Grin N' Bear It

This last month we were able to spend a fabulous week up in Grand Teton National Park and Island Park (just outside of Yellowstone) with my brother and his family! It was so fun! We have boys just about the same age and they are such good buddies! Since we were camping a few of the nights and spending time in the beautiful outdoors, my sister-in-law Caitlin and I decided to plan some fun nature/forest animal activities for them to do while we were up there. 

So I thought I'd share some of these cute ideas that you can do to spice up your camping trip or use for a Forest or Nature-themed Unit. 

Paper Binoculars

These little guys LOVED their paper binoculars and played with them for hours! They were perfect for "spotting wildlife" on a little hike we took. Get instructions on how to make these HERE at andweplay.com! 

Haha, they are such goofballs!

I spy...

Nature Scavenger Hunt

Caitlin put together the cutest little scavenger hunt. She taped a key of things they were supposed to look for onto a paper bag and then the boys could put some of the things they found in the bag.  Her list included things like a pinecone, a leaf, a flower, a rock, a twig, etc. And also some things like animals tracks, a deer, a spider web and so on. 

Click  Here  or Here for some suggestions (and printable versions) of a nature scavenger hunt. 

These boys crack me up!

They were pretty excited about all the things they found. 

Painted Rocks

The boys had fun painting some rocks. You could also paint walking sticks, pinecones or something like that!

Forest Learning Activities

I used ateachingmommy.com to print out some cute forest-themed activities for them to do too to practice counting, sorting, etc. 

 Bear Toast 

This makes an awesome breakfast, lunch or even snack! Just spread a piece of toast with peanut butter to make a face, then use banana slices for a snout and ears and raisins or blueberries for eyes and a nose. 

 Bear Masks

We made bear masks for the boys to wear after reading some of our favorites books about bears (see below).  

Grizzly Discovery Center

For a fun outing we visited the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone to get an up close and personal look at some real life grizzly bears and wolves! 

We got to pet some real bear fur :)

Dad of the Year right here!

Bear Books

We read some fun books about bears too. 

Some other fun camping books:

So often we go places but we don't stop to really SEE and LOOK! I think the best part about doing these activities was how it got our boys thinking about and noticing their surroundings. 


xoxo
Annie

Look Up!

 First of all I have to just give a big shout out and thank you to the lovely ladies of seventhsouth.com for featuring my blog this last week on their site! {For my readers, you have to check out their website if you haven't already! It is filled with the greatest ideas and amazing advice for mamas! You'll love it!}  

I also have to just say how excited I am to get to do this guest post for them about the latest summer unit I did with my little man! (This post will be featured on their website this week!)

The unit my son and I did this last week is one that will always have a special place in my heart. We call it "Lift Up Thine Eyes" and it is all about the sky! So often we forget what an incredibly beautiful and miraculous world we live in. How often do we stop to get lost in the clouds or appreciate the beauty of the night sky? This unit offers us a chance each summer to pause, put down our phones, set other distractions aside and just simply look up.  As we do so, time seems to stand still as we reflect on the breathtaking wonder of God's creations. 

If you're new to my blog, check out my original "Lift Up Thine Eyes" post for details and lots of fun ideas for this unit, including great family home evening ideas!!

Here's just a little look at what we did this year:

Cotton-ball Cloud Pictures

Beckam had fun pasting cotton balls onto blue paper to make puffy clouds! That afternoon we were driving in the car and he suddenly gasped and goes "Mommy!! Look! Clouds!!!!!" He was so excited to see clouds in the sky, just like the ones he had made at home :)

We also took time to cloud gaze several times this week to see how many clouds we could find. 

Outer Space Learning Activities

I love the website ateachingmommy.com. It has free printable learning activities for just about every theme and topic you can think of. It even has toddler versions (Tot Packs) of each of their units that are geared toward young ones. They had great space themed activities that we did:

Sorting Stars by Size

Planet and Constellation Pictures by Number

Planet Matching

Print off the above activities and many more at ateachingmommy.com!

 Painted Sun Catchers

We painted sun-shaped "sun catchers."  They sell these in the craft section at Walmart for .53 cents FYI!

Library Books

 Here are some books we got from our library. Most of them have a lot of text (and really cool facts) so older kids would love them! We mostly just enjoyed the pictures in them and learned about some cool concepts. Beckam learned what a space shuttle,  planet,  constellation, earth, telescope, astronaut and shooting star are! 

           

                            

Check out more book ideas HERE!  

Homemade Telescopes

We made a telescope just by decorating a paper towel tube. A super easy craft that provides hours of entertainment!

Sticker Night Skies

Beckam made his own starry night with star, planet, space ship and alien stickers. (I also got these stickers in the craft section at Walmart.) 

Sleep Out Under the Stars

Our plans to actually go camping were thwarted by wildfires in the State Park where we wanted to go, so my husband set up a tent in our son's room and did an indoor camping trip with him ;)  We didn't get to do much star gazing but he had so much fun!

Night Sky Book

I printed off free coloring pages of a sun, stars, planets, a rocket ship, etc. and let my son make his very own night sky book! 

Challenger Space Center

We took a field trip to the Challenger Space Center here in AZ.  To be honest, I was a little disappointed. The website made it sound like it was a museum totally geared towards kids, and, well, I wouldn't even call it a museum. It was more like administrative offices and classrooms with plaques and pictures in the hallways and some "exhibits" here and there. We did see a few cool things that interested my son though.

He loved the astronaut, or "space robot" as he called it ;)

One of the cool things we saw was a real tire from a Challenger space shuttle. It was neat to think this tire has actually been in outer space!

STAR SONGS

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Catch a Falling Star, by Paul Vance

Swinging on a Star, Jimmy Van Heusen

I am a Like a Star,  LDS Children Songbook

Here are a few other ideas: 

Get instructions on how to make your own HERE!

Get the recipe HERE!

Instructions HERE!

 Check out my previous post for even more fun and F.H.E ideas!

And don't forget . . .

to look up! =)

XOXO

Annie