Spring in Kentucky

Blog Squad @ Kids Matter

Welcome to a beautiful spring with its stunning and inviting color palette. Please join us as we journey through a virtual tour of Kentucky in spring. 

Photos courtesy of Debbie G., Elisha C., Kayla C., Nancy D., Belinda D., Mary G., Melissa B., Melissa W., Melissa R., Robin R., Shelly S., and Terry P. 

“Spring makes its own statement, so loud and clear that the gardener seems to be only one of the instruments, not the composer.”  Geoffrey B. Charlesworth

“In the spring I have counted one hundred and thirty-six different kinds of weather inside of four and twenty hours.” Mark Twain

“I think that no matter how old or infirm I may become, I will always plant a large garden in the spring.  Who can resist the feelings of hope and joy that one gets from participating in nature's rebirth?”  Edward Giobbi

“The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another.  The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month.”  Henry Van Dyke

“April hath put a spirit of youth in everything.” William Shakespeare

“If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.”  Anne Bradstreet

     “Spring is when life's alive in everything.”  Christina Rossetti

5 Things to Prepare for Spring

5 Things to Prepare for Spring

Belinda @ Kids Matter

Are you getting excited about spring? Me too!! Come take a relaxing journey with me through Spring in Bloom. Ah the last view of the snow covered caps of the mountain, the gentle babbling brooks, the bold and brilliant colors, spring storms pelting rhythmically on the ground, and such wonderful fragrance filling the air. I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did. Now, it’s time to get busy with our spring to-do list.

Spring officially makes her entry March 20^th but don’t forget to spring those clocks forward March 9^th. I’m introducing spring a little early so we can have this to-do list knocked out before its arrival. We don’t want to waste a minute of the beauty that spring brings. We have so many things to look forward to… long walks through nature, biking, sitting on the porch with a nice hot cup of coffee watching the sunrise and set, planting gardens, gathering wild flowers, and the list goes on and on. So, let’s knock this work out right now.

1.      Spring cleaning on the inside. Don’t try to tackle the house as a whole, break it down room by room. Set a date for each room and use it to focus solely on that room. At the end of the day you will see great progress and pick up ideas to help the process in the remaining rooms. Have your cleaning tools prepared before tackling the chores and don’t forget your organizational equipment… boxes, bags, totes, crates, tubs, and bins. “A place for everything and everything in its place,” is one of my favorite sayings.

2.      Winter to summer clothing exchange. Many people change out their clothing storage in spring and fall. That’s a great time to get rid of torn, tattered, or clothing that no longer fits. Keep a box or bag handy for clothes you want to donate to your favorite charity. This task can be incorporated into the spring cleaning and you are knocking out two for one. As you put your winter clothes in storage, try placing a dryer sheet in with the clothing. Come fall, when you take them out, they will smell nice and fresh.

3.      Spring cleaning the outside. If you are lucky, you have the fold in windows for easy cleaning and can do those as you do the interior cleaning. For those of us unlucky folks, we must attempt this feat from outside and possibly on a ladder to reach those uppermost corners. Be safety minded and careful at all times when using a ladder. While cleaning the windows, it’s also a good time to check the seal around each window. Properly sealed windows are a must to prevent the deterioration of wood inside the house. If you have a power washer, they are great tools for spring cleaning the exterior of your home. If not, a garden hose will work, with a little manpower behind it. As you make your way around the house, look for repairs that may need attention.

4.      Preparing the yard for greatest impact. Remove all trash, broken limbs, and damaged lawn furniture. Spruce up the patio with a good cleaning and decorate with vibrantly colored seasonal ornamentation showcasing the new season. Prepare your yard for new growth with seeding where needed, along with an application of lawn fertilizer. Wait until after the last freeze to plant those beautiful new flowers.

5.      Preparing the grill. What would warm temps be without that first grand cookout? It’s time to celebrate winter’s departure. Give the grill a good cleaning inside and out. Check out Real Simple for tips on cleaning your grill.

Now that you have all of your cleaning done… celebrate spring! Spend quality time with your family while enjoying the great outdoors. Appreciate the beauty of nature. Relax in the sounds of spring and breathe in the freshness of it all. Happy spring to you!

Monday Meanderings - Nature

Last week we started touching on getting kids out in nature. This week I am including links to gardening with kids. We grow a variety of plants and my son loves it! I can also get him to try more vegetables, if he has a hand in growing them and picking them.

The Micro Gardener has a great story about a "Jack and the Beanstalk" themed garden. My son loved green beans, then he hated green beans and after eating some raw, straight from the garden, he is back to loving green beans. Give this a try!

What is that? You say that you have no space for a garden? Nonsense! Here is a great garden that Life on the Balcony made from a pallet! I love this, it takes up almost no space and is sitting on an apartment balcony.

Planet Pals has a great list of recyclable seedling containers. I love the eggshells! You could then plant the eggshells directly into the ground when the seedlings are ready to be transplanted. As I am putting the eggshells in the ground, I would probably crack the bottoms a little to give the roots a start on working their way out. While you are on their website, be sure to check out all the great recycling ideas.

I was on HGTV's website recently and saw this great pizza garden. This is a pretty large garden, but you could also do this in a big round oak barrel. It is rare for a child to not like pizza, so this is almost always a home run!

Teach your kids how to garden!

Monday Meanderings - April Showers

Well, April has finally arrived and with the coming of April, we welcome in flowers and sunshine. Do you garden at your home? I have found numerous projects that you can do with your kids to get them out in nature. In order to appreciate nature, a child has to be involved in nature. Here are some projects to get you started.

