I’d Like to Introduce Myself

Hello everyone,

I’m Heather Holbrook and I’m really excited to be the new stamping editor here at CraftGossip! I’ll be bringing you info on all the latest and greatest in absolutely everything to do with stamping.

Here’s a little info about myself: I’ve been stamping for over 12 years, I went to my first stamping class with my mom and some friends just for fun not really knowing what to expect and I instantly fell in love. I’d always enjoyed doing different crafts but when I found stamping I thought “this is it, this is for me!” and I’ve been stamping ever since. I loved it so much that a couple of years after that first class I opened my own stamp store, Stamps Galore, in Lexington KY and ran it for three years. My love of stamping expanded into a love of all art that uses paper so I also enjoy scrapbooking , collage, altered art and making soldered jewelry with paper as well. I’ve taught all different types of stamping and paper arts classes over the last 10 years and really love staying on top of the latest products, techniques and trends so if you’ve got a question about stamping please don’t hesitate to ask.

I’m looking forward to sharing my passion of stamping with you!

Heather

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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