'Cooking' in the great outdoors....

It's true, we do spend a lot of time outside, especially when the weather's very nice. Much of that time is spent with the hose on. As a result, we've come up with quite a few favorite outdoor activities, some requiring prep, some not.

Tonight after dinner, I took the 3 littles out to play, fresh-cut donut peach slices  and freshly made whipped cream in hand as dessert (um, no. I did not want the 13 month old spreading whipped cream all over the house. So outside, it is!). Young Yeller and my husband were at softball practice, so it was just the four of us. I grabbed my big soup pot (used to cook dinner's potatoes, so already technically 'dirty'), two ladles, a whisk and some random plastic cups and bowls. We turned the hose on, and 'the restaurant' was born. All three of them were thrilled to be making me soup-together, playing peacefully- and had great fun serving it up and bringing it to me. The Meatloaf (4y/o) laughed uproariously when I found new and ever-more complicated ways to hide the fact that I was dumping the 'soup' and not actually eating it, so I could ask her for more. All told, this water-cooking activity kept them happily entertained, improving their motor skills (hello! pouring, filling, emptying, carrying; all great toddler skills), for a good 45 minutes.

I was thinking it might be fun to get a set of pots and pans at a garage sale or thrift store to keep outside for this sort of activity permanently.