Motherhood Archives - Your Friend Lindsey

July 10, 2020

Summer Activities for Kids During Covid

Summer 2020 Looks Different

Like it or not, summer 2020 looks different from most summers. The global pandemic has certainly affected us all in different ways. And for many of us, we have little kids at home who’s normal summer time fun has been halted.

With summer camps, sleepovers, and travel…. all pretty much non-existent most of us are scratching our heads with how we are going to work and entertain our kiddos all summer long.

It’s so easy to sit them in front of a screen, and believe me – sometimes it’s just needed or unavoidable. But if there are fun toys, activities or crafts that will get them off the screen – I’m ALL for it!

So I’ve rounded up some products that have been a hit at our house in hopes that it can help entertain your kids too. 🙂 We are all in this together, right?!

Here’s a look at some summer activities for kids during covid.

Educational Items

Melissa & Doug Turn and Tell Clock: If you’ve got a child who is always asking you “What time is it?” or “When is Daddy/Mommy going to be home?”, then this is just for them!

It’s actually kind of challenging to teach the concept of telling time to children, at least it is for this mom who is NOT a teacher. 🤪 But this has been such a great resource for practice!

Rhyming Fun-to-know Puzzle: Have a child in Pre-school, Kindergarten or First grade? This is a handy independent activity for them. I love that it is something they can do on their own because it allows me a little time to get some things done while they’re busy play-learning. 🙏🏻

Melissa & Doug Sticker Collection Book: These stickers are awesome! There is a sticker for just about anything which keeps from getting bored. 🙌🏻

Some sticker activities we like to do are:

Practice the alphabet: Have your child place a sticker on lined paper and then write the upper and lowercase letter that the sticker starts with next to each one. Ex. A sticker of a dolphin = Dd. Once they get a hang of that, you can have them go back and write the letter that each sticker ends with.
Practice writing & spelling: Have your child place a sticker on lined paper and write what the word is using invented spelling.
Story telling: Have your child use the stickers to tell a story, placing them on paper. Have them read the “sticker sentence” to you out loud. They get pretty creative and come up with some funny sentences!

Books

Smithsonian Encyclopedias.

Science
Animal
Knowledge
Human Body
Space

If your kid(s) like random facts… these books are awesome! What’s even better… they’re amazing for adults too. We get to learn and expand our knowledge while we read it to them. Win-win!!

Pokemon Super Deluxe Essential Handbook: If you have a boy over 4, chances are you are no stranger to Pokemon. And if your son is anything like mine…. he can’t get enough! 😆

This book has kept my son entertained for hours!! He will sit and look through it, learn their names and “possible moves” and then he’ll want to draw them or play a Pokemon card battle (to be honest, we haven’t learned how to play the real game and just make up our own version as we go. 😂).

Activities/Crafts

Magformers Basic Set: If you don’t have a set of magnetic blocks, you need these now! My son has had a couple sets of these since he was two and they still, to this day, keep him entertained for hours on end.

I love that it allows them to use both sides of their brain. They get to be creative and imaginative, but also get a taste of engineering by figuring out how to put them together in order to create what they envision. 🙌🏻

Glow-in-the-dark Power Balls: Who doesn’t love a good bouncy ball!? How fun is it to make your own, that glow in the dark! I also love this activity because it isn’t just a one use and done product. You can spread out the longevity of the activity by only making 2-4 bouncy balls at a time. Then save the rest for another time!

** They suggest storing them in a plastic baggy once they’re made… I definitely advise you do! We made the mistake of keeping our first batch out and they got very hard pretty quickly.

Glow-in-the-dark Rock Painting Kit: More glow-in-the-dark fun… YES! Have you walked through your neighborhood and seen little painted rocks with either a positive saying or something that makes you smile? I LOVE this idea!

Being home during quarantine, hearing all of the scary and negative news really takes a toll on you. We all know that getting fresh air and exercise is SO important for our bodies and mental health, so what a treat it is to be out on a walk and see a cute painted rock in a tree bed!!

We love bringing smiles to peoples faces so we’ve left a few our very own painted rocks around the neighborhood, hoping to brighten someone’s day. 💕

Jump Rope for Kids: Good old-fashioned jump roping is such a great exercise for kids. And even better, it’s a great way for them to work on hand-eye coordination, timing, jumping and persistence.

I love this jump rope in particular because it is adjustable and can grow with them as they get older!

