Book Report: I Love Dirt! & Let's Go Outside!

I think I should stop promising posts. It seems whenever I do, something pops up to prevent me from doing so. Last week, I came down with my family's ailments the day after promising the posts. But, I am here today, a week later, to tell you about some super fun books on my shelf.

As a work-at-home mother, keeping kids entertained is a struggle. Trying to juggle being a good employee with being a good mother definitely has it's challenges. After utilizing all my creative energy designing on the computer, I find myself all out of creative ideas for the kids. That is where these two books by Jennifer Ward come in handy. She has done all the creative leg work for me.

When these books arrived in the mail, my daughter and I flagged all our "must-do" activities. And, I have to say, that almost every page is marked.

"Let's Go Outside" is all about activies you and your children can do outdoors. The book is seperated into four parts: Back to Basics, Making the Ordinary Extraordinary, Get Your Outdoor Adventure On, and Eco-Minded Experiences. Each part contains between 12-17 activites. She teaches you how to search for buried treasure, set up an outdoor diner, go on a bug scavenger hunt and to toil with the soil.

"I Love Dirt" is similar. It contains 52 activities, but these are separated by season. It encourages bird hunts in the spring, star spotting in the summer, leaf collecting in the fall and playing in the snow in the winter.

I love both of these books, as do my children. They know when we pull them off the shelf that we are about to have fun together. I love that both of these books encourage simple, outdoor, creative play. Away from television and electronic toys. My children use their imagination during the activities. I love that my they will have fond childhood memories of playing outside with their mom.