Ah! We are here! I am so excited to be posting our first week of the 52 Toddler Experiences Scavenger Hunt.
This week we took on an easy one that could be done with no preparations and spur of the moment. A good start to get into the swing of things.
IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!Â
I was honestly surprised that such a simple activity as jumping on the couches would be so interesting.
To see all our experiences, click here
At first Lexi didn’t want anything to do with it. She didn’t know what I was doing, why I was doing and honestly, she clearly couldn’t care less. I’ve got a very determined girl, who is driven and likes to play the way she wants to play (which is one of the big reasons I like to introduce books and concepts to her before activities, otherwise she has no interest in most of them before she knows that it’s going to be fun). So this time she just wanted to go play outside and mommy pulling cushions off the couches didn’t interest her. I literally had to run after her and try to get her to come back, because “We are going to do something really fun! Come, you’ll see!”
Once I started jumping around like an idiot, she started getting the idea how it could possibly be something she might interested in. Here is what followed:
I have to admit I had just as much fun! Jumping onto the pillows, showing Lexi “how it’s done”, dancing around to “Mousercise” and laughing at each other. A couple times Lexi looked with awe and laughed as I was making really high jumps, attempting to fall into the pillow like mommy.  Once we got going, Lexi didn’t want to stop- we were jumping and running so hard that  both of us were out of breath and completely wet by the time we were done.
Oh and at some point, I had a thought:”What happens if I videotape this for a minute?”. I am glad I did because looking at the footage, I think I might do this for most of our experiences that involve active things like that. I must have watched this video a million times- Lexi is just too cute. I cannot imagine how amazing it will be to have a few of these videos to put together at the end of the project and then watch it with her reminiscing about all that we’ve experienced. This is such a cute age, and I have been complain to my husband that I never get to videotape her cuteness, so this might be the solution. I never want to forget just how adorable she was at 2!
If you participated during Week #1, enter your photo/post link below in the linky tool for others to see:
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Our next week will  be one of theses: Trolley Ride, Gather Shells or Go to the Zoo
More on this project and to join, click here!
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HERE IS OUR LIST (PRINTABLE VERSION OF BOTH LISTS)
- Backwards Day
(Daniel Tiger episode tie in, Backwards Day book tie in) - Ride a pony/horse
(Berenstain bears book tie-in) - Go to the airport and watch the planes land.
(Curious George episode tie-in, Curious George book) Go to a music shop and explore the instruments
(Daniel Tiger episode tie in)Go to a train museumSEE OUR WEEK HEREJump in Puddles (Weather contingent) (Hello, Fiends book)SEE OUR WEEK HERE- Feed ducks at the park (Curious George book)
- Dance in the rain (Weather contingent) (Olivia book )
Plant something from seed and watch it grow OR plant a garden
(Curious George episode tie in,  Little Critter book, Curious George book)- Climb a tree
- Gather shells (Berenstain Bears book)
- Ride a trolley (Daniel Tiger themed)
- Go to the lake to look for tadpoles
(Curious George episode tie-in, Curious George book tie in) Go on a scavenger hunt in the woods
(Curious George episode tie in, another Curious George episode tie-in Berenstain bears: nature’s guide (this is a great book for a scavenger hunt and it rhymes)Fly a kiteSEE OUR WEEK HERE
(a great rhyming Berenstain bears book, Curious George episode, Little Critter book)- Roast marshmallows by the fire
(OLIVIA tie in) - Play in the snow (Location contingent)
- Go to an aquarium
(Berenstain Bears book, Little Critter book, Curious George book) - Have a picnic – complete with basket and red checkered blanket. (Berenstain Bears book – another great funny rhyming book)
- Lay out and look at stars (Curious George episode tie-in)
- Go camping unplugged (phones turned off)
(Daniel Tiger episode tie in, Curious George episode tie in, Little Critter book tie in, Curious George book tie-in,  OLIVIA book tie in other camping books) - First movie theater movie (Curious George book)
- Go to a petting zoo!
- Listen to a thunderstorm (Weather contingent.)
