Some [Last Minute] Lag B'Omer Fun!

Friendship, caves, camping, bonfires, Jewish unity, community and fun! These are just some of the fabulous themes that emerge on the 33rd day of counting the Omer, Lag B'Omer, which we celebrate today. S, who feels a special connection to this day being that he is partially named after one of its most important celebrated and honored historical figures, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, has already had a bonfire celebration at school today. He was "a little nervous" about the bonfire and quite honestly, I am OK with fire being something that makes him feel "a little nervous." We will all join together this evening with our community for a bonfire and BBQ party but S really wanted to have a "pretend" bonfire in our backyard this afternoon. So while he has been napping (yay) and Y has been repeatedly emerging from his bed and escaping his nap (I have 5391 steps on my pedometer right now from going up and down to put him back in), I have been eagerly setting up some play activities both indoors and outside for our afternoon pre-party!

Out back, we pitched one of our play tents An invitation to build a bonfire with loose parts is set up with fire colored silk scarves, sticks (who knew I'd have a use for the S's growing collection of sticks he must bring home from every place we go), tree blocks and drift wood and other collected natural loose parts. I set our child sized camping chair nearby with a couple of simple DIY "marshmallow" roasting sticks I whipped up this afternoon from cotton balls hot glued to sticks.

Our sensory bin is set out on the ground so both boys can easily reach and it's set up as a Fish, Frog & Flower Pond for the boys to "go fishing." I had some cut flowers in our house that are on the move list after decorating our table for a couple of weeks, and they made such a bright and cheery natural addition to this water table set up. Y in particular has been loving water play lately and with our toasty 90 degree temperatures today, I think both boys will have fun splashing around a bit.

In the theme and spirit of friendship and community, the nature based playgroup I run had a Butterfly Garden Seed Exchange earlier this week. All of our friends went home with a pack of assorted flower seeds to grow and attract butterflies (and other pollinators) at home. I set up a small planting station to sow our seeds this afternoon if we have time, but we may end up getting to this one next week...

We will definitely need to cool off inside before too long, so I have a Squeeze Your Own Lemonade Station set up in our kitchen (that's KID BAIT to get us inside when I get too hot). Then the boys will get to try their hands at marshmallow stamping "fire" onto the letter F. I have some separate marshmallows set aside for snacking so they won't be tempted by the painty ones. If you want to do this activity and not use food, you could make your marshmallow prints using cotton balls glued to a stick rather than actual marshmallows. Alternatively, if you want your entire activity to be edible, use vanilla pudding dyed yellow and orange as paint!

Lag B'Omer is such a fun and festive day. It is a little taste of celebration during the long seven week period between Pesach and Shavuot. Although my activity posting is a bit last minute this year, you can save these in the vault for next year or add them to your summer or camping themed play in the months to come. If you're looking for more ideas about Lag b'Omer activities, check out this post. Don't forget to check out our other Sefiras Ha'Omer posts and, while you're at it, it's not too early to get ready for Shavuot! 

In the late spring and summer, when Shabbos gets a bit long here, we try to incorporate some play and fun into the day. Everyone is very excited to extend the theme of camping into Shabbos this week for a family Living Room Shabbos Camp-In. Stay tuned to see what we're up to! Here's some more camping themed fun to tide you over until then...

Happy Playing!