It’s been two years since The Explorers built a fairy house and a year since The Big Explorer created his fairy garden. I guess you could say the idea of fairies isn’t that popular around these parts (except for the Tooth Fairy, of course). But other magical creatures inhabiting our backyard isn’t out of the realm of possibility. The proof? The dragon cave and forest The … [Read more...]
Make & Float Paper Boats
I’ve got to thank Curious George for this one. The Little Explorer’s recent obsession with the book “The Boat Show,” and The Big Explorer’s love of all things science were the perfect combination. When we spotted instructions for making your own paper boat at the back of the book, we all knew we had to try it. The Big Explorer has tinkered with simple origami before and was … [Read more...]
Backyard Movie Night
The first item on our summer fun list to be checked off? Watching a movie in our backyard.It all started when we talked a dear family member into loaning us a digital projector – the key component in pulling off a backyard movie night. Then we set a date, invited friends and picked a film. The night turned out to be such a big hit, we’re hoping it’ll be a new start-of-summer … [Read more...]
Backyard Play Spaces: Dirt Pile
Welcome to the latest addition to our summer backyard play spaces, the dirt pile. I consider this The Explorers’ answer to the mud pie kitchen. Not that they don’t like making the occasional mud pie; they just much prefer running cars and trucks through a pile of dirt.How we made it:Last fall, the hubby did some serious digging in our backyard to replace a space of grass with … [Read more...]
Our Summer Fun List
Last week in my post on gearing up for summer nature fun, I mentioned we were putting the finishing touches on our summer fun list. And since I suspect some of you might be interested in what we’ll be up to in the coming months, I figured I might as well share our list here. Three things I want to point out first. About 95 percent of the items on this list were kid … [Read more...]