Welcoming Spring with Cheerios

We had a glorious day the other day… temperatures peaked in the high 40’s.  We decided to forego jackets and enjoyed the nice almost-spring day. 

I had visions of warm days and dreams of long playtimes at the park, flowers blooming and birds chirping. 

What better way to welcome in spring and all the furry creatures it brings out, then to make homemade ornament birdfeeders.

Materials:
Cheerios (lots of them)
Pipe Cleaners

    

These Little Llamas were ready for Craft time.

First make sure each child has their OWN bowl of Cheerios.
If you have children, you know this is an important step

    

This was also a great time to mix craft time and snack time!

Next. let each child pick what color pipe cleaner they want.

Then get them stringing the cheerios on the pipe cleaner

This is great for fine motor skills
(Like for little boys who don’t quite hold their pencils correctly)

Keep Stringing...
We counted along the way.

  
And snacked, and strung…
And kept going…

Remind yourself that you are Feeding Young Minds… and Hearts.
And apparently, tummies. 

This little guy was SO into this activity.

Finally…The Fruits of our labor!

We made circle and straight ornament birdfeeders
And I think they turned out great!

   

And we definitely stopped to snack often along the way…
Charlotte tried to convince me to make a Cheerio necklace and Bracelet like the Candy ones… But I didn’t think biting on a pipe cleaner with metal inside it was the best idea.

Ready to go adorn the tree out front

It was quite a chilly day today…
Not feeling much like Spring.

But we hung our ornament bird feeders anyway
Praying that birds would come, and bring spring with them!

So, when spring finally does come our way, we have our
Cheerio Ornament Bird Feeders waiting for all our spring friends!


What are you doing to get ready for Spring??

*Note--
It is currently snowing.  I guess we can at least dream of Spring! 

~~~~~

I am a a member of the Cheerio Blogger Circle.  I was not compensated in any way to write this post.  I was asked to create a Breakfast or Springtime experience my family would love.

Family Breakfast- Cheerio Blogger circle

Breakfast…
If you have children under the age of 6, breakfast can happen anytime from 5:45-8:00. (let’s just pray for you and me that it is on the later end of that time table)  I don’t know what it is about little people under the age of 6, but they wake with this

“feed me or I might die”

look in their eye.   I have early risers, and I always offer cereal  or other easy breakfast meal like waffles, bagels, etc…nothing that requires cooking

 

Usually mine all stumble down by 7:30 and we all congregate around the table chatting away before the day gets going.
I know there is a huge emphasis on family dinners, and if you are not doing that, I highly implore you to consider working your schedule at least 3 days a week where you can eat dinner as a family. 

But… this post is about breakfast. 
You see, I think a great habit we can all practice more of is
sitting down and enjoying a good breakfast together.



It doesn’t have to be anything fancy…
But occasionally I do whip up chocolate chip pancakes, eggs, muffins or cinnamon rolls.

 

But instead of trying to feed them in a mad rush 
of an assembly line and send them on their way,
(totally guilty here on so many days)

Have you considered slowing down at breakfast to…

*Engage your kids in conversation…
*Set the tone for the day and discuss expectations?
*Share about the days activities?
*Talk about lessons the children are learning
*Do a morning devotional with them
*Read a story book at the breakfast table

 

I think as parents we miss a great opportunity at breakfast to truly care for not only their little tummies, but also their minds and hearts.

I have enjoyed going over Sunday School lessons they bring home from Church and Doing our Morning Devotional*

 

Taking the time to nourish their bodies and minds helps us to get the day started so much better and I notice a huge difference on the days we do this vs. the days we don’t.

And I know that when I do start the day off this way…
By engaging my children where they are in life,

It helps me not to stress out so much
about all the spilled milk…or, um…cereal.


So, how do you start your morning off ?
Have you had a family breakfast recently?

* Amazon Affiliate link

**Disclosure--I wrote this as a a participant in the Cheerio Blogger Circle. 
I was not compensated in any way for this post or to promote the product. Nor was I given any products to review.  And I actually had those Cheerios in my cabinet.