Fun Learning Activities Kids
What were your favorite memories of recess? Mine were playing four square and twister. I loved rainy days as that’s when my teacher would pull-out a twister mat and a spinner card and we would see which of us were fast enough to contort ourselves onto the correct colors. Recess was the highlight of my [...]
Some days you set out materials and you have plan for how you think they will be used. Some days you set out materials and you wait to see how they are used. We have two tomato cages that have been sitting in our shed since we tried growing tomatoes two years ago. The bugs [...]
Do you find yourself constantly “tidying –up”? Do you feel like all your hard work cleaning is undone as soon as the kids walk in the door? Do you ever ask yourself if you live with a bunch of ‘whirl-winds’? As a mom of 3 busy kids, I felt like I was constantly picking stuff [...]
We love simple magic tricks – the kids love discovering the “secrets” or the science behind the experiments. This magic trick uses a dollar bill and paper clips. It can’t be any easier than that! This magic paper clip trick is easy for little kids to perform. My son learned this for a Cub Scout [...]
We had been using aluminum foil for a school project. Once we were done, my kids started playing with their leftover foil scraps. It really is fun to play with foil! Then they started asking for more. And more. Aluminum foil is inexpensive and so much fun to create with that I let them use [...]
Kids don’t need toys, they don’t need “programs”. I love a few of the activities linked up in It’s PLaytime last week! These are things you can do with your kids almost anywhere with no preparation – and they won’t cost you a dime. Looking for more ideas? Check out our weekly link-up below. Lots [...]
Have I told you about our Fridays? We are homeschooling our oldest two kiddos and Fridays are our fun learning day! We count with legos, we have “PE at the park”, and we play sight word ball. Even our two and one year old kiddos join in the fun!. . . What do you need [...]
Are you looking for gift ideas for creative kids – these kits are perfect! Green Kid Crafts is a company that is mom-made and mom-run, and you can tell! They understand kids and are spot-on with instructions. Our kids love the variety and textures of the supplies included in the kits. Congrats to April who [...]
Have candy? Peanut butter? Some apples? We made monster apple faces with the leftovers from our birthday party this past weekend. During the kids birthday party we had a candy buffet for the kids to decorate their own cupcakes – it was a huge hit! We couldn’t let the leftovers go to waste – time [...]
My quirky kids like to play with their food… and it’s Wacky Wednesday at our house in honor of one of our favorite books by, Theo LeSieg. Here are several silly and “wacky” snack ideas that were recently linked up to It’s Playtime! I hope they inspire you and your children to have fun playing [...]
Have you noticed a theme this past week? We have been learning about things that begin with the letter B in this months Activity-a-Day Calendar. These are just a few of the “B” things I’ve come across this past week: . If it weren’t for the fact that my youngest preschooler has recently decided bath [...]
Want a craft project that reminds you of cooler days? We are pretty warm right now in Texas, and I was thrilled to discover a fun “wintery” science experiment. Pam of Troop Petrie created some fun and whimsical snowflakes with her kids using borax (which is a staple in homemade cleaners) and pipe cleaners. As [...]
What are some of the must-haves for a pretend clothes stash? Here are a few of my preschoolers favorite imagination stimulating items. What are your kids favorite pretend play items? I’d love to add to our collection! . Capes These are so easy to create and make terrific gifts! Basically, take a rectangle of fabric, [...]
As many of you know, we came back a couple weeks ago from a cross-country roadtrip. We spent the better part of four days driving in the car 10-16 hours each day. We were are crazy! I am amazed that we lasted the entire trip without resorting to DVDs to entertain the kiddos. We already [...]
Liz from A Belle, a Bean and a Chicago Dog, reminded me about the joys of letting our kids explore. We have a camera for the kids to use, one of our old ones, but it has been up on a high shelf for quite sometime. Kids love documenting events with photos and I love [...]
I love going to the mall, detest shopping, but love the indoor playcenter which is great to help my preschoolers spend some pent up energy on a rainy day… and I love our tradition of getting a soft pretzel after our outing! We regularly bake bread at the Quirky home, but we made pretzels for [...]
Combine play sand with cornstarch and you get lots of sand fun! What is great about this mixture is that unlike regular sand, it cakes together when slightly damp. Almost becoming hard, but smashes back into sand. All of my kids enjoyed playing with there new “outdoor only” tub! I will warn you though, they [...]
Do your preschoolers use a ton of chapstick? Mine do! And I needed an alternative to help their cracking lips (gotta love winter weather) and something that I felt safe with them ingesting. I was inspired after reading about a friend who mixed shortening and a juice mix to create a yummy edible lip balm. [...]
My son loves being a helper and was thrilled when he got to make lunch for us today! We are eating pancakes – yummy! How fun is it to mix breakfast with learning our letters! We have a set of cookie cutters that are in the shapes of capital letters (thanks Laney). Here is a [...]
I loved discovering Mindi’s site, B.A. Bookworm, we are bookworm wanna-bes over here and I love some of the ideas she has for ways to encourage reading in our kids! She is an advocate for getting kids up and moving, rather than sitting in front of a TV (or computer – we love starfall and [...]
A friend of mine, Chelsea, has been using Headsprout to help her daughter learn-to-read and gave me rave reviews. I just had to check it out myself. After contacting Headsprout, they gave me a trial. Headsprout is an all-online system. The have a map of activities and objectives for the kids to reach. The kids [...]
This is a super simple activity I remember playing when I was a kid. Basically, we created a stop/go sign and one person got to be “in charge”. When the sign said go we ran around like crazy banshees! When it said stop, we’d stop. Super simple! Kept them entertained for quite awhile. I even [...]
More ways to use chores to teach your kids… … Mopping, wiping, vacuuming and learning: I use mopping to work on memory skills. Did you already mop here? How can you tell? With our table top we can easily practice deductive reasoning. The area without crumbs and greasy hand prints was wiped down, the other [...]
My kids love cooking with me. So how can I use those moments adding ingredients, mixing and stirring to teach my kiddos? Here are some of the learning ideas I came up with: Cooking with your toddlers: Sequencing steps. It is important for kids to follow specific steps in a process. Example: First, mix eggs, [...]
Our “theme” for this week is doing chores with our kids, what ways can we use chores and reoccurring daily events to teach our children educational concepts (math, verbal skills, reasoning, etc.) as well as instill in our kids a sense of value for work and appreciation of effort. I love how excited my kids [...]
I have three kids all under four and they love being useful, feeling needed, knowing that they contribute to our family. And, I love to look for the sneaky ways to help my kids learn without realizing it, or without the confines of a structured environment. Chores are a great way for my kids to [...]
So trying to find and bookmark good children’s internet educational sites or activities is very time-consuming. I heard from a friend about Zoodles, a kid-friendly, parent-friendly web browser that already did all the work. It took no time to download and learn. I can control much of what my son has to choose from (for [...]
