We explored wind and sun each on their own day this past week, but the list of activities was not particularly robust for either, so I'm combining them to one post. Read below to see how we took advantage (or TRIED to take advantage...) of a week of wild weather.
WIND - Flying a Kite
We had quite a bit of wind this week. Normally - that would probably qualify for an item on my "why it's better to stay inside" list. But since we were exploring weather, I opted to embrace the moderately high winds and take my kiddo outside to experience what it could do.
T has a real kite, but I didn't imagine it would be feasible to get a kite in the air with a toddler in tow and only two hands to do it all. So before going out in the wind, we did a little craft. I gave my toddler a paper bag (lunch sized) and a marker (markers are waaaay more exciting for him than crayons because he can see the fruit of his labor (aka - scribbles) much more easily). After he finished his masterpiece, I punched holes in the four corners of the bag and tied two short pieces of yarn, crisscrossed, one end in each hole.
T has a real kite, but I didn't imagine it would be feasible to get a kite in the air with a toddler in tow and only two hands to do it all. So before going out in the wind, we did a little craft. I gave my toddler a paper bag (lunch sized) and a marker (markers are waaaay more exciting for him than crayons because he can see the fruit of his labor (aka - scribbles) much more easily). After he finished his masterpiece, I punched holes in the four corners of the bag and tied two short pieces of yarn, crisscrossed, one end in each hole.
To reinforce the holes, I used some paper tape around the bottom of the bag. At this point I also attached some tissue paper streamers to make the kite a little more exciting. I cut another fairly large (~8 feet) piece of yarn and tied it at the center of the "X" created by the first two pieces of yarn (see above).
The result was a cute little (ok...maybe it's not so cute) kite that was easy for T to fly on the windy day. Unfortunately, because of the same "only two hands" issue I had with flying a real kite, I was unable to get a picture of the kite in action...but it really did fly well! My toddler had lots of fun watching it fly in the breeze while we talked about how the wind was keeping it up.
We also enjoyed one of T's favorite outdoor activities - blowing bubbles! (or, "bubbies" as he calls them) this was a great time to continue using the word "wind" to talk about what was blowing the bubbles around. It was also a good chance to talk about the concepts of big vs. small and fast vs. slow. At one point the stars aligned and three bubbles were arranged, in order of increasing size, right in front of us on the lawn without popping. Perfect chance to see the difference in size!
We also enjoyed one of T's favorite outdoor activities - blowing bubbles! (or, "bubbies" as he calls them) this was a great time to continue using the word "wind" to talk about what was blowing the bubbles around. It was also a good chance to talk about the concepts of big vs. small and fast vs. slow. At one point the stars aligned and three bubbles were arranged, in order of increasing size, right in front of us on the lawn without popping. Perfect chance to see the difference in size!
SUn Painting
The sun activity was probably our biggest "flop" of the week. We had intended to create a "sun painting" by placing objects (e.g. toys with cool shapes, blocks, foam bath letters, etc) on a piece of dark construction paper and placing the paper out in the sun early in the day. The hope was that the sun would bleach the paper around the objects and leave a cool pattern of darker "shadows" of the objects on the now lighter paper.
It must have stayed put for a little bit, since you could see some of the darker shadows from the object. But it was barely noticeable. I will file this activity away to revisit in a few years on a not so windy day.
- Bummer #1, which I should have anticipated, was that the process of this activity was really not fun for a toddler. It was easy and quick, but he certainly didn't understand the concept of what we were doing and just wanted to play with the toys.
- Bummer #2 was that the day was very windy. I probably should have anticipated the problems this would cause as well. By the time I went to collect our painting, the paper and the objects were all over the yard.
It must have stayed put for a little bit, since you could see some of the darker shadows from the object. But it was barely noticeable. I will file this activity away to revisit in a few years on a not so windy day.