Blocking, Schlocking!

Blocking is not my favorite part of knitting. Probably because it’s not really knitting. Ya think? And, being a philosophical sort, I’ve figured out that the reason I really don’t like to block is probably because I’m not all that good at it. You too? All right then! We’ll figure this out together.

In the past, my version of blocking was to soak/wash the garment and spread it out to dry. Since 95% of the garments I make are children’s stuff, it didn’t really seem all that important since I knew that the minute I handed them off, they’d be drug in the mud, thrown in the washer and dryer and well… you know. But it does matter. It does make the garments look soooo much nicer, even fit better.

Berroco to the rescue! Cirilia Rose of Berroco’s Blog has created a blocking tutorial on the Berroco site to help us. And, they’re offering a set of blocking wires and assortment of Soak as a giveaway to get you started.

Be sure to book mark this post, definitely a MVP! (most valuable post ;-), here: http://blog.berroco.com/2009/05/14/blockheads/

After talking about the pirate themed chalk obstacle course the other day, I got to thinking about other easy, low prep games and activities you can do with kids outside. A lot of these are ideas I found on Pinterest that don’t link to blogs anymore if they ever did, but often that’s all the detail you need to figure out what’s going on.

First, a couple from blogs that are still alive. If you have a lot of trees in your yard or in your park, you probably also have a lot of sticks, so you can pretty easily do this stick maze activity from Mother Natured. Build the maze yourself or have one child build if for another. Either way it’s lots of fun and you can keep it built to use as a labyrinth or for pretend play.

If it’s hot where you live you might want outdoor activities that involve water like this fill the bucket relay game. The only thing you might not have at home is giant sponges, but this is still pretty low prep, inexpensive and lots of fun if you have two or more kids to play. Check out how to do it from The Resourceful Mama. And check out my post all about ice and water sensory activities for more ideas to beat the heat.

Make some x’s and o’s or use something you already have to be your game pieces (you can also just draw them on paper plates for a super fast version) and make a large tic tac toe board on the sidewalk. The bonus of reusable game pieces is kids can play with the same grid over and over, which is great if you don’t have a ton of space.

I also love the idea of drawing a big bullseye on the sidewalk or driveway and using beanbags or sponges to try to hit the target. If you have hula hoops you can also set them in a grassy area and have kids try to hit them.

Check out more fun outdoor games for kids from The Printable Princess. These are more for big groups of kids, but if you’ve got a classroom full these are good ones to have on hand for getting some energy out.

Do you have favorite outdoor games for kids to play when it’s hot? I’d love to hear about them!

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