It’s time again for another Outdoor Play Party!
I hope that wherever you are, you’re enjoying the same gorgeous weather as we are! Fall is off to a gloriously warm and sunny start, and we’re still spending most of every day outdoors.
Early Tuesday morning, just after 9 a.m., we hopped in the van and hit the town in search of nut trees. My mom had told me the location of a good chestnut tree so that was our first stop, and we were not disappointed!
We arrived to find hundreds of chestnuts scattered all over the yard and sidewalk of a corner lot, just a few minutes from home.
We hopped out, armed with our gift bags and collected oodles of gorgeous, glossy nuts. The tree was absolutely loaded with them, and they were actually falling around us as we gathered ours.
The best are the ones still nestled in their prickly shell. If the shell is cracked, you can carefully pry it a part and pluck the nut out. There’s something so satisfying and rewarding about this process. Because of the sharp spines on the outer shell, the children have to use a very gentle touch and control the placement and movement of their fingers as they open the shell and remove the nut. Their fine motor skills really get put to the test here.
After loading up our bags we hopped back in the van and drove all around town, hoping to find an oak tree that we could collect acorns from, but sadly any oaks that we found had only a couple of acorns underneath it, so we weren’t as lucky with those.
We stopped at several parks (perfect for a play-break), the cemetery and a ball field, but alas, no acorns.
The Hooligans had fun at the ball field, running invisible bases, playing under the giant, fruitless oak tree, climbing the bleachers and and kicking their chestnuts around.
We were out and about for most of the morning, and when we returned home, the Hooligans emptied their bags into a bin and I gave them the scoops and jars and muffin-tins and they sorted and poured while I fixed us a picnic lunch.
There won’t be many days left for eating our lunch under the trees so we’re making most of the warm sunshine while it lasts!
My favourite link-up from our last Outdoor Play Party were these Nature Hike Bracelets by Kid World Citizen!
Such a simple but awesome idea! I can’t wait to make these with the Hooligans!
How have your kids been playing outdoors this week?
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Learning for Life
The Golden Gleam
Kitchen Counter Chronicles
Flights of Whimsy
Happy Hooligans
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Oh my that is a lot of ‘conkers’ – I am so impressed, I love them when they are so shiny too. Looks like Fall has certainly arrived with you. Kierna
Collecting and cracking open fallen chesnuts is so simple, but such a fun learning activity! We’re also jealous of your crisp, Fall day picnic
Those look more like buckeyes from the photos? Looks like fun though!
Must not be near 100 degrees there like it is here today based on the clothes the hooligans are wearing!
We have a peanut butter jar full of different types of seeds my son has collected on his hikes and park visits. Can you think of any projects on your site where we might be able to put them to use?
We’re having a gorgeous fall so far. Mid 70s by afternoon, which is glorious for this time of year. I’d love to have your 100 degrees though!
Your jar of seeds sounds wonderful! Have you thought of using them in a bin for sorting and scooping? I’m not sure how old your son is, but most kids love that kind of thing. You could provide him with scoops, a funnel, interesting containers for him to scoop, pour and fill. That could be one thing that you do with them. You could also recreate a sunflower, where you draw a large circle, and he cuts and glues yellow leaves all around the circle. Then he can fill in that middle circle with seeds, similar to a sunflower.
One more idea would be to simply give him a piece of construction paper and a bottle of glue, and allow him to create a collage? Or you could write the letters of his name in white glue, and have him place seeds all along the letters.
Hopefully some of those ideas sound good to you. We’ve never actually done a craft with seeds, but I’d love to see what you do create with yours. Feel free to link up a photo on my fb page!
Cheers for now! Jackie