Our patio is in the front of our house as our backyard is overtaken by food production efforts. For us, this makes the front patio area the place for food consumption efforts. For lazy-coffee-drinking while watching the kids ride bikes (Is it bad that I’m still too chicken to let them go our by themselves without supervision?)
Some of my favorite ways to use the patio include:
Sidney grilling food for us.
The overhang makes it the perfect outdoors-but-shaded place to keep the grill. And when we have fresh steaks, as we recently did, it’s the place for amazing smells while Sidney cooks us a feast. Sometimes we can make the entire meal on the grill with meat such as ribs or steak and also veggies like bell peppers, tomatoes, onions, corn, or potatoes roasted to perfection. Do you grill very often? I love the extra flavor that grilling provides and we recently perfected the smoking technique when we learned how to cook ribs on the grill. Mmmmm….
Getting the kids outdoors.
The patio is a great place for the outside-is-best activities like finger-painting, letting things dry where they won’t get destroyed (like cool stepping stones we recently made – post coming soon), or sidewalk chalk. It’s also the place where I insist that all the sticks must live so the boys like to use their stick collection (yes, we have a stick collection) for guitars, swords, and other assorted imaginative toys.
Unplugging myself from the computer.
When is the last time you left your tech behind. It’s great to unplug for awhile and watch the kids. Marvel in their imagination, humor, cooperation, and joy in life. Watching my kids run around the front yard, or have a “picnic” on the porch is always hilarious. Always something fun to observe.
Watch nature.
Even though we live in city limits we enjoy the fun of being in a rural area. Various creatures and critters are sure to be spotted if you look carefully. My son is a master at catching frogs while I like to plant butterfly-friendly plants and love seeing the hummingbirds come to my hummingbird feeder outside. We make it a point to feed and water the birds in our neighborhood, especially with the drought hurting so many natural food sources right now.
These are just some of my favorite activities that my family enjoys on our patio. What activities do you and your family enjoy on your patio? Answer the question below and one of my readers will win a $25 Sears gift card!
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I’m not sure we can compare to the stick guitar, but my crew digs sidewalk chalk on the patio and painting with water. I think we have done more writing “school” out there than anywhere else.