Games/Toys

Magic Unicorn Ring Toss Game: You guys!!! This game is hilarious. Adults and children will love!! Just go ahead and grab yours… you won’t regret it. But be sure to have your phone near by so you can record some awesome video. 😂😂😂

Light-up Monster Truck Set: This little set is fun entertainment for boys and girls! Who doesn’t like things that light up and move?! And sharing is easy because it comes with two push-and-go monster trucks.

Table Top Air Hockey: Another game that is amazing fun for children AND adults! A little family fun competition never hurt, right?!

** Warning: can get pretty intense when two adults battle it out! 😂

Kids Digital Camera: Let your little one express their creativity with this durable digital camera. It’s so fun to see what they deem worthy of a picture. (A leaf, a corner of the living room rug, or a dog’s wagging tail to name a few… 😉).

Water Melon Ball: This ball is made for the pool and is so much fun to play with! Wether your little one is an experienced swimmer or a total beginner, the water melon ball is a great addition to the pool toys.

You connect it to your hose (with a provided attachment) and it fills up with water. It has the perfect buoyancy to sink for a moment and then rise back up to the surface.

Summer Activities for Kids

So there you have it. Summer activities for kids that we’ve used so far and why we like them. I hope this has been helpful!

If you’ve discovered something your kids have LOVED during this time, please let me know in the comments!

XOXO - Your Friend,

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April 21, 2020

Why I Use Young Living Essential Oils

Wouldn’t you say that over the last few years, people are really trying to be more health conscious? Paying attention to their diet, using more natural alternatives, getting more exercise and so on. Essential oils have played a huge roll for many people, but how do you know which kind to use? Well, let me tell you a little bit about my story and why I use Young Living essential oils.

It all started a little over 6 years ago… Becoming pregnant with my son really opened up my eyes, making me realize and pay more attention to what I was putting in and on my body. What products we use in our home. What we are breathing in every day.

“Why can’t I use this product or this ingredient while I’m pregnant… but it’s okay when I’m not?” Something just didn’t make sense to me.

From there it was a snowball effect… How can we be more proactive and preventative in our overall wellness? How can we get ahead of our health rather than always chasing it with temporary solutions?

Now we can’t escape the world of pesticides, genetically modified foods, toxic chemicals and processed food, right?! And let’s be real… maybe there are a few cosmetic or hair products we just can’t live without but they have some questionable ingredients. We’d have to live in a bubble to get rid of it all!

So making changes to avoid toxins where we can was something I became very serious about.

January 28, 2020

3 Day Washington, DC Itinerary with Kids

Are you headed to Washington DC with kids? My husband is from Sweden and even though our son was born here in the US, he is also a Swedish citizen. Every 5 years or so we have to go to Washington, DC to renew their Swedish passports. We all have to go in-person to the Swedish Embassy so we might as well make a fun trip out of it!

Now that Parker (my son) is 6, he’s at the perfect age to really enjoy so many things that DC has to offer. And I can only imagine that in another 5 years, he’ll love it even more.

While we were there, I posted about our adventures on IG and FB and so many of my viewers where asking questions or telling me they too were soon going to DC. So I thought I’d share all the things we did and the places we went for anyone else who might be traveling with kids.

We took this trip on January 11-13, 2020 (Saturday-Monday).

Where to Stay

If you’re going to Washington DC with kids, there are SO many great places to stay! Since we knew we would be going to several places around the National Mall, we wanted to stay in a hotel where we could walk mostly anywhere. We decided to stay at the JW Marriott hotel on 14th St and Pennsylvania Ave.

I will say that the hotel was beautiful, clean and the staff was very friendly! We had a room with two double beds and it was about $175 per night. Which I felt was actually a great deal for it being in DC!

Breakfast was not included, but in the restaurant they had an a la carte menu as well as a buffet. Side Note: Kids under 4 eat free!

As most hotels do, they had free wi-fi but also have mobile check-in and a digital key option through the BonVoy app.

The National Mall & Museums

Saturday

Since arrived on a Saturday afternoon, we knew we would only have a couple of hours to visit one museum that day. We decided to venture over to the National Air & Space Museum.

Wow! To see the rockets, satellites and even get to touch a real moon stone was pretty amazing! I know that my husband, Jonas, and I could have stayed twice as long to actually read everything there was to see, but the attentions span of a 6 year old wouldn’t allow. Maybe next time!

