February Playgroup

For the month of February, our two playgroup themes were Valentine's Day and President's Day. As usual, we began our Valentine's playdate with snacks. I forgot to take a photo of the food, but Jenna made pretzels with melted chocolate, cut strawberries in the shape of hearts, and brought pink marshmallow hearts. The kids loved it all!

Jaden, Cody, Abbie, Landon, Ryder, Kenzie, Wes

 Samie planned a creative Valentine's game. When she played music (some fun love-themed songs), the kids walked around this circle of hearts.

You'll notice that many of the kids are wearing random dresses or capes (or a dress that serves as a cape, in Ryder's case!). They were very into a dress-up game of "heroes saving the princess" right before we grabbed them to play this game. :)

When the music stopped, the kids each found one heart to stand on. They had to act out whatever direction was written on their heart (act like a monkey, quack like a duck, walk like a robot). Abbie's getting ready to kick like a donkey in the picture below.

After this game, the kids all played together nicely for quite some time. We mommies appreciated the chance to cuddle with the littlest ones (there are now 3 infants in our group!) while having a chance to chat a bit. Finally, we ended with crafts.

I had used my scrapbooking circle cutters to make these white wreaths. The kids were free to cover their wreaths with hearts however they wanted. 

Any craft that uses glue stick always seems to be a hit!

Cody and Jaden stuck with their craft much longer than they have on some previous playdates. I could tell they were proud of their finished products when they specifically asked me to take a picture of their completed wreaths.

Our second playdate also started with snack time. Ruth prepared typical Americana food in honor of President's Day-- apples and chocolate chip bars. Yum!

Abbie, Kenzie, Landon, Cody, Jaden

 Look at this bunch standing so nicely, listening to directions for the game. So cute! 

Samie had the difficult task of preparing an activity for 2 and 3 year olds that related to presidents. :) What she came up with was perfect! We played a version of "I Spy" called "George Washington, George Washington, what do you see?" Samie would call out a color or shape for the kiddos to find in the room. I think they're all searching for something brown in this pic.

All of the kiddos were quite excited to find a fitting object to show George Washington. Below, they're showing us something pink. We probably played at least 10 rounds of this game.

For the craft, I brought a cute (and super-easy) Lincoln/Washington reversible cut-out that I found on Pinterest.

Jaden's Washington craft is on the left, and my sample Lincoln is on the right. When completed, we glued the two together so that the presidents were back to back.

I'm fairly certain that the president theme was over all the kids' heads, but it was still a fun morning. We mommies certainly appreciate having a theme to make the planning a bit easier... and a bit more interesting, too. Overall, we're just thankful for an excuse to get together with some good friends!