On Wednesday, the sun shone strong and bright through our windows while the birds sang their morning chorus outside. The weather was nice enough for mid-March, so we opened up all the windows, curtains, and blinds to let in some sunshine and fresh air. Did you know that sun and fresh air are natural disinfectants?
I was determined to spend some time outside, soaking up the sun, once my morning tasks were complete. Social distancing doesn't preclude going outside in areas with low population-density, as long as you keep your distance and refrain from touching surfaces others have touched. My plans for outside were soon dashed, however, by visions of Gerald, Piggie, and Pigeon dancing through our heads.
Gerald & Piggie and Pigeon book series are written and illustrated by Mo Willems. Mo, along with many other celebrities, has generously offered his time to provide something for kids to do while stuck at home during the nationwide school closures as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
My son is a giant Gerald & Piggie fan, and the books were some of the first that he was willing to read on his own, over and over, when he was younger. He was super excited about the opportunity to watch and doodle with Mo Willems, live at lunchtime online. While waiting for the live show to start, he watched one of the recorded versions, and I was impressed with what my son was getting out of it, and his eagerness to draw along with Mo.
Finally, it was time for the live version. The excitement was building, my son was bouncing in his seat (we recommended he go do some jumping jacks to make the time go by faster), and we huddled around the computer to watch with him. Unfortunately, since people all over the world are online now, and all at the same time, things crashed and we weren't able to watch. My son's spirits crashed, too. Fortunately, the Kennedy Center has been posting the videos after they've been recorded live, so we could still participate, but would have to wait until later.
So what do we do when the pigeon breaks the internet? We go OUTSIDE!
As much as we love Mo Willems' books, and appreciate his efforts to help parents entertain and educate their little ones, I was glad we had a reason to put away the internet and get away from the screens for awhile. I am not against technology, screen-time, or the internet, but I do believe that everything is best in moderation. After a day on the computer writing my first blog post, and another day getting set up to work online for my day job and then doing that work, I really wanted to get away from the screen for awhile myself.
Our first task was to fill the bird feeder, which we had been neglecting for the past couple of days. My daughter took on the task, earning herself some chore bucks in the process. (I'll talk about chore bucks more in a future post.) Shortly after, the birds noticed we filled the feeder, so we were able to observe a woodpecker and some grackles who showed up to eat.
My youngest son and I went for a bike ride, lasting until our legs started to get tired (which didn't take that long, honestly), and we headed back home when we noticed that we needed to find the bike pump because our tires were too soft after sitting idle all winter (oops!). We stowed our bikes, then back out we went for a trip around our neighborhood, my son on his scooter and me walking with him.
We waved from a safe distance to some of our neighbors who were also enjoying the fresh air. As we were moving, we chatted the whole time. We noticed an empty lot, and then it started storming. BRAINstorming, that is! We had an idea for a business that could go in the lot, and the rest of our conversation revolved around what the business would look like, what features it would have, etc. It was great to watch my son get so excited about an idea, and express his ideas so creatively. Kids' imaginations are amazing things.
Later, when the sun went into hiding behind the clouds, and we went back inside to warm up, we watched Mo's newest video, which had by then been posted online. Watching the video inspired my son to send an e-mail to Mo, which gave an opportunity to discuss proper e-mail format, spelling, and capitalization. It was a very short e-mail as my youngest doesn't like to write, but he's getting better, and this was a fine opportunity to capture his interest.
It also inspired us to lay out a giant sheet of paper on the kitchen table after dinner, but instead of doodling, we laid down ideas for the business that we had brainstormed earlier. As I wrote notes along one side of the page, my son drew detailed diagrams of what he imagined our business to look like, coming up with even more elements along the way. This occupied him for quite some time, and it was a difficult decision whether to urge him off to bed, or to let him have more and more extended time to work on this project. With no obligations waiting for us in the morning, extending bedtime won out.
I would rather have spent a lot more time outside that day than we did, but the sun stayed hidden and it got too cold for our comfort. We did end up spending some time online, but the screen did not dominate our day. However, our time in the sun inspired me with all the things we could do outside, and I'm looking forward to the next nice day.
What else can we do outside that still maintains social distancing?
Tackle outdoor projects -- Use the downtime to tackle some outdoor projects that you'll have to do sooner or later anyway, and get your kids involved in the process to learn some skills, too. You can do some yard work, raking or cleaning up winter debris. Preparing the garden can be fun, and the kids can help plan out what you're going to grow this year. If you don't have a yard, you could try a windowsill, container, balcony, or patio garden. Washing and cleaning out the car is another possibility, and kids usually love to play with suds and the hose. And you can tackle some larger projects, too, like cleaning out and organizing the garage or garden shed.
