My boys are huge fans of tree climbing, and I am a big proponent of letting them climb. Over the years they both grown in their proficiency and daring as climbers. While I often find need to remind myself not to let my own worries – unless there’s a genuine safety issue, of course – get in the way of their learning, I remain a big advocate of letting them climb.… Continue reading
movement
9 Things Learned by Climbing Trees
I know that tree climbing can be a controversial practice. I know this mostly because of the dirty looks I receive when I’m sitting at the park and I allow my boys to climb the trees (well, my 6-year-old actually climbs high into trees; the 2-year-old generally hugs the trunk from the ground and yells, “Climb tree! Climb tree!”).
When I receive these looks, sometimes I smile and wave – pretending the other mothers are not giving me the evil eye, most of the time I ignore them, and every once in a rare while, I rehearse what I might say if they asked me about why I let my boys climb trees.… Continue reading
Get Moving: Go to the Park
After a couple of days of rain, my boys and I were ready to get outside and get our bodies moving. When I asked them what they wanted to do, they both exclaimed that they wanted to go to the park. So we grabbed our water bottles (see HERE) and some snacks, and we headed off to their favorite park.… Continue reading
Get Moving: Go Fly a Kite
We’ve been trying for weeks to go kite flying. We’ve had our kite ready to go. We’ve had several afternoon playdates scheduled with friends at an open park that would be great for kite flying. We’ve even practiced running the kite around our yard (though not too much – we have far too many trees to be a good yard for flying a kite).… Continue reading
Get Moving: Play in the Rain
We’ve had a very wet spring here in the Colorado Rockies. It’s rained and rained and snowed and rained. My boys love to be outside, no matter the weather. But when it’s hovering in the 40s and wet, it feels really cold to me, and even my two boys get chilled more quickly than usual.
That said, things go more smoothly in our house if everyone gets outside every day.… Continue reading
Get Moving: Play Hopscotch
This afternoon my 6-year-old wanted to play hopscotch. So we all headed outside and proceeded to draw a hopscotch course on our patio. Once it was complete, my two boys and I all took turns hopping back and forth up and down the course. We did the course with one foot, with two feet, with all left foot jumps, with all right foot jumps, and even tried jumping through it backwards (though it was hard to avoid the lines that way).… Continue reading