January 2012 Stuff

Here are some of this month's activities, in no particular order.

We went to Swakopmund on the coast of Namibia.  We had a great time playing in the ocean.



Ryan got some tinkertoys for Christmas and the boys LOVED them.  I found some on clearance at kmart.com and got them some more.  What a great toy!  Unfortunately, I don't think the quality is as good at the tinkertoys I had as a kid.   They have changed a few of the pieces, not for the better.  Oh well.

In Swakopmund we went on the living desert tour with Tommy.  Best tour ever!  Here is Tommy bringing Ryan back up a dune to where the vehicle is.  Evidently it was easier to go down than up. :)



In Swakopmund they also had a children's play place for kids to play as much as they wanted for about USD $4 a day per child.  Justin and Ryan both enjoyed these boats.

We went over to Walvis Bay and went for a dolphin and seal cruise.  Unfortunately, Justin appears to get seasick.  Note to self for future trips on the water!

We use dot a dot markers on these coffee filters and then attached them to pipe cleaners for a cheery bouquet.

Justin was exploring weighted numbers with the balance.  Who knew there were so many ways to get to 10?

We sorted things according to size.  I had three different sizes of each object and the boys compared to put them in the right place.

Here are some of the objects we used.

Our yard is incredibly uneven and in a moment of weakness I made an indoor bike course for the boys.  It really helped them figure out how to control their bikes.  Now they can manage better on a bumpy, slanted surface.

We traced things (like our hands) and measured them using nonstandard units of measure such as crayons.

Ryan found this in the scrap box and insisted on doing it.  I cut, he matched and glued.

This month we have been making a lot of games.  Some make more sense than others.  I guess a lot of the fun is in the creation.

For my birthday we went to Na'an ku se Wildlife Sanctuary.  This is one of the animals we got to see.  He and a few friends escaped from Etosha and needed a place to live where they weren't killing farm animals.

Ready, aim, fire!  We shot at targets. 

November 2011 Activities

 I was trying to figure out why I didn't have more pictures for this month.  Then I remembered that my camera got broken and I had to wait for a new one to arrive.

Ryan has been really into his name.  He has been practicing writing the letters.  Here he is with a slate and some letters from Handwriting Without Tears.  He doesn't have a good grasp yet, but he can build letters out of sticks and curves and has an idea of how to form capital letters.

Here is Ryan using a handwriting app that I like.  It is called Write Words.  I like that it requires you to form the letters using the correct formation AND it gives you some leeway, but not too much as to the boundaries.  He is getting good.  I wish Justin had had this when he was Ryan's age.

Lots of walking on our vacation over Thanksgiving weekend.

My boys love boxes.  They don't have any toys you know.

Packaging material is as much fun as the boxes.

Ryan is able to sort by color and size.

Justin's corn cob printing/painting.

Ryan's corn cob printing/painting.

Ryan really likes to get into his painting.  Why use other tools when you have hands available.

Justin doesn't make QUITE as much of a mess with paint as Ryan.

We colored turkeys and then cut them out and put them in order big to small and small to big.

I don't know what happened to the other turkey.  This one is Justin's.