Get in touch with nature -- We do a lot of nature study and natural history as part of our learning, especially during the warmer months. This time of year is a great opportunity to look for signs of spring, like flowers popping up from their bulbs, the grass turning greener, and the days getting warmer. You can watch for wildlife, too, from bugs to bears (depending on your location). We have a bird feeder in our back yard, and identify the different species that come to visit us using a bird identification guide. Nature scavenger hunts are always fun. You can learn to identify edible plants and what to do with them. It's still too cold in our neck of the woods to plant seeds outside, but you can do the messy part of planting them in a tray outside, and then bring them inside to care for them and watch them sprout. At night, you can have a backyard camp-out (if it's warm enough where you are), or at least sit outside and check out the stars. You can keep a nature journal or other types of records of what you see on all your explorations and adventures.
Learn about your neighborhood -- Take a walk or bike ride around your neighborhood, and talk about the buildings and other features that you see. Do you know who lives there? Do you know the history of any buildings, when they were built, who built them, and why? What purposes did those buildings used to serve, and what purpose do they serve now?
A photo scavenger hunt can be a fun activity, too, and can draw your attention to different elements of your neighborhood that you may never have noticed before. Can you find specific shapes or colors? Can you find architectural elements, like arches or peaked roofs or Victorian homes? Can you find a house made of bricks, a house made of wood, or a house made of stone? Can you find a tree with a hole in it, a person on a bicycle, or water of some kind? Sometimes making up the list ahead of time with your kids can be just as much fun as searching for things.
Go for a drive -- If you have a car of your own, you can go for a drive. Head to the country and the back roads, if you can. Or check out some streets you don't normally have any reason to drive down. Instead of watching a movie or playing a video game on the drive, sing along together to some of your favorite tunes, or take time to look out the window and talk about what you see. Are there birds or other animals visible? Can you tell what they are? Can you recognize any landmarks? Can you tell what direction you're heading without cheating and looking at the GPS? Do your kids know how to read a road map? If not, going for a drive is a great time to learn.
Do indoor tasks outside instead -- After washing your laundry, instead of putting it in the dryer, hang it up outside to dry. I have fond memories of my childhood, following along behind my mom, handing her clothespins from the bag as she hung the laundry on the line, and chasing my sister through the gaps between the hanging sheets and towels. Lines of laundry on a sunny day also offer a great opportunity to make shadow puppets or play shadow charades. You could also bring a dishpan of dishes outside to wash them, peel potatoes on the porch, or read a book together in a hammock.
Get some exercise -- Outside is a great place for exercise. In addition to walking and riding bikes and scooters, you could try hiking, roller skating, or skateboarding. Jogging, homemade obstacle courses, and outdoor games are great, too. Learning to ride the unicycle is on my younger kids' to-do list. (My oldest son taught himself how to ride the unicycle while playing a kid-size accordion several years ago, and my younger two have been waiting to be tall enough to try it ever since.)
Bring food -- Have a picnic or a backyard barbecue, and have your kids help plan and prepare the meal. Relax outside with a cup of coffee, tea, or cocoa (my favorite) and a good book. On REALLY sunny days, we like to experiment with making solar ovens and seeing which design works the best.
Play! -- Of course, outside is great for playing, and learning, too! With the current health scare, I don't recommend activities like using shared play equipment, or close-contact sports and games like basketball or sardines. What to do instead? Blow bubbles. Play hide and seek. Play with nerf guns or squirt guns. Play pretend. Build a fort. And one of our favorite ways to play outside...
Sidewalk chalk -- Sidewalk chalk is such a versatile tool that I could probably do a whole post just about that. In addition to just drawing pictures on the sidewalk, the potential for games and learning activities using sidewalk chalk is nearly endless. You can trace your shadow, then later you can stand in the same place and see how your shadow has moved, and talk about why that might be. Sidewalk chalk is great for hopscotch, giant games of dots or tic tac toe, start and finish lines for races, and drawing roads and communities for toy cars. Have your child lay down on the sidewalk, and you can trace their whole body, and let them fill in the details of their whole-body self-portrait. You can measure out and mark the distances of REALLY big things, like dinosaurs, blue whales, school buses, and the like. Draw a giant circle using a piece of string as a compass, and then talk about radius, diameter, circumference, and pi. Draw a life-size family tree. You can even take your device outside to watch Mo Willems, and draw your lunchtime doodles big-time with sidewalk chalk!
I hope this post is useful to anyone who finds themselves faced with an online traffic jam on a sunny day. What are your family's favorite outside activities? Let us know in the comments below, and be sure to subscribe to be notified when my next post is published. Stay safe and healthy!