Mama Pea Pod: {Outdoor Play Blog Hop: Our Week Outdoors - May 27

We've had plenty more thunderstorms this week, and are sadly scheduled to have them for a while longer (fingers crossed for our garden birthday party on Saturday!). But in between the storms, we still managed to get out for some Outdoor Play this week!

Waterlilies in bloom at Millenaris Park

On June 1st it was Children's Day here, so last weekend there were loads of events for kids going on around the city. We met up with some friends and went down to a favourite park where they always have lots of fun children's programs on any given weekend. We figured for sure they'd have something going on for Children's Day - and we were not disappointed! There were games, crafts, music, and even some rides. We never got past the games section and one of the crafts, and we were there for 4 hours! (It was also a great opportunity for me to get some party game ideas!)

This was a knock-down-the-cans-with-a-sock-bean-bag game. Not sure what the dragon head had to do with it, but it was pretty cool - made out of burlap sacks. There seemed to be a fairy tale theme to the games, but I'm not sure which story this game was supposed to be.

This was some kind of steal-the-jewels-from-the-witch-when-she's-not-looking game. Similar to 'What's the time, Mr. Wolf?'

This was a riddle game. You rolled the giant dice and the number corresponded to a riddle you had to solve. This was Princess Pea's favourite.

This was a Frog Prince game. The frog had lost its babies and you had to leap like a frog to go look under the hats to find them all.

Counting the baby frogs they found. There was something with the golden ball, too, but I didn't understand that part of what she said.

This was a really cool craft that I'd never seen before! It was a board with a picture sticker on it. The sticker comes off in individual bits - feet, tail, saddle, body, background, outline, etc. You peel off one bit at a time, then take it to one of the 10 or so tubs of coloured sand they had there. You pour sand on that part and it sticks on. Then you peel off another part and do it in another colour. It was great for all ages, and the finished products actually look quite good! You could do a homemade version by just tracing and shading a picture bit by bit with a glue pen, then pouring coloured sand (or anything else really) onto it.

On the way out, Princess Pea decided to try out some gymnastics. I don't know why, but this made me really happy! It's the first time she's done this, and I guess it reminds me of all the hours I spent twirling round the bars at my school playground as a child. She didn't go all the way round, but she did swing back and forth quite a ways without falling, I was quite impressed!

Our Week Outdoors has been a regular feature here at MPP for a while now. To see my other outdoor play posts, click here.

Now, on to the Outdoor Play blog hop!

Thanks to everyone who participated last week! Lots of fantastic outdoor play ideas were shared! It was really hard to choose a favourite, but this one really impressed me - Let Them Build With Pipes from My Kids Make. This mom took her son shopping for hardware to build his own real pipeline through their back yard! What a mom! What a learning opportunity! And what a fun way to play outdoors!

Now it's your turn to share!

How did your kids play outdoors this week?

Share your outdoor play with us. Here’s just a few guidelines for sharing.

> Any kind of children's outdoor play is welcome. If it happened outside, then please link it up!

> Please do not share any competitions or promotions.

> Please remember to link back to this post and help us spread the word about the importance (and fun!) of outdoor play!

> Each week we will feature an activity from the previous week. By contributing you are giving permission for an image and link to your post to be republished.

Thanks for sharing.