It's Raining, It's Pouring

The rain continues to pour down, but believe it or not, I see a sunny weekend in our future! In the meantime, a few of the ways we've been staying dry and happy:

Getting outside when we can - Tuesday morning we woke up to a wet backyard but no immediate rainfall. We took it as a sign to immediately head outside for some fresh air and figured it was a good time for some messy outdoor fun. We filled up spray bottles with a mix of tempera paint and water and took an old white sheet outside for some spray painting.

Sylvie insisted on making a matching pillowcase as well. Since our paints are washable, these went straight into the laundry and are ready for us next time the urge to spray paint hits.
The measly tarp we use to cover our sand table was no match for the rain storms, so Sylvie was delighted to find that her sand table is currently a mud table.

Indoor Scavenger Hunts - Would you believe that thanks to the Internet, parents don't even need to make up their own scavenger hunt lists any more? There is really a scavengerhuntsforkids.com! Sylvie loved their Toddler/Preschool Scavenger Hunt 2, which is a scavenger hunt made in pictures rather than text. She loved it so much that we have been busy on clip art making up more scavenger hunts for her. [Well, I make them with clip art. Her talented father hand draws them for her.]

Animal Charades - I've also been using clip art to make up an animal charades game. I put pictures of animals into a bowl and we take turns getting each other to guess the animal. It's not exactly charades, however, as we allow any means necessary to get the other person to guess. Sylvie took a little time to get the hang of it, for example:

Mama: I walk very slowly. Sometimes I swim in the water. I put my head inside my green shell when I'm scared.

Sylvie: A pig!

Yes, it took us a few rounds, but Sylvie's got the hang of it now and loves Animal Charades.

Music & Dancing - Last week, suffering from burnout from listening to some of Sylvie's favorite music over and over and over again (I'm talking to you, Raffi), I requested some new kid's music at the library. We have been so happy to have some new stuff to sing and dance to around here this week! Our favorite discovery is the Old Town School of Folk Music and their 2 fantastic kids albums, Songs for Wiggleworms and Wiggleworms Love You. They're toddler classics sung with lovely voices and accustic instruments. We are both big Wiggleworm fans. And for dancing, we are loving The Wiggles.

Stay dry, friends! I see sunlight on the horizon.