Savy Springtime Spending

Woot! Woot! It’s springtime baby! The snow is all melted, the crocus are coming up, and the weather is warming nicely. Now, what to do with the kids during spring break that won’t ‘spring break’ the bank? I’m glad you asked! I have an idea or two for you below.

Cosmic Kids Yoga/Kids Spring Workout Videos: Burn off that winter fat and limber up your frozen limbs with these YouTube videos:

Cosmic Kids Enzo the Bee Spring yoga

Cosmic Kids Very Hungry Caterpillar yoga

Cosmic Kids Coco the Butterfly yoga

PE with Mr. G Would You Rather- Earth Day workout

PE with Mr. G Rabbits on the Run workout

Spring ‘freeze’ dance workout

Education and Singing with Jack Hartmann: Jack Hartmann is a retired teacher who has started making cute/cheesy educational videos for kids on YouTube. Your littlest littles will enjoy singing and dancing along and might accidentally learn something too!

Jack Hartmann learn about spring song

Jack Hartmann song about the month of April

Jack Hartmann B-U-N-N-Y song; learn to spell the word bunny; you can count the bunnies as you go too

Spring-y Places to go:

Lilacia Park: If you’ve never seen Lilacia Park in Lombard, Illinois in springtime then you’ve never seen lilacs and spring flowers! The park is relatively small and free to enter, but the flowers and sweet smells are well worth it. You can go for a quick stroll anytime the park is open or you can go during the Lilac Festival and enjoy all the fun events.

Primrose Farm: We are lucky enough to have a vintage working farm near us. The park district owns and runs it and they offer a wide variety of activities all year long. In the spring they feature Springtime on the Farm (this year it’s being called Lore and Legends: Spring Traditions) where kids can come and see the baby lambs and baby cow, learn about bee keeping, watch the Ferrier work on the horses, do a spring project, plant some seeds, and learn about how the settlers washed their laundry.

Primrose Farm also offers activities during the week and on select Saturdays like feed the goats, feed the chickens, ‘chicken and egg’, and ‘hands on milking’. There is a small fee for the activities, and you must register in advance. There’s also a play group for the littles (1-4 years) on select Fridays called Coffee and Cows.

Muddy Puddles that Would Make Peppa Pig Jealous: One year Primrose Farm offered an event called ‘mud day’ where a local farmer graciously offered up his field for the kids to run around and play in the mud. Sadly, they have not offered this event again, but that certainly doesn’t have to stop you from finding a nice muddy spot, donning your junk clothes and Wellies, and having some ‘good clean fun’ getting…well, dirty!

Trellis Farm and Garden Store: This is a family-owned retail store that offers an eclectic mix of everything from bird feeders to plants to fresh eggs and local raw honey to everything you need to care for your horse and chickens. Oh, and they sell propane too! I like to bring my kids there in the spring to see the baby chicks for sale. They also get a kick out of the Koy pond.

Peck Farm: Check out the butterfly house at Peck Farm. It’s free and runs from May 21st to September 17th. While you’re there check out the splash pad, observation tower, playground, and historical farmhouse as well!

Jaynesway Farm: Jaynesway mostly offers English and Western riding lessons and boarding of private horses, but they also have a small area for pony rides. Rides are reasonably priced at fifteen dollars for thirty minutes. The experience is unique as parents actually get to lead their kiddos around on the pony.

Craft Corner:

Coffee Filter-flies: If you have some extra coffee filters laying around then flatten them out and paint them with dot painters or decorate with washable markers. Let them dry and then mist them with water using a spray bottle or squirt gun. Let them dry again. Gather the middle and clip it with a clothes pin and you now have the wings and body of a butterfly. If you have a pipe cleaner handy then bend it in the middle and clip it to the clothes pin as well for the antenna.

Static-electric Butterfly: Totally stole this one from my kids’ daycare. Use construction paper to make your butterfly body. Make the wings out of tissue paper. Blow up a balloon and rub it around on a fuzzy surface to build up your static then hold it near the butterfly’s wings to watch it ‘flap’. Check out the science behind how it works.

Outdoor Fun Around the House:

Sew Some Seeds: My kids and I have a spring tradition of starting seeds which we will later plant in our summer vegetable garden. They love helping to spread the seeds, cover them with dirt, water them, and check them daily to see how much they’ve grown. You can get everything you need to start seeds at The Dollar Tree. I also found this really neat ‘root viewer’ kit on Amazon one year. You plant seeds inside clear plastic test tubes so you can watch the roots grow too.

Chaulk it up to Chaulk: Unleash your kid’s creativity on the driveway while you enjoy the nice weather. We even experimented with adding water to our Chaulk to make a fabulously soupy, colorful mess. Just keep eyes on your kids and your car!

Bubbles: So easy and so inexpensive! You can whip up your own bubble solution with dish soap and water, or you can buy bubble soap for a dime a dozen everywhere this time of year. You can even spend a bit more and get a bubble machine- kinda worth it to save some hot air!

Kite Day: Every year our park district puts on a ‘kite day’ where everyone is invited to show up in Mount St. Mary’s Park on the same day to fly kites together. There’s no need to wait for a special day though, we take off into the park to fly kites whenever we have a nice windy spring day. You can make your own kite or buy one for fairly cheap this time of year.

Coloring and Activity Pages: Once again Crayola’s site has not let me down as far as free and easy to print coloring pages. This year in addition to plain old coloring they also have crafts like making your own spring basket or spring flower, games like spring bingo cards, and activity sheets for your older kids like connect the dots and spring word searches.

Hopefully I have given you one or two ideas that will put a ‘spring’ in you and your family’s step this season!

Cheers!

Love,

Marie