A Fall Day at the Beach

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Today we woke up to the first dry morning we’ve had in days… So though we already had plans for a lovely indoor day, we put them on hold, layered up, and headed down to the beach for a morning of fresh ocean air. It’s been quite a while since our last beach day, but our routine little lady didn’t skip a beat. Our visit went as all of them do – playground time, a walk to Starbucks for a hot drink, actual beach time to collect treasures in the sand and dip our toes in the ocean, and then back to the playground for a second round of play before heading home for lunch and a nap.

Here is our morning in photos…

Uncovering treasures in the sand pit.

Cashews and a steamed milk while making friends through the window.

Driftwood collector.

“Mama takes a picture of Grae!”

“A little bit farther?”

Running from waves.

“Here birdie. Have dis green leaf.”

Sand drawings.

Water watching.

Admiring our autumn-coloured city.

Hand wash.

“No almost time for home. Grae Grae naps on the log!”

“It’s cooooooomforble, Mama.”

Suddenly she can do this.

“Spin it, Mama! Spin it!”

Little adventurer. (She climbed to the very top of this play structure and went down the giant tube slide all by herself. THREE times.)

♥

Pumpkin Seed Sorting

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This little activity just came about organically. Gracen and I were scooping out the insides of a pumpkin and she began collecting all of the seeds and carefully placing them in a neat pile off to the side.

A couple of bowls, some “tools”, and a tray later, and she had herself her very own sorting station.

Though she could have collected the seeds much more quickly using her hands, she really liked the challenge of getting underneath the slippery little seeds and scooping them up into her spoons. Great sensory play and fine motor skill development all in one {totally unplanned} activity? Yes please.

She even took the fun one step further and sampled a raw, goop-covered seed. She slowly nodded her head and said, “Mmmmm… Yummy”, but her little scrunched nose and furrowed brow told me she felt otherwise. ☺

♥

Autumn Nature Shelf

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Over the course of the last week, Gracen has been very into collecting “autumn sings (things)”. At first, I thought we’d use the items to make a couple of art projects and a sensory bin (which we did), but the collection grew so quickly and became so diverse that I decided a special area to display and admire her beautiful nature items was needed.

So this morning, we started out by taking down Grae’s beloved {pretend play} frozen yogurt shop and making room for a new nature display. At first, I thought we’d use the same little table we had used for the shop, but just as I was thinking it would be nice to have something more like a long skinny coffee table, these vintage apple crates came to mind (they are actually the very boxes Grandma Charlotte’s family received apples in when she was a little girl!) They couldn’t have fit the space better and not only does their rustic charm suit a nature table perfectly, but when stacked on their sides, they provide extra storage space by turning into shelves.

Grae and I started emptying our bags and filling up the shelves (being the little organizer she is, she of course wanted all similar items together, so I was very lucky to be granted permission to split up the apples/corn/pinecones into a couple of different areas). As she started to try and stand her tree branches upright along the wall, I realized that Great Great Grandma Amy’s vintage mason jars would display them beautifully.

Our items came from a variety of spots… Most of the leaves, branches, and twigs were found while walking around visiting parks in our neighbourhood in Vancouver. The baby pumpkin and dried corn were found on our most recent trip to Davison Orchards. The pinecones were picked in Grandma Charlotte and Poppop’s front yard, and the dried flowers and berry bunches were found in the back. Grandma Charlotte and Grae retrieved the cat tails and birch bark while out on a walk, and the new apples were snagged from a big box in GC and Poppop’s garage. ☺

When we were all done emptying and arranging, the end result was a cute little autumn-inspired corner in G’s room where she is free to explore nature at any time.

So far, she seems to enjoy rearranging her items and reading in front of the shelf most.

Knowing our little nature lover, I’m thinking this collection will continue to grow as the season progresses. And we just may have to start fresh and create a new one come winter…

♥

I know not everyone would feel comfortable having glass jars and/or inedible berries within their little one(s) reach. Please only do what you are comfortable with.

Fall Fun: Apple Stamping

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After our awesome magic milk paint experiment today, Gracen and I took advantage of the overwhelming amount of apple pears our tree has this year and did something that reminds me of making homemade gift wrap as a child… Apple stamping.

Needing to dedicate a day (or an afternoon at the very least) to picking the ridiculous amount fruit our tree is currently carrying, much of our backyard currently looks like this. Sadly, once they’ve fallen to the cement pad, most of the apples are left badly bruised, a little mushy, and not all that great for eating purposes.

So today, while we were picking them up and putting them in the compost, we saved a few of the better ones to use for stamping purposes. Grae picked two “baby” apples and one “biiiiiiig” apple for the project, and then we collected a roll of art paper, some paint, and a knife (for Mama’s use only of course).

I chopped the apples both vertically and horizontally, trying to get rid of the really yucky parts and keep the more decent parts all at once. As you can see, some of these are still pretty yucky, but that doesn’t really matter when you’re just using them for stamping.

Grae got started right away – dunking and stamping, dunking and stamping, again and again.

Stamping of this sort often has better results when the paint it brushed onto the object, but since dunking the apples into the paint is much easier, and let’s face it – more fun, we just went with that technique. Grae didn’t seem to mind one bit.

The end result {besides a toddler with multicoloured hands}? A beautiful masterpiece that could be hung and displayed or used to wrap a fall gift.

♥