Outer Space Week (A Simple Summer Theme)

It's hard to imagine that we've already been into the routine of school a few weeks and that these Simple Summer Themes are slipping far behind us.

We were so excited about Outer Space Week, that when the first week was cut short the boys asked me if we could do more - and we extended it to a second week.

The boys are always thrilled to explore activities and projects around Outer Space. They love to play astronaut in the back yard and read books from our outer space book collection. A few years ago we had a blast with Big Brother's Outer Space Birthday Party, and we were able to use a lot of those activities again.  

Astronaut Training Course

The boys always love chances to test their gross motor skills, and the Astronaut Training Course we put together is a perfect activity to do just that!

Obstacles courses of any kind are a great way to create a little fun in the yard, or if you have enough space - inside on a rainy day. Give the Obstacle Course a theme and a have kids complete something at the end - even better! This obstacle course post includes 2 free printables- a training checklist and an astronaut id card at the end! 

Gourd Bowling

I love the sight of miniature gourds as they begin to pile up at our local farm stands and always want to buy oodles of them. This year I finally broke down and bought a bunch so we have plenty for creating fun projects with. With Big Brother's inspiration we've already created some gourd pirates, but we also wanted to do something a little more active with our gourds. This led us to create Gourd Bowling. 

Sum, Say, & Spray Math Game

Living in a rural area means we have limited access to pavement for sidewalk chalk play. So, as I've mentioned before on our facebook page when we know rainy weather is coming we use our deck. The other day we combined chalk play with some fun mathematical learning.

Our materials for the game included chalk, two dice, and a spray bottle. Big Brother loves when we find ways to use the spray bottle, so this game was right up his alley. We used our deck, but this game could also be played on the sidewalk, a basketball court, or a paved driveway. 

Kid Created Obstacle Course

We were really excited to be able to join Emma at P is for Preschooler for the Backyard Games Week series. While Little Brother being under the weather and the actual rainy weather deterred us from doing this earlier in the week, we had a lot of fun with it this weekend.

As a kid I always enjoyed doing obstacle courses, and have set some up for Big Brother in the past. I thought it would be fun to let him create the courses this time.

We love to spend as much time as possible in our large, grassy yard during the summer months and there are several flat spaces perfect for obstacle courses.