Activities with kids

Welcome to our playroom/classroom, for now it’s in the basement of a split level home, so we’ve got lots of room to play and learn. We spend a lot of time down here, and love to create and learn together. For this post, I’m going to focus just on what’s on this wall. As for the other shelves, toys, learning tools, and kid sized the table & chairs, I have other posts planned to tell you all about them. Organizing a kids playroom/learning environment can be overwhelming, so I’m going to start here.
Check back here soon for more about our playroom and how it’s set up and organized.
PLEASE BE SURE TO CLICK “READ MORE” BELOW TO SEE THE DETAILS OF THIS POST

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Colored rice - Sensory play

11/25/2015

Colored Rice Sensory Play

According to PBS.org “Sensory play includes any activity that stimulates your young child’s senses: touch, smell, taste, sight and hearing.”

Colored Rice is perfect for sensory play and is an affordable, fun, easy to make tool in activities for strengthening fine motor skills in tiny hands, and other developmental activities.

With proper planning, colored rice play can hold the attention of even the youngest kids, and can last for as long as you’d like it to. As with any activities with kids, this can get messy, but again, with proper planning, you can make cleanup a breeze.

Colored Rice is almost as fun for parents as it is for the little ones. Not only is it fun for us to play with, but to watch your munchkin explore their senses and learn right before your eyes, is absolutely amazing.

Be sure to click the title of this post “Colored Rice – Sensory Play” above, or “Read More” below to see how to make colored rice, some of our activities, and some helpful hints for sensory play.

Cooking With Kids: English Muffin Pizza

11/19/2015

Toddler Chef - English Muffin Pizzas

English Muffin Pizzas are a new family favorite in our house. Not only are they delicious and quick, but my toddler feels like a master chef and is so proud of himself when everyone is eating something he made.

Noah will be 2 next month and I swear he's 2 going on 30. He's SUCH a "big kid," he loves to help with everything, ESPECIALLY cooking. He has a play kitchen which he plays with all of the time, however, nothing beats the real thing. As soon as I stand at the counter or the sink, I see a chair from the kitchen table "magically" gliding towards me. Next thing I know, Mommy's little helper is standing beside me grabbing at everything he can get his hands on.

He's getting better with his listening, but he's still young. By "young" I mean "sometimes the meal is ruined before it's started," but we're both learning ways to make it work.

For instance, I used to put him in the corner of the counter, so that he was "protected" on all 4 sides while standing on the chair. He had cabinets/counter on 2 sides of him, the back of the chair on one side, and me on the other. This was a disaster. He would grab EVERYTHING on the counter, and if he couldn't reach it, he felt it was close enough to climb for. I found myself being more frustrated than fun, and felt guilty because he was driving me crazy. Now, I stand in the corner where the two counters come together and keep anything he's not allowed to touch behind me on the other counter. It's a whole new experience.

I've also found that if I need an "extra second" and I can't stay right next to him, all I have to do is give him a bowl and spoon and he pretend stirs until I get back.

Be sure to click "Read More" below for ingredients and instructions on how to make these English Muffin Pizzas.

Developmental Play: Muffin Tin, Tongs, Easter Eggs

11/18/2015

Muffin Tin, Tongs & Easter Eggs

Noah will be 2 next month and loves to paint, color and draw. We have been practicing colors for as long as I can remember, and recently we've been practicing holding pens and markers "the right way." He's been doing the "fist grip" on them since we've started coloring and I thought it would be fun to start trying.
This muffin tin and tongs activity is great for helping develop the muscles used for writing. We also use this activity to practice color sorting.

Paper Plate Crafts - Colorful Fish

11/18/2015

Paper plate crafts - colorful fish

Be sure to click the title of this post "Paper Plate Crafts - Colorful Fish" above, or "Read More" below to see the list of supplies needed, step by step instructions, and a bigger picture of our completed fish

As the mother of a toddler, (22 months) I try to stick to activities that require a short attention span. This paper plate fish is a perfect example of a quick but exciting toddler activity to do together. The one pictured here, we both worked on, using Crayola Supertip Markers and our Crayola Marker Airbrush.

We did this project again when our friend came to play (18 months) but I didn't get any pictures of the finished product. That time, I had a bunch of 1 inch circles punched out of colorful scrapbook paper. The boys picked out which circles they liked, then used paintbrushes and white school glue to "coat" the plate. They stuck their circles on, let it dry, and then I cut the plate and attached the fin for them.

Hand print and Footprint Flowers

10/29/2015

Hand print and foot print flowers

Please be sure to click the picture, the title of this post "Hand Print and Footprint Flowers" above, or "read more" below to see more about this project.

Hand print and footprint flowers activity: Acrylic paint on scrapbook paper. This project is as cute as it is fun to make.

I used acrylic paint. I feel like it shows up well, has a variety of colors, and cleans up quickly *as long as it's wiped off of surfaces while it's still wet.*

Because I had 2 sets of hand prints and foot prints to fit on one page, I used scrapbook paper. If you're making only one flower per page, you could probably get away with using a standard piece of paper.

You can capture so much more than hand prints and foot prints with this activity. If your experience creating these is anything like ours was, you'll make some fun memories as well. Did you notice that Kinleys purple flowers are both her left hand? She wouldn't take her right thumb out of her mouth long enough to participate., so Mommy had to improvise. But now, the memory of her tiny little self sucking her thumb will forever be present in our picture.

"Stained Glass" Wet Construction Paper On The Window

3/17/2015

In all honesty, I think I may have had more fun with this one than Noah did. Although he LOVED ripping construction paper, the concept of creating the "stained glass" just wasn't happening.

He is only 15 months old, and he did enjoy it, but I think I'll try it again with him when he's a little older. We took our time while ripping up and cutting the paper. We actually made it an entire event of it. We sat at his little table together and he picked out which paper we were going to do next, and I went over his colors with him.

Noah puts EVERYTHING in his mouth right now, and he kept eating the paper, which I guess isn't that big of a deal, but I figured, "why not take this to a whole new level?" We brought down a few of his foam letters from the bathtub and stuck them to the window as well. They are these awesome soft letters that stick to pretty much everything when they're wet, and he chews on them all the time. It was the perfect opportunity to go over colors and letters.

Wet Construction Paper Stained Glass

*Please be sure to click on the title of this post, the picture, or "read more" below to see a larger picture and more about this project.*

Author

I'm an artist, wife, and mother of 2 small children. I'm blessed with the opportunity to be a stay at home mom, and love spending our days together doing arts, crafts, educational activities, and cooking. Here are some of the fun activities we have done. I hope you enjoy. Please let me know if you try any of these or if you have any ideas we can try.