Here are some fun spring articles, pictures, and videos of activities I’ve done with my children over the years.
Posts Tagged ‘spring’
Spring Articles, Pictures, and Videos
Friday, March 9th, 2012First Fishing Trip
Thursday, May 12th, 2011Here are some pictures from my sons’ first fishing trip years ago. My husband and two older sons went to a local lake in the spring and fished off a dock as part of their Cub Scout badge. My sons loved it, especially my second son Stephen. My oldest son said that fishing was just a lot of sitting around and doing nothing.
Last year my husband took one of my sons on a father-son fishing trip, and they had a great time. My husband said it was relaxing and good to spend time with just one kid. Today my husband and son (the one who loves fishing) are off to enjoy another day of fishing. To see a picture album of last year’s fishing trip, click here. My son Stephen also enjoys cooking fish. Here is a picture of him cooking fish last week. He’s grinning from ear to ear.
Painting on an Easel
Tuesday, May 10th, 2011
My children have always enjoyed painting on an easel outside, ever since they could stand up and hold a paintbrush. As they grow older, you can experiment with different kinds of paper. You can clip watercolor paper to the easel, and allow your children to do some watercoloring of a beautiful scene outdoors. You can clip sketch paper to the easel, enabling the child to sketch the scene. You can also go all out and buy a canvas and do oil painting. This is better than watercoloring outdoors, because the watercolors drip if you use a lot of water, whereas the oil paints don’t drip and have a richer color.
You can also do sketches with colored pencils, oil-based crayons, or chalk. I recommend getting bright chalk colors so that your child can see the chalk show up on the paper. Artist chalk is brighter than sidewalk chalk and can be purchased at a local art supply store.
Try going to a local botanical gardens or to a well-known hilltop near where you live, somewhere with a good view. Then sketch out briefly with a pencil the main shapes in the picture. Now paint with the oil paints. You can even wear a French beret while painting, adding to the artistic ambience. Your kids will be growing in their art skills as well as getting fresh air!
Bee Farm
Tuesday, May 10th, 2011
When I was a teacher at a Christian school, I took my class on a field trip to a bee farm. As a homeschool family, you can do the same. You can see first-hand how bee keepers acquire honey from bees.
You might wonder if this field trip is too dangerous for children. If a child is allergic to bees, I suppose it would be dangerous. But no one gets stung if you walk around calmly. Bees do not sting people unless they feel that they are being attacked.
Buying local honey can help your family to overcome allergies to pollen. This is because you are basically inoculating yourself by getting your body used to the local pollen.
This field trip is perfect for homeschool families that are studying insects. Bees are social insects, since they work together in colonies. The hexagonal shape of the honeycomb is also fascinating, since the individual hexagonal shapes fit together so perfectly.
I recommend reading books about bees and watching a few DVD’s from the library about bees before going to see a bee keeper, so that you can get the most out of your field trip.
