Preschool Corner: Daddy’s birthday party

Or, how to get thoroughly soaked while playing in the water and building a dam.

But, I thought that title was probably a little too long.

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We met up with some friends for a picnic lunch to celebrate Jeff’s birthday at my favorite park, or one of my two favorite parks.

We got there to discover the playground was closed due to flood damage (and boy was there a lot of it, apparently that little creek rose about 10-15 feet, flooding about 30 yards away from the river and displacing some benches that had been sunk in concrete).011

But, I digress.   The other family’s kids started building a dam and my kids happily helped while trying to figure out such lessons like, how to stop the water.  How big a rock can I carry.

009And the personally most entertaining to me.  Superman’s quest to figure out how he could clean his feet without taking his boots off.

We’d outlawed that after discovering a large amount of broken glass.  We also had to outlaw the picking up of said broken glass, or clutching it tightly in your fist, Princess.  No really, it’s a bad plan.

He solved this problem by scooping up handfuls of water and pouring it into his boots.  He literally sloshed when he walked.  You could see the water splashing out.  But, it was a creative way to solve his problem.

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It was interesting to see how older kids effect what my kids try to do.  Previously they hadn’t really shown much interest in building dams or creating a new tributary (as they are trying to do in this picture), but after seeing the other kids try they got very involved in the process.

Princess was inspired by their daughter to search for shells, and discovered a wide variety of fresh water clam shells.  Is it really a clam when it’s a square inch shell?  Probably, but it’s miniscule.

Which of course leads to fun discussions about what you can find in the river, and what is and isn’t a good idea to touch.

026So, all in all, it was  a smashing success of a party.  The parents had a blast talking together, and the kids got to have all sorts of fun sensory experiences and problem solving time.

And any party ending with ice cream is a good one, just ask Batman.

And for my future memory.  Batman is wearing the collared shirt and Iron Man boots.  superman has the non-collared shirt and camo boots (his soldier boots).  And someday I will get to be in pictures.  That’s one thing I dislike about being the photo person.  I’m never in any pictures.  Oh well.  Of course the birthday boy didn’t get to be in too many either.  Note to self, work on group shots and getting pictures of adults.

And thank you very much to Myrnie who pointed out to me that I had mispelled a rather unfortunate word that I used several times……. Sigh, my bad.  Hopefully, I caught all of those mistakes, thanks for emailing me that.


Comments

8 responses to “Preschool Corner: Daddy’s birthday party”

  1. And hopefully I got that error corrected before too many of you read that.

  2. An Almost Unschooling Mom Avatar
    An Almost Unschooling Mom

    You fixed it before I read it 🙂

  3. Annette W. Avatar
    Annette W.

    Happy birthday!

    Yeah…even when my husband takes pictures of “us” usually he ignores me and cuts me off. The poor kids won't know what their mama looked like before she was old and gray. (Well, I'm not young and grayless, but you understand.)

  4. I didn't note any spelling errors so I guess you caught it before I got here.

    I am always the photographer too.

    Christianne from Little Page Turners posted something about taking pictures of yourself with your kids at least once a month a while back. She mentioned a woman that did this and then passed away; her children were left with all of these great photos with their mom. I am not sure if I have the facts right. Anyway, I keep saying I'm going to do this, but I haven't.

  5. It is so much fun to see the affect older children have on our younger ones, so long as it is positive affects.

  6. I love when they learn good things from older kids! I hate having my picture taken, but have learned to accept it now that I have a little one. I want him to remember that I wasn't all bad and that we did fun things together when he's older and hates me…

  7. I know that Anna would have loved to be in this birthday party and play with a “real dam”. It looks like so much fun. I agree – big kids can be great teachers (or not depending on the subject matter). I haven't had my picture taken in more than a month, I really need to ask my husband to take a few of us together this weekend.

  8. MaryAnne Avatar
    MaryAnne

    You fixed it before I read it, too =)

    Your posts are awesome, you always make me laugh. Thank you!

    My kids grow by leaps and bounds after playing with older kids, too.

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