Rather than just referring to getting my own little son ready to play in the snow outside, I could have titled this post: Lessons Learned From Working in Childcare in the Winter.  I worked my way through undergad schooling by working in a daycare center and was honored to be promoted to the role of assistant preschool teacher.  I loved getting to work with kids in this way, and I feel like it has greatly influenced my parenting style to this day.

Whatever the actual role, my working with preschool and early elementary aged kids meant that about twice a day in the winter we would undergo the momentous task of taking around 20 kids to the playground, and first dressing them in 2 boots, 2 mittens, a hat, a coat and snowpants each.  Suffice it to say, I have put a lot of mittens on a lot of hands before my own son ever came around.  In my years at St. Michael Lutheran, my fellow teachers and I were able to come up with a pretty good system for efficiently getting everyone ready for playing in the snow, which I have now adapted for my own home.  I know that a few of these ideas may be self- explanatory, but for those who may be venturing out with their kids in the snow for the first time, the process of getting ready can seem intimidating.  It has been used for comedic purposes in countless shows and movies, typically with the child needing to pee the instant that they are fully dressed.

• First, and probably the most obvious is to send everyone to the bathroom. While this was going on we would have one person...
• Set all of the kids' clothes out around the room so that mittens and hats do not end up on the wrong hands.  (An aside-- if you send your child to daycare PLEASE label everything clearly.  It is nearly impossible for your child's teachers to tell one pair of black gloves from 10 others.) This is when I would typically put on my own snow-pants and boots, but nothing else since if I was fully dressed it was harder to move and I would end up sweaty before even entering the playground.
• Put on children's socks, snow-pants, boots and hats.  Then I have would have most kids put on their mittens so that they would be inserting mittened hands into coat sleeves.  This was a lot easier to do to get the mittens under the sleeve cuffs than putting them on later. 
• Put on your coat and head outside.

In communities like mine the housing trend of a larger home with a small back yard makes sense-- this is MN after all.  It doesn't make much sense to have a pool in every yard and sacrifice square footage, but I have sometimes found myself at a loss for yard ideas that incorporate natural, outside play into our fun in our tiny yard space. 

As in many townhome and condo communities, there are strict rules governing what may and may not be in the back yards, and things such as play sets and other kids toys are high on the list of prohibited items.  Also under scrutiny more than homes with high privacy fences are

One of the easiest ways to use natural materials in small backyard play is by integrating items that are already in use, such as landscape materials.  Some woodchips and wood products may have splinters, so it is best to stick with materials such as rocks and soft bedding materials. Rocks are great for counting, sorting, color differentiation, building and sharing. 

If your back yard is smaller, it may also be difficult to spare the space for a sandbox or other play storage.  One wonderful idea that I recently found was Prudent Baby's use of a holiday wreath plastic storage box as a small sandbox.  I love the thrifty price-- just $10, and the ability to move and store the box out of sight.  I have seen a similar thing done with an underbed storage box for the storage of toys and collections of natural materials on a deck or patio. The wheeled version can be easily slid under a table or even into a garage and taken out for quick natural play.

Even if you do not have trees aplenty or a large play structure in your yard, there are still ways that you can integrate balance and large muscle activities in free play.  In our back yard, the previous occupants had left several small boards, but this activity can be easily done using short sticks or even a line drawn on a patio with a soft chalky rock.  These small pieces of wood can be used for stacking, crossing a "moat," or simply practicing balancing.  Since these pieces are so much smaller and more mobile than a large playset, they offer more opportunities for creative play than playgrounds where play is scripted and less is left for your little ones fertile minds.