Even so, Parker was blown away by all there was to see. Getting to walk through part of an old space craft was pretty cool. He loved seeing a space toilet, shower and how they eat!

Next up was the National Gallery of Art. If you like art or appreciate the history in the amazing collections, you and your spouse may want to take turns staying with your kids. It can be a little boring or underwhelming for younger kids. Parker thought some paintings where cool, or funny (if they were naked), but was quickly ready to “skedaddle” out of there. However, if you’re able to walk through – it is simply incredible!

The Renwick Gallery is another art museum that was recommended to us but we didn’t have a chance to go.

Sunday

You can’t go to Washington, DC with kids and not see the dinosaurs! We planned to spend the whole day at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. I loved every bit of it, but think I was most excited to see the newly re-opened Dinosaur exhibit! It was incredible and did not disappoint!

Tip # 1: go up to the little stations of 1-2 staff members! They share little mini-classes that give you such a personal experience. You can ask questions, see (and sometimes touch) fossils, and really engage with these scientists & experts to get a deeper dive into that specific topic. Such a great way to get a bigger impact!

Tip # 2: don’t skip out on the Gemstone & Diamonds exhibit upstairs! Parker’s mind was BLOWN be all the crystals, jewels and gemstones. He brought his little digital camera and took a picture of almost every single one. I think as adults we forget how incredible they really are.

Tip # 3: go to the Curious Jr’s Lab on the 1st floor. It is a fantastic place for kids (and parents) to look at just about anything under the microscope! Everything from fossils/gemstones to bugs to owls! Watch your little scientists eyes light up!

Monday

We only had a couple of hours before we needed to check out and get to our passport appointment at the Swedish Embassy. So we took this chance to walk by the White House (which I’ll talk about later) and have a quick visit in the National Museum of American History. While it wasn’t our favorite museum, two things we enjoyed seeing most where the Bat Mobile and the Value of Money room. I personally really liked looking at all of the little boat and ship models, but Parker was only interested in seeing the first one and then moving on.

Another place we didn’t get a chance to visit, but want to next time, is the International Spy Museum. We would totally love to crack codes and be James Bond for a day!

Washington DC with Kids — Life Size Megalodon Shark Replica in entry way of Ocean Terrace Cafe

Smithsonian National Zoo

The Zoo was something we didn’t get a chance to do during this trip but we went the last time we were in DC. A quick subway or uber ride and you’ll get to see some fascinating and beautiful animals. And better yet- it’s FREE because it’s a part of the Smithsonian Institution. Another perfect thing to do if you’re in Washington, DC with kids!

White House & National Monument

We went on a Monday before heading to our appointment at the Swedish Embassy and it was a lot quieter as opposed to going over the weekend. If you walk around to Ellipse Rd by the National Christmas Tree – there’s a great photo op spot for the White House.

Good Eats!

We ate at our hotel for breakfast each day just due to convenience.

Saturday night we went to Old Ebbitt Grill (a classic near the White House). It was an eclectic yet cozy atmosphere and the food was delicious! There is usually a wait list – we waited for only about 20-30 minutes and took that time to walk down by the White House just across the road.

We had lunch at the Ocean Terrace Cafe (inside Natural History Museum) and it was great! They have really fresh salad and grain bowls with a variety of toppings, as well as soups, sandwiches, coffee, ice cream, snacks, beer & wine. Yes, it’s a little pricey but it’s totally worth it to be able to stay in the museum and get a yummy, healthy meal!

That night we went to Oyamel Cocina Mexicana (Mexican Tapas) and had a wonderful time. I don’t know about you, but in my family- you can’t go wrong with house-made guacamole, chips & salsa, and salt foam margarita’s!! (I don’t know how they make them but they were so good!) They made Parker a kid-friendly quesadilla with rice on the side. Great atmosphere and I highly recommend!

We were also recommended to try Matchbox and Founding Farmers; however we just didn’t get a chance to go. We’ll be sure to try them out next time!

That sums up our latest quick trip with our 6 year old in tow! If you are planning on going to Washington DC with kids, or desire to go one day, I hope you received some take aways from our experience. There are so many fun and interesting things to do, we could have easily stayed for a few more days to pack it all in. Even though we only went for two nights, I think we were able to do a lot!

Summer Activities for Kids During Covid