lenexa – about 83rd Street and Woodland) This park has a great playground area right by the main entrance that would interest a wide variety of ages.  There are also a couple of other smaller playground areas located near the lake.  The walking trail is long but manageable for the more adventurous.  The walk (if you head north on the trail) doesn’t take too long to reach the dam.  Even my adult children found it interesting to see – especially soon after a rain.

Valley Park (4000 E. 123rd Terrace, Grandview, Missouri) This park looks amazing and Ms. Kari Guinn highly recommends it!  There are rope climbing structures, tube slides, musical instruments, swinging hammocks and more.  This one seems like it is worth the drive!  You can find out more information about it here.

And finally, thanks Megan Bray for sharing this link to a website full of fun ideas!

http://www.kcedventures.com/kids-activity-guide

 

Our Favorite!

I’ve been doing music with the kids each day this week.  To to celebrate our end of the school year  I took a few requests and I was also prepared for a couple of the kids favorites that needed additional supplies.

Surprisingly this simple chant is a favorite:

Two little sausages (hold up two fingers)

Frying in a pan (wiggle both hands)

One went POP (clap hands once in front of your belly)

And the other went BAM! (clap hands high over your head)

We added musical instruments to make the different sounds: jingle bell sticks for sausages, a tambourine for frying in the pan, a triangle for Pop and a drum or tone block for Bam.

This is something you could do at home.  We extended this further by humming the first line (but still playing the instrument) and saying the rest, then again only humming the first two lines, etc.  It is amazing how something as simple has this maintained everyone’s interest.

However, by far, our FAVORITE is Wide Mouthed Bullfrog!

It is written by Keith Faulkner and illustrated by Jonathan Lambert.

This is an endearing little story about a frog that loves to visit with all of his animal friends telling them he eats bugs and then asking them what they eat.  He encounters a bird, a mouse and an alligator.  Again, this seems pretty simple however this book has WONDERFUL pop-up illustrations.

But wait, this is a book and I was writing about our favorite songs.  Maryann Harmon (better known for her music program Music with Mar) wrote a song based on this book.  It does not follow the text exactly but honors the essence of the story.  The song has a wonderful chorus when the wide-mouthed frog introduces himself to the animal friends.  You can find this song to purchase at the bottom of the page here.  Unfortunately the book is out of print but often if you google it you can find one through various sources that carry used books.

I finally remembered to video tape our music time with the afternoon classes yesterday.  Here’s how we enjoy the book and song.  So, turn up the volume and sing along!

(click on the photo to begin the video.)