I’m seeing signs of fall!  Are you? Cooler nights and warm days make the leaves change color. We’ve got a nice little drizzle going this morning. LOVE fall!  My friend over at TravelingMel.com is getting ready for winter in Montana and embarked on canning projects – looks DELICIOUS. I bought a whole flat of peaches this week just because of her photos!

Guess the Game: Odds and Ends

What would your child do with this pile of odds & ends (considering they are old enough to even have these in their possession)?

My 6 year old daughter kept herself occupied for an hour with this strange assortment.

Can you guess what she played?  Hint: Ask your kids what they would play with these items.

Leave your guess in the comments and I’ll respond with the real game after I get some guesses. (I might even randomly pick one of you for a giveaway or reward!)

Creative kids don’t wait for someone to hand them directions. They just grab available items to create their own crafts. Here are some of the SIMPLE AND CHEAP things I always try to have around the house:

• Loads of recyclables (save those cereal boxes, bottle caps, toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls and egg cartons)
• Air Dry Clay – for special projects
• Construction paper
• Glue sticks
• Kid size scissors
• Buttons
• Pipe cleaners in various colors
• Colored pom-pom’s
• Googly-eyes
• Yarn
• Popsicle sticks (or craft sticks)
• Scotch tape and masking tape
• Washable paints
• Felt
• Hole punch
• Washable markers and crayons

Here’s what they kids came up with COMPLETELY on their own. A clay kitty face:

My daughter has been wanting a hula ensemble – when I didn’t deliver – she came up with this idea on her own. I helped with the yarn, but she had all the pieces cut out and ready for me.

On a play date at the park with a HUGE group of kids, they all decided to make a ladybug habitat! Yes, they actually called it a “Ladybug Habitat” and spent a lot of time making it cozy for the little bug.

Sometimes the kids need a little help with projects. My 9 year old wanted a Zen Rock Garden. So we went to Home Depot and came up with a solution he could help build! He used the saw and the power tools to put it together!

Here’s the finished product:

Of course, my daughter wanted one, too. But she made hers into a beach for her Little Humbug dolls:

Decide what’s age-appropriate and let your creative kids be crafty kids!

Disclosure: Michele is friends with the creator of the Little Humbugs dolls, Marghanita Hughes, but this photo was too cute not to post.

The playgrounds were wet, but the kids wanted to take a walk in the rain.  So we packed up the cocoa in a thermos and headed outdoors with our umbrellas. They told me all the rules about playing in the rain at school: no playing in the sand, no playing on the grass, and no playing on the playground structure since it’s anchored in the sand. The Kindergarten kids are allowed to play on their playground equipment since the surface is bark. They just aren’t allowed to slide down the slides.

That leaves playing tetherball, handball, or just playing on the blacktop “which isn’t much fun” according to my 3rd grader. So here we were at the playground on a rainy day. I didn’t say one word about rules. I didn’t say what they could or couldn’t do. As we sipped our cocoa, they started making up safety rules for themselves. And games!

How can you not want to play on the brightly colored rainbow under the swings? My son created a crazy Follow the Leader style game which he very deliberately named Color Jumping. We followed him — and his directions — to jump, hop, spin, run backwards, twirl, leap, and zig-zag across the colorful surface.

• “Start on red, then hop on one foot to green without touching the purple.”
• “Jump on every other color until you get to blue.”
• “Run, but don’t touch yellow.”

Get the idea?  Your kids can go crazy with this.

In between all the action we noticed the different details of a wet playground. The lack of leaves on the trees. The flooded tree wells and lawn area. Earthworms saturated in the sidewalk cracks. The birds catching the stranded worms. And this abandoned sandbox shovel filled with rain water.

The kids never would have pursued this on a sunny day, so it was fun for me to watch their creativity come into play. Visit NatureRocks.org to find other ways to get outside and into nature.

If I didn’t have a parks and outdoor play blog, I’d write a book blog. I absolutely love books! I wrote about a few other choices in Mice Can Be Heroes. The following are sure to give you some outdoor inspiration.

Have you ever read a Mo Willem book to your child? Mo Willem wrote Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale. He sneaks in lots of hilarity for the grown-ups. So give this one a try: Are You Ready to Play Outside? (An Elephant and Piggie Book).

I couldn’t resist buying The Curious Garden by Peter Brown at last year’s Scholastic Book Fair. I value books where I can look at the same illustrations over and over, but find something different or get a different feeling every time. The Curious Garden doesn’t disappoint.

So whether you order them from Amazon or check them out at the library . . . Enjoy!

And have a Happy New Year!

*This post contains third party affiliate links. Read our full disclosure policy.

Rain doesn’t stop us from getting outdoors. Didn’t you love to play in the rain when you were young? Remember my 10-Day Rainy Play Plan? Then we went tidepooling! [Important Note: I've heard through the grapevine that Aliso Beach incurred lots of damage right after our tidepooling adventure. Much of the sand washed out and the creek mouth expanded. Use caution.]

I’m a Nature Rocks Ambassador and I run a Nature Play Club for families. A few of our monthly outings this year met with wet weather. We embrace all kinds of weather. It teaches us about nature. In October, we enjoyed a misty campfire at the beach. For December, we scheduled tidepooling at Crystal Cove State Beach. Once we learned it would rain, we decided to hit Aliso Beach Park instead so we wouldn’t have to navigate the stairs at Crystal Cove. Aliso is awesome, because you can just step out of your car and be here:

The rain was, again, more a mist and didn’t really make a dent in our fun. We still found starfish:

We saw mussels and barnacles:

We were careful not to step on anemones or damage any of the wildlife growing on the rocks.

We even spotted dolphins playing in the waves. There were flocks of seagulls on the sand and pelicans flying in V-formation. We found shells and rocks. The kids climbed rocks, balanced between the tidepools, and ran in the sand. They built an arch with bamboo that had washed ashore. It was 2 hours of pure fun and we only got a little wet. Who knows what you’ll see when you head out on a family adventure?

Tips for a Rainy Day Tidepooling Adventure:

-Dress for the weather.
-Check the tides before you go (arrive about an hour before the low tide mark).
-ALWAYS keep your eye on the ocean – watch for waves.
-Use caution on slippery rocks.
-Don’t collect or step on wildlife – “Leave No Trace.”
-Look closely – tidepool treasures are often small. Be patient.
-Bring towels and a change of clothes for the kids.
-Consider bringing a Thermos of hot cocoa for a special treat.

Visit NatureRocks.org to download their free winter activity guide.

Laguna Beach