I am delighted to welcome Carolyn from The Pleasantest Thing here today. Carolyn’s blog is filled with creative ideas for kids to play and learn as well as books, crafts and food with an emphasis on fun! You can also find The Pleasantest Thing on Facebook. Thank you so much for being here today Carolyn.
Afternoon Car Races: Simple Together Time
I am thrilled to be guest posting here at One Perfect Day. Today I am sharing a simple activity that has led to countless hours of outside fun with both of my sons (ages 4 1/2 and 1).
One of our favorite ways to spend an afternoon is to bring our toy cars outside, and get down and play together. We frequently set up race courses. These courses are varied, and include tracks scratched in the dirt with a stick, or lining up rocks to create lanes, or marking a path with sidewalk chalk.
I enjoy watching my children setting up these games, waiting for that moment that I see the glimmer in their eye as they decide on their design and begin creating their course. However they create the course- lining up rocks, drawing with sticks or chalk, they are making marks, and using their fine motor skills, without any pressure to do anything other than have fun.
This is their game, and we play it together. I get down on the ground and race and crash with them. To my kids, the races, crashes, and obstacle courses are serious business. I try to give them my full, focused attention. I find that when I wholeheartedly join in on these games, my kids notice and it makes for a special playtime.
These races can be a dirty business, and weather permitting: we finish off with a big (wet) car wash! I get out a bowl and a washcloth, and the boys gather the cars, wiping them off and leaving them to dry in the sun until next time.
Carolyn is a mom to two boys, ages 4 1/2 and 1. She believes play is critical to child development. Her blog, The Pleasantest Thing, focuses on learning and developing imagination through adventure, play, reading, and nature.
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I’ve been wanting to bring the cars outside and set up a course! My son loves to wash them, now we just have to play with them a bit more outside! Great idea!
We’ve been digging around in our mud patch with some construction vehicles but we haven’t tried the obstacle course idea yet. It sounds fun, doesn’t it? So simple yet such great together time.