Outdoor

I received complementary product from Oriental Trading featured in this post. As always, opinions remain 100% my own. Need a quick and easy dessert option for your next party? No matter the birthday party theme or age group of your guests, a Make Your Own S’mores Bar is a guaranteed crowd pleaser.…

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Fujifilm Wonder Photo Shop. All opinions are 100% mine. The world of STEM is fascinating for little learners. And you don’t have to spend a fortune on supplies to share simple science activities for preschoolers at home with your child.…

When your bedtime is before the sun sets, it can be tough to observe the ACTUAL stars. This is the hazard when studying the stars with preschoolers. In How to Catch a Star by Oliver Jeffers, a young boy tries to capture a star from the night sky, only to discover one…

This post was sponsored by P&G as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central. I received complimentary products to facilitate my review. #PGDetailsMatter #IC The kids are out of school for the summer.  And before you even make it to lunch at the end of the first day, the…

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #FreeToBe #CollectiveBias School is out. The kids are home. And before breakfast is done they are clamoring for the day’s entertainment.  With just a few basic supplies, let them be free to compete in their…

Sprinklers. Bush forts. Spitting watermelon seeds. Chasing the ice cream truck.  Playing ‘Colored Eggs’ in the pool. Those are the throwback kids activities for summer I remember from my childhood.  And oh, how memorable they were.  I want to fill my kids’ summers with just as awesome memories.  For the month…

It seems our April showers missed the memo, and continued on throughout most of May… but we finally got outside this week!  And all the rain not only brought flowers, but lots of weeds.  While I enlisted the girls to help me weed, they quickly decided it was far more…

Warmer weather is finally here to stay… and so it’s time to take the Architecture and Engineering for Kids series outdoors! The girls get total credit for this one: who knew race cars could provide such a great engineering lesson? Engineering in Action Baby M got these fun, pull back race cars…

The iconic children’s classic, Make Way for Ducklings, celebrates its 75th anniversary this year. It has inspired a love of ducks in generations of children. And the desire to interact with ducks in public parks everywhere. How many of you went to feed the ducks as a child, and have…

Starting the seeds for our garden on Earth Day is quickly becoming an annual tradition in our family. The wonder and awe the growing process inspires in young children makes gardening even more fun!  To turn our garden into a season-long learning process this year, I created a Preschool Garden…

What better way to celebrate Earth Day than to get your hands in the dirt and start a garden?  That’s exactly what we did last year, when we started our seeds… which launched a whole study of seeds and germination.  This year, we are kicking things off in the garden…

For Earth Day last week, the girls and I read all about plants, grew a little pot of grass seed, and ultimately, started our own vegetable seeds.  They thankfully have begun to sprout, and with that, came a flood of questions from Big M.  How long will the rest take? …

You spend hours filling eggs, creating a diversion to sneak out and hide them all… the egg hunt itself is over in 10-15 minutes tops.  Now what?  Whether you are planning your preschooler’s Easter party at school or need some Easter ideas to burn off those chocolate bunny highs, these…

Blowing bubbles with our homemade bubble solution has been one of the girls’ favorite summer activities.  However, halfway through the summer, our giant Dollar Store bubbles wands are beginning to fall apart.  So this week, I decided to seize upon the girls’ favorite outdoor activity as a learning opportunity with…

Henri Rousseau got his start painting professionally late in life.  He once said he had “no teacher other than nature”.  Taking a page from his book and the beauty that is New England fall, Big M (age 4), Lil’ M (age 2), and I decided to engage in a little…

It’s Friday, and this week, We’re in Love with Leaves!  This is the second week of our weekly link-up party, It’s Friday, We’re In Love!  Each week, one of our 8 co-hosts will share featured ideas we LOVE from that week’s theme… and best of all, the link-ups will remain…

How many of you remember the award-winning, children’s classic Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney?  In this now famous story of the Lupine Lady, a young Alice promises her grandfather that she will do three things in life: go to faraway places, live beside the sea in her old age, and…

TGIF, y’all!  Welcome to another edition of We Love Weekends!  If this is your first time joining us, welcome to Playground Parkbench – I’m Meghan, the Playground Parkbench Guru.  Mom to Big M (almost 4), Lil’ M (almost 2) and M3, coming this Fall.  I write aboutparenting tips, mommy sanity…

If you have ever seen Lil’ M wield a paintbrush, you will understand why we take many of our crafting activities outdoors when weather permits.  At almost 2, she has a fierce independent streak, wants to do it herself, and when I try to help, she gets mad and paint…