(Daniel Tiger Episode tie in, Little Critter book tie in) Have a Family Movie Night with snacks SEE OUR WEEK HERE- Run around the grass in a park, barefoot, as a family
Pick fruit at a farmSEE OUR WEEK HERE
(Daniel Tiger episode , Curious George book)Make Snow/Sand Angels- Make pinecone and peanut butter bird feeders and hang them in the yard
(Curious George tie-in) Draw with chalk on the driveway/sidewalk- paddle a canoe down the river
(Curious George episode tie-in) - visit a tidepool  (Weather contingent)
Egg Dying (Curious  George book)- Go to see a boat show (at Christmas)
- Go on a sunset cruise on a boat
(Curious George episode tie in) Make giant bubbles in the yardSEE OUR WEEK HEREgo to a waterpark- go to  Botanical gardens
- Go bowling
(Curious George episode , Curious George book) Jump on the bed/couch/furniture together (5 Little Monkeys book)ÂSEE OUR WEEK HERE- Get long newsprint/butcher’s  paper and trace/color your hands, feet and bodies!
- Make cookies together
- Play Hide and Seek
Build a fort out of blankets and pillows (The Fort that Jack Built book) ÂSEE OUR WEEK HEREGo to the Zoo
(Curious George episode, Curious George book)- Go on a family bike ride through the woods
- Make newspaper planes
- Get a few giant cardboard boxes play pretend with them!
- play tennis
- play miniature golf
(Curious George book) Ride a roller coasterSEE OUR WEEK HERE
(Curious George episode , Curious George book)Ride a train
(Berenstain Bears book tie-in)
I love the video! Looks like you both had a ton of fun 🙂
Enter your puddle jumping into the linkie! I loved it! We need to get rain boots!
What fantastic fun x
ha! funny. i am trying to get my 2 year old to STOP. jumping on the couch!!!
That looks fun! It is funny that Lexi wasn’t very interested at the beginning. My girls loved jumping on our couches and their beds as soon as the started walking without me teaching them LoL. I actually had a harder time keeping them from doing it. Glad to see you posting more often 🙂
I am with you, Cilla! We have had to work with our son to STOP jumping on the bed and couches. We do sometimes take the mattresses and couch cushions off and put them on the floor and jump.
Cute photos!
That looks like it was a blast. We do a lot of bed jumping in our house as our couch doesn’t have cushions that come off. I really love the idea of setting up the camera to video. Might have to steal that from you when we do some of these experiences.
We do bed jumping too but couch jumping never really occurred to either one of us 🙂
I loved your planting a garden idea! I’m going to steal it for this project instead of our plant a seed entry! Looks like Brandon loved it! Lexi will enjoy getting dirty too! 🙂
Love these photos, and especially the video! She’s having a blast and it’s evident you are too!
Looks like fun! My kiddo is always jumping off of stuff. I try not to encourage furniture jumping (mainly because I don’t want him to get hurt) but he does it anyway.
I’m assuming these pics were before Lexi got her glasses? How’s she doing with them?
She’s doing great with them!!! She loves seeing well. She took them off for couch jumping cuz she kept falling and knocking them off. And it’s close enough that she didn’t need them to see. She only needs them for distance.
I did not realize that Lexi has glasses! We definitely need a glasses photo shoot- there is literally nothing cuter than little kids in glasses.
I have it already! 🙂 not a photoshoot per se but a post about it with some cute photos. Should be done by next week 🙂
This looks like a total blast! It’s adorable how Lexi is too much of a well behaved “lady” to understand, at the beginning, what Mommy was trying to encourage her to do! You raised her right! (:
Even if this was really fun, are you worried she will want to continue behaving like this or think treating furniture like a trampoline is okay? I wonder if this will confuse her. It’s okay now, but not okay later? Or she might want to jump on the furniture in other people’s homes? I’d be too scared to introduce this to my kids! (:
Anyway, I love this project your doing and look forward to seeing how this all plays out and what Lexi will really learn from it. Thank you!
No I’m not worried about her wanting to jump on furniture. She seems to understand limits really well. She has not expressed any desire to jump on couches since. A kid is capable if understanding that there are times when you do something and others when you don’t. And if they don’t understand that, that’s what parents are for- to let them know in the moment.
Ugh! “You’RE doing”, not “your doing.”