Jessica, was born with travel fever. I’ve caught it from her. And, our kids reinforce the behavior because the longer we’re home (and stuck inside during winter!) the more creative we have to be to keep them at bay.
I’ve never seen our 4.5 year old so engaged as when he and I did several crafty activities put together by Banyan Tree Kidz. It’s a monthly subscription service that mails out fun activities that are good for kids ages 3-7. The box arrived containing instructions and materials for two different activities and a hardcover book. I am usually the bed time story reader in our family, so I very much welcomed the new reading material.
It worked out perfectly that we had the activities ready to go on a Friday afternoon when Ellie (2 years old) was asleep and it was way too frigid outside to go to the park.
Bash, like most 4 year olds, is usually bouncing around from toy to toy, but both Banyan Tree Kidz activities gripped his attention for about an hour as we worked our way through them.
The first one was an igloo made of a styrofoam bowl and “magic noodles” that look like packing material (like packing peanuts). The second activity was recreating the Northern Lights in a ~6 ounce plastic beaker using blue and yellow paint, glitter and cotton balls.
This experience has really inspired me to find more engaging activities to do with our kids. I was shocked at how patient he was and how well he responded to having 100% of my attention.
Jessica and I are often multi-tasking while spending time with the kids, and this was a good reminder how rewarding it is to spend 1 on 1 time with our kids. Check out the video I made and watch for Bash saying, “Whoa, beautiful!”.