Outside fun

Playtime outdoors is spring and summer at its best. I want my kids to be out and active as much as possible. As the weather continues to warm and schools let out, I've compiled a list of outdoor activities to encourage or suggest when a little variety or suggestion is needed:

1. Pitch the play tent with or without the rest of the tunnel syste
2. Sprinkler
3. Slip 'n Slide
4. Washable finger paint
5. Picnic
6. Charades
7. Baby, if you love me, smile
8. Wagons
9. Giant bubble wands (available at the Dollar Tree)
10. Sidewalk Chalk
11. Make and tend their own small gardens
12. Card games
13. Freeze tag
14. Ball tag
15. Duck,duck, goose
16. Red light, Green light
17. Simon Says
18. Follow the Leader
19. Hopscotch
20. Ride bikes
21. Ride scooters
22. Roller skate
23. Jump rope (and teach the rhymes)
24. Wash the cars, toys, playhouse...
25. Make a toad abode
26. Plant trees from the random seedlings
27. Make rubbings
28. Water guns
29. Pass football (nerf)
30. Play catch
31. Sit and spin
32. Walkie talkies
33. Light sabres

And a few more that require mostly inexpensive purchases:

1. A big ball - the 40" Bigens play ball sounds lie a good possibility, but I can't find one
2. Hula hoops
3. Spray bottle painting with food colored water
4. Chalkboard paint on one side of the shed
5. Two inexpensive tea sets, one for sand and mud, one for real lemonade and cookies
6. Croquet - Brian thinks I'm nuts for imagining that it will be used for something other than pounding each other
7. A clothesline to facilitate hanging a sheet for painting, puppet shows, etc.
8. Chinese jump rope
9. Badminton
10. Stilts - empty paint cans? seems like no one uses those big coffee tins anymore
11. Stomp rockets
12. A cheap pool to put at the bottom of the sliding board for a water slide
13. A tire swing?
14. And maybe even a sand and water table - something like this?

I like to find cheap toys at yard sales that can be left outside. We have a castle toy and a set of megabloks out there for years that are still doing great, as well as various dump trucks, a sturdy bug box, toddler ride-ons, and playground balls, among other things.

Ethan, is, of course, clambering for a treehouse and zipline, but both require a bit more of the "handyman factor", which I pretty much totally lack. We're all hoping and praying that daddy keeps feeling better and better - then the possibilities could be endless. :^)