Dinosaur Sensory Bin

Remember that little dinosaur obsession Eva developed two years ago?  Well it's still going strong.  It's amazing how much dino info a four year old brain can hold!  This past week Eva was pretty sick so we were home bound and getting a little squirrelly.  Hours upon hours of pretending to be dinosaurs and playing with dinosaur toys can get monotonous so to shake things up we created a dinosaur museum.

The sensory bin became a paleontology dig, filled with various dried beans, rocks and dinosaur skeletons.  (I found five different packs of two at the Dollar Store.)  Eva carefully digs them out and cleans them off.

Then she looks through her dinosaur cards (a Target Dollar Spot find a few years ago) and matches the skeleton to its info.

We also made a display that allows Eva to sort her toy dinos into groups- Sauropods, Theropods, Stegosaurs, Ornithopods, Ankylosaurs, Ceratopsians and Other Reptiles.

She also added some pictures she's drawn lately of dinosaurs.  

Now every morning, the first thing Eva does upon waking is setting up her museum.  Stop on by, she loves giving tours!

Valentines for the Birds

The other day (when there was still snow on the ground) we decided to make Valentines for the birds.  I cut out hearts from some cardboard and Eva turned them into treats by spreading shortening on them and then sprinkling on bird seed.

We added some ribbon for hanging and then went out to decorate a tree with them.

Eva helped by sprinkling some of the extra seed around the tree for the birds (and squirrels).

Seeing as they disappeared from the tree that night, either we have some very hungry (and strong) birds or some other critters got a little treat.  All that matters is there are a few less hungry animals in our neighborhood!

Snowflake Decor

We haven't had much snow here this year so the other day we decided to make our own snow- snowflakes that is!

I folded coffee filters and then Eva took snips out of them in various places.  Her favorite thing was cutting off the corners.  We even broke out the hole punch and made a few snowflakes using them.  After making a bunch I taped some yarn to them and we suspended them around our dining room window.  Now we can have snow even when it's rainy or sunny outside.

Outdoor Play Every Day

We have joined up with our friends at Greening Sam and Avery and pledged to get outside every day this year.  The weather has definitely been working in our favor!  The first half of January was extremely mild for us (especially since we live in the city that ranked number 2 in the nation for most snowfall each year!).  Eva has been riding her tricycle and even having snack outside.

We knew we couldn't avoid the snow forever and now that it's here, we are still out playing!  We've been taking hikes in our neighborhood park, sledding, and making tons of snow angels.

We even built a fire in our fire pit one night and toasted marshmallows by the light of the moon.

Want to join us in our pledge to get outside every day?  Stop by Greening Sam and Avery (today Abbie is hosting a link-up if you have some outdoor fun to share) and let's play outside every day!