By Tracey Dowdy
Now that Mother Nature has dropped a blanket a snow on the northeast, it may be tempting to hunker down and stay inside til Spring. Instead, take advantage of the winter weather and make the most of the snow. There’s more to do than you may think.
Let’s Move
Let’s Move is First Lady Michelle Obama’s initiative to get kids moving and the Let’s Move website is a great resource for winter fun. Along with fitness tips and nutritious recipes, the Get Active tab has loads of suggestions to get you and your family moving, including a “Let’s Move Outside” option with links for “Where to Go” and “What to Do”. Discover forests, parks, hiking trails, and get tips on what to bring on your hike like water and healthy snacks.
National Park Service
The National Park Service website can help you find a park and plan an adventure in your area. Find winter activities near you or take advantage of winter hiking trails. Plus, to encourage families to get out and explore, every fourth grader (or age equivalent free learner) and their family is eligible for free passes to National Parks for a whole year.
Nature Rocks
Nature Rocks by The Nature Conservancy will be your go-to on snow days, rainy days, sunny days…you know where this is going. Fill in the blank from a drop down menu: “It’s (snowing, raining, warm, cold) outside. Where do you want to play?” Choose your own backyard, a park, the forest, or the water and get connected to ideas for Winter Olympics themed games, crafts like bird feeders made with pine cones, or art projects to make with snow.
Natural Learning Initiative
The Natural Learning Initiative has a list of fun winter activities you can do in your backyard. Go on a nest hunt with the leaves off the trees, make snow angels and paint them with food coloring, build a tiny igloo with ice cubes as bricks and snow as mortar, or use sand toys to build snow castles.
Finally, if you or your kiddos are going to be outside for awhile, remember these tips:
- Dress in layers – Active play warms kids up so dress them in layers to keep them from overheating.
- Stay hydrated – Kids may not realize how much they sweat when playing outside in the cold so remind them to stop for a drink once in a while.
- Protect your extremities – You lose heat through through your head, ears, hands and feet first, so make sure you keep them protected.
Tracey Dowdy is a freelance writer based just outside Washington DC. After years working for non-profits and charities, she now freelances, edits and researches on subjects ranging from family and education to history and trends in technology. Follow Tracey on Twitter.
Ovia Fertility gets rave reviews for being exceptionally user friendly with its bold and color coded design making it easy to sift through complex information. It’s regarded as one of the most accurate fertility apps as it uses complex algorithms to track your cycle making it easier even for those with irregular menstrual cycles to conceive. As a bonus, the app includes a MyQ quiz to help you discover what is fact and what is fiction regarding pregnancy and conception.
Glow helps women understand their menstrual cycle. The app tracks your period, mood, symptoms, sex, and any medications you take and uses that information to map your fertility. Because of the medication tracking element, it’s an excellent app for those undergoing fertility treatments like IVF or IUI.
Ovia Pregnancy Tracker is a follow up to their fertility app and also stands out from the crowd. Using those scientific algorithms to track weight, sleep patterns, symptoms and even your moods, the app transforms all that data into a custom plan to record milestones and will even alert you to signs you or the baby are at risk.
Sprout Baby Tracker gets consistently high marks from moms and professionals alike. With vivid and beautiful images of your baby at each stage of development and resources from Parent’s Magazine, the app also has unique features like the ability to track twins progress individually and share and sync information across devices. One user pointed out how it’s easy-to-use interface made it both simple and fun for older siblings to understand the baby’s development. Sprout offers additional apps and can be purchased as a bundle for comprehensive care from conception to delivery and beyond.
BabyBump goes beyond the average pregnancy app by incorporating a social networking element for parents. Each day brings tips and new information while tracking progress for both you and your baby. Connect with other parents to ask questions like “Is this normal?” you can’t or don’t want to ask the doctor, get suggestions on how to treat heartburn and insomnia, and even find out which products are must-haves or a waste of money from the people actually using them.
Pregnancy ++ is a comprehensive app that includes a daily diary and tips that enable you to track weight, diet, doctor appointments, and a contraction timer. It even offers a list of over 1000 baby names plus a baby size guide that offers practical information to help you really understand how big the baby is at each stage. For example, did you know at seven weeks your baby is the size of a blueberry? Best of all, the app includes beautiful images of babies at each stage of development. It will be one of your favorite features and is a great teaching tool to help older siblings watch the baby grow and develop.
Full Term offers features like a kick counter, nutrition and fitness information, but where it really shines is in its primary purpose as a contraction timer. Like other apps on this list, it’s easy-to-read interface makes starting and stopping the timer simple. Each contraction is recorded in a log making it easy to report to the nurses and doctors – especially valuable at a time when you want to be able to focus on breathing, not on math.
