Here are six activities we do in our house to have a great time together
that you can try with your little ones. Even if they’re not that tiny anymore.
As long as there’s fun and chuckles involved, I you: it will be a hit! 
Melody Delight
The first drum set my son had was made by himself when he was about two
years old. With cans, containers, pots and pans. His first kick drum was a mini
trash container with pedal. The drumsticks were chopsticks and wooden spoons.
The first jazz brush drumsticks were two silicone baking brushes we used to
grease our tins. So you see.
Sweet Baking
My son is now seven and he loves making things with his hands. He loves
to cook by himself. And although he cooks everything, from delicious taco
making to grilled caramelized chicken, what he loves the most is baking. And to
create recipes where there’s chocolate
involved. Lots of chocolate involved. And tons of sugar. Or honey. And caramel.
And fruit. Did I mention chocolate?
So cooking is always a go to activity in our home. We pretend we’re tv
hosts and make up hilarious shows.
Flour Power
In our house, we love to take flour to wild new levels. Always levels
that include tons of giggles and craziness. You can never have too much of
that. Sometimes we take flour in a bowl
and lay it on the living room floor and explore it in any way my sweet boy
wants to.
We make all kinds of 3D shapes – cakes, cookies and stacked piles - with
yogurt packages (or whatever comes to hand and makes us laugh). We also draw
whatever we want with our fingers (as we do in sand).
Water Love
Rain or shine, water is always a go to idea. My sweet boy loves to go
outside after a rainstorm. In his boxer shorts.
When it’s 49.5 outside. With wind. And in Cascais where we live, trust
me. When there’s wind, there’s wiiiiiind. He loves it. Always has. So whether
barefoot or rocking his galoshes, we jump in water puddles in our garden together.
We also love to run in the rain drops. When he was younger, he loved to have
different plastic bowls or cups with water and mix and match, as if they were
different ingredients.
Water paintings
My little one can never have enough of water paintings. Neither can I. We
get some water in a bowl, grab sponges, brushes of different shapes and sizes
and use the outside floor as our canvas. We draw and paint whatever we feel
like. No rules. Just fun. Whatever our hands and hearts create. We admire each
other art always allowing freedom and fun to guide our way. And when the
weather is warmer, we love to watch the paintings we made simply fade away. We
can spend literally entire days doing this together. And then we’ll have a
sandwich or fruit picnic. While we keep on having fun.
Bubble Magic
I’ve come to believe that life is like bubble making. You never know
what might happen. We have great family memories of bubble making. And bubble
catching. And bubble popping. Our dogs love to stare at the bubbles. I swear
sometimes I hear them go like: whatch you
doing?
Cold weather. Warm weather.
Morning, afternoon or night. Soap bubbles will always be soap bubbles. The most
perfect, yet simplest thing in life.
Just mix soap with a tiny bit if water in a plastic container. You can
create your own bubble wand with wire, thread or empty bottles. You can also
use pasta drainers. Or straws. Or whatever you get your hands on with holes in
it.
I promise you: you’ll have the time of your life together!