November Playdates

For November, my fellow mommy friends and I planned two playdates for our kiddos-- a patriotic/flag theme for Veteran's Day and a Thanksgiving theme later in the month.

Jenna brought the snack for our flag theme-- fruit and string cheese. Cute idea!

The kids were quite excited to dig in.

Landon, Cody, Jaden, Micah, Abbie, Ryder, Kenzie

It was a little difficult to find flag games (my task for this playdate), as most activities were water-based for the Fourth of July. Apparently, most people don't celebrate Veteran's Day quite as actively with their toddlers. Imagine. :)

First, we played a sort of flag relay. The kids ran down the hallway to a mug that was holding flags. They'd grab a flag and then run back to their friends. I was impressed that the kids were fairly patient as they waited for their own turn.

Kenzie grabbed a second flag for a friend who
was unwilling to go down the hallway!

 Our second activity was one that I was fairly certain wouldn't work at all. But, I was curious to try and the other moms were willing, so we gave it a go. Flag Tag. :) Each child wore his flag (either stuck into his pocket or the waist of his pants. Then, the kids were supposed to try to catch each other's flags. It was fairly amusing to watch what happened. The 2-year-olds all seemed kinda lost and a bit uncomfortable with the flag in their pants... The 3-year-olds understood the concept a little better but were still hesitant to take flags from each other. A few times, one child would take a flag from another but then give that friend their own flag! Some kids just walked around trying to hand their flags away. I guess we should've been proud that they all wanted to share! :)

After less than two minutes of that game, we gathered the kids around for a bit of "teaching." We talked a bit about soldiers and looked at some pictures in a book. Then, we sang a super cute echo song called "See the Veteran" to the tune of "Frere Jacques." We sang this song a few times, as they all seemed to enjoy waving their flags as we sang.

Micah, Zeriah (a little girl that Ruth was babysitting that day),
Jaden, Cody, Abbie, Landon, Kenzie

 Our final activity was a patriotic star craft that Jenna planned. I wasn't able to get pictures of us actually doing the craft, as all of the mommy hands were busy helping or holding a child. But, here are Jaden and Cody's finished products. The boys were especially excited to lather the glue stick on their stars.

And... that was it for playdate #1. I think we managed 10 kiddos that day, so it was a busy one!

Our Thanksgiving playdate was just this week. After first arriving, we always let the kids play for a while to enjoy the toys at the new house and to get used to each other. Plus, the mommies get a little chance to visit, as long as everyone is playing well. It seems to work well to start our planned activities with snacktime. This time, Ruth brought turkey pastrami and other fun snacks (fruit, cheese, crackers).

Landon, Abbie, Cody, Wes, Kenzie, Jaden

 Samie planned a very cute hide-and-seek game. She made turkey legs out of paper bags and had the kids find them in various rooms. The kids wanted to play over and over again!

Cody and Landon-- don't they look a little alike?

 At the end, Samie let each child take turns hiding the turkey legs for one another. Cody and Jaden were content to simply search for the hidden ones, but the other kids happily took on the hiding role.

Then, we played a game that Jenna planned, even though she unfortunately had to miss our playdate. We played "Duck, Duck, Turkey." Cody, as you can see in this picture, was practically glued to this toy mixer that belonged in Kenzie's little play kitchen. Both boys loved the sound of the motor and took it pretty much everywhere with them during the whole playdate!

The age difference of the kids was quite apparent for this game. Kenzie got distracted fairly easily, and Jaden and Cody didn't seem to understand the game at all. (Or, maybe they were just too busy with the toy mixer!) The oldest kiddos, Abbie and Landon, loved it and quickly learned that the others weren't nearly as excited about playing. These two would continually tag each other and run back and forth all the way down the hallway. It was quite funny!

Samie planned our craft-- turkey shakers. (Don't worry, the beloved mixer is still close by, little Cody!)

Cody picked out the eyes for his turkey face...

And as always, the kids loved the glue stick part!

Here are the final products (stuffed with candy corn to make them noise-makers). Can you tell which turkey is the sample one?? :)

We ended our playdate with a little storytime. I was so excited that Ruth brought along the book, Albuquerque Turkey! Being raised in Albuquerque, I grew up singing that song!

The kids seemed to like it too. They listened attentively while Ruth read the story once and then flipped through the pages a second time while singing it.

What a fun morning! We thank God for these great friends to gather with each month!