Had my yearly inspection and the topic of the discussion from the inspector was "Outside Time". She said my program was great and she wishes more people were like mine and got the kids outside. I find it extremely sad we are having to have classes on outdoor time. I've actually attended two classes on weekends about outdoor time and now this one.
There are providers she has talked to that the kids are inside from October-March with no outside time-
. So that means no outside time either with the parents because its dark at pickup time. Unless the parents are getting the kids outside on the weekends for a long time they are literally getting no outdoor time! This would mean about 6 months of not being outside except to go to the car and back. Also, if kids are inside during the summer because its to hot thats about 2 months, then if providers say its to cold/rainy that could be another 2 months equating to about 2 months out of 12 that kids might have outdoor time during the day.
This only makes me want to strive harder to have the most awesomest outdoor area for kids to play in! I recently bought an wooden kitchen set that needs some work-paint and knobs. I bought it though for $10 and it immediately went outside for the kids. It has a real little stainless steel sink and faucet that if I could find a way to hook the hose up to it I'm going to. It has vinyl counter tops for the top so it will clean up real easy. The burners are little wooden ones. It looks like someone made it but the price was right for outside!
I also scored a pallet that has four smaller squares on the corners and one large square in the middle. Think of how the old screen doors looked. Anyway I'm turning it into my dirt table. I'm going to build the base for it and put it on legs. The four smaller corner squares will hold the shovels, buckets, scoopers, etc. and the dirt will be in the larger square in the middle.
Also, my inspector said I can turn my sandbox turtle into a water table! She said there should also be no questions on it if I put it up on some stumps or cinder blocks! I can't wait to do this all!