First up is Burgh Baby with an absolutely adorable Fairy Garden. I spent a summer working in a garden center and the owner made lots of fairy gardens and even offered classes for kids. It is pretty easy. You can find a container, or just a section of your yard. Then you can build your houses, or buy small birdhouses. I have even made fairy houses out of the small single serving milk containers. Decorate any way you want, and then go to the garden center and buy small plants. I love the way Burgh Baby glued pennies on the roof of her fairy home, for good luck. I also love her fairy swing in the tree! This is a great activity for kids to scour your yard for fairy goodies like pieces of bark, twigs, twine, seashells and so much more.

Do your kids love to water the plants? My son does, but sometimes he drowns delicate plants with the force of the water hose. Need a solution? Try out the Thumb Waterer from Fun in the Making. This can be made from recycled containers (be sure to clean them well first). You can even offer up a history lesson!

Seasonal Gnome made a beautiful garden loom. This is not only great for getting outside with nature but can really encourage fine motor skill with the weaving of items into the loom. It is also inexpensive since you scavenge the wood and then you just need twine.

My favorite is this post from Artful Adventures. Have you heard of Land Art? It is amazing. You go outside, round up some of your favorite items like leaves, blossoms, stems, rocks, etc. and then you arrange them into art. I love this fish scene. I have been on hikes before and you suddenly stumble upon a Land Art project that someone created and left. It is shocking and beautiful. Get outside and create some Land Art with your kids!

Get outside and enjoy the weather with your family! Our next Monday Meanderings will again involve getting outside with your kids.

Bird Cameras

After I posted about the bird activities this past Monday, I started thinking about the bird videos that I used to check in on now and then. I started searching and I found a few great videos. My favorite website was Birdcam by Xcel Energy. Xcel Energy is a power company that installed these cameras around their plants. They have several different cameras and birds featured, including Bald Eagles, Falcons, Kestrels, Ospreys and Owls. The eagles and owls have already begun nesting for the season and you can see their daily behavior on the videos. The falcons, osprey's and kestrels will not begin nesting until a bit later.

Take a few minutes to relax, sit down with your child and introduce them to birding. It is not going to be a regular daily event to see these birds up close and personal, like you can in these videos.

Monday Meanderings - Birds

When it is time for Spring to arrive, my mind turns to birds. The birds start arriving from their "winter homes" and the immediately start settling in and building nests. To celebrate this, I thought we would focus on some bird activities this week.

First we have the blog, Whatever, with an adorable bird in a nest craft. I love the use of a paper plate for the entire background. I also like the fact that they used multiple items to make the nests, just like a bird would.

Here is a link to Colorado State Parks, where they teach you how to make a bird bath with a wreath and a plant saucer.

Want to make a bird feeder? Here is a great one made with Popsicle sticks. This idea comes from Tonya Staab.

Tuesday Teaching - Fine Motor Skills

Making Seed Tapes!

Well, Spring is going strong around here and we have had so much rain that we have not even been able to plant seeds or flowers outside yet. Since I had some seeds sitting on the table and I wanted my son to help me plant them I thought it would be a great time to work on his fine motor skills.

You can sometimes buy pre-made seep tapes but often times they will also contain some weed seeds. It is a breeze and very inexpensive to make your own custom seed tapes though.

Supplies:
Flower, Vegetable or Herb seed packets of your choosing
Paper towels or newspaper, cut into strips about 1 inch wide
Flour - very small amount needed
Water - very small amount needed
Cotton swabs
Wax paper

Put a small amount of flour (about a spoonful) of flour into a small bowl. Add a small amount of water and stir to get the lumps out. You are looking for a glue like consistency. We did use our little whisk to get the lumps out. Once you have that ready, open up your first packet of seeds.

Lay a piece of wax paper over the surface that you will be working on to keep your seed tapes from sticking to the table surface. Read the seed packet to see how far apart your seeds should be planted. I show my son this distance but he gets excited and does not always stick to the recommendation but that is okay. Now use the cotton swab and dip it into the flour glue. Dab it onto the paper towel. You do not need a lot of flour glue for the seeds to stick, less is better. Once you have a glue spot, lay a seed on top. Repeat this for all of your seeds.

We used Red Cypress Vine, White Cypress Vine and Passionflower seeds with no big problems. The Poppy seeds however were TINY! What we did with those is I would just have my son push his finger down into the seeds and the ones that stuck to his finger would be put on each flour glue spot. As you can see, there are several on each flour glue spot but there was no other way for him to get the seeds on the seed tape.

Once you have done all of your seeds, label them somehow. I used a Sharpie and it was hard to write on my paper towel but it is good enough for me to remember for a day or two. Now let the seed tapes dry. Once they are dried, they can be rolled up and put into envelopes of you can not plant them soon. If you can plant them soon, just dig a hole as deep as recommended on the seed pack and lay your seed tape in the hole. For us, we will be planting the Cypress Vines in pots to set on the deck but the other seed tapes will be planted in the flower beds.

Have a great Spring! Get outside and enjoy some time with your kids and with nature.

Monday Meanderings - Spring

Spring is in the air so I thought this would be a great time to list some Spring fun and activities for everyone. Hope you can find something fun and valuable in these plans.

My Mommy Makes It has a great tutorial on making a window greenhouse for the kids. She shows a couple of different types.

Busy Bee Kids Crafts has a very cute 3D caterpillar project using craft supplies that most people always have on hand.

Lastly, The Mama Dramalogues has a cute bug catcher for the kids to make. Every kid likes to catch bugs but the Mamas do not want the critters crawling all over the house!