Frosty’s Demise
With Christmas just around the corner and much of the country covered in snow, most people aren’t likely to be playing on a wood tree swing! No, it’s time to bundle up and enjoy some good old fashioned winter fun with your kids.
There is nothing more traditional and child-like than playing in the snow, sledding, building snowmen and snow ball fights. Taking my kids out to play in the snow helps me get in the Christmas spirit, but I also get my kids active and get to see the magic of Christmas come alive in their faces.
The day after our first real snowfall I decided we needed to build a snowman. I got the kids bundled up, head to toe in layers of warm coats, gloves and boots, then quickly un-bundled a few of them for emergency bathroom breaks. After all the hype getting ready my kids were dying to get out into the cold air. We went out and got right to work.
One daughter spent her time dumping snow on the dog’s head and giggling while our giant dog patiently stood by. My other daughter decided to take a nap in the snow, my son didn’t care about the snowman at all, he just wanted to shovel the driveway. But, my oldest daughter was determined to make a good snowman. Three giant snowballs later we had our snowman.
Next we needed to decorate him a little, eyes, nose, buttons and the like. I sent my kids to round up a few old tree branches and they all came back with two or 3. Of course, you can’t let one kid contribute an arm without the others doing the same. Next came some food coloring for a couple eyes and smile, then some buttons. With 4 of 5 kids adding on it became quite a mess. End result: Franken-Octo-Schizo-Snowman. It looked like a fairy tale gone wrong. In fact, I was almost embarrassed for my neighbors driving by to see the monstrosity my children and I had created. Almost.
The important thing was that my kids did it themselves! Sure it looked funny, arms in all the wrong places, big red melting smile looking more like a devilish clown by the minute, but we had a great time. Family time outside, active, teaching my kids there is more fun to be had in the winter time than drinking hot chocolate and playing video games. The magic of Christmas was born and I’m committed to building an igloo with the next snowfall.
At TreeSwingStore.com not only are we committed to building great wood swing seats for kids and adults, we’re committed to building healthy, creative kids that like to get outside. If you have any ideas of fun activities for kids to do outdoors and you’d like to share them with us please contact us at support@treeswingstore.com or give us a call at 858-7SWING7.