Fun Learning Activities Kids
Figuring out how to balance objects is something that fascinates children. Whether it is trying to balancing the same type of objects on either side of a balance or trying to find two objects that have the same weight or a number of objects that will equal a heavier object. It is just plain fun. [...]
It is hard to believe that we are talking about Back to School already! The summer always seems to fly by, filled with fun activities, play dates, and staying up late. So to commemorate one last week of summer fun, we try to make the most of it with a “Back to School Week of [...]
Nicholas has been learning about the muscles in his body. He’s learned about the tree types of muscles – smooth, skeletal, and cardiac. He is working on learning the names and locations of some of the major skeletal muscles in his body. How Do Muscles Work? We have read about how a muscle works through [...]
Outdoor Adventures: Animal Hunt Sometimes my children need some imaginative prompts to set them off in their outdoor adventures. This simple animal hunt outdoor adventure is sure to have your little ones happily running, jumping and searching through your garden. You’ll need an assortment of toy animals for your animal hunt. Have your [...]
What are your vacation essentials when you’re packing for a trip with the kids? Space is always limited in our suitcases but I always like to make sure I have something to keep the children entertained wherever we are, and whatever the weather. Packing for a Playful Trip My number one item I always make [...]
Sense of Touch This summer, my son and I went to a nature center. Besides some live fish and turtles to look at, there were a few hands on activities for kids. One of our favorites was a group of boxes designed to reach your hand inside, feel around, and try to figure out what [...]
Early Learning for Toddlers and Preschoolers Toddlers and Preschoolers have so much to learn about the world around them. Seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, and smelling – their five senses are in overdrive all the time as they take it all in. One fun way to get a little child to focus on their sense of [...]
Early Learning: Rory is currently learning ABCs. She is not even 2 and can already point and name every letter. One of the reasons why I think she has caught on so quickly to the abc’s is because of the Animal Alphabet Cards we made. The Animal Alphabet Cards take little to no time to [...]
Your driveway can become the perfect canvas for creating a portrait. All you need is some chalk and a few treasures from around your yard. Chalk Drawings A simple chalk drawn oval in the color of your child’s choice is all that is needed to start the portrait making process. After drawing an oval for [...]
Digging around in a forgotten cupboard drawer, I found a dusty old box of dominoes. My preschooler had never seen dominoes before and I realized that even though she wasn’t ready to play the actual game, that didn’t mean she couldn’t use the tiles as a fun math learning tool. Just taking each one out [...]
Are you planning on watching the Olympics with the family? Do you have a favorite Olympic sport you like to watch? I am always amazed at all the sports that make it into the Olympics, so fun. Here is a fun snack to get your kids in the Olympic spirit. We had our own backyard [...]
Learning how to measure is an important science skill. Measuring is used in science data collection. Measuring is also a necessary life skill. Think about how often you measure something. You employ measuring cups in the kitchen for recipes. You use tape measures and rulers to build something or when decorating a room. Measuring may [...]
The Olympics start today and we are getting excited! We’ve been learning about the Olympics Mascots- Wenlock and Mandeville and thought it would be fun to create our own Lego mascots! This activity was very simple and open ended and my son and I had a great time building together. Materials Needed to Make an [...]
We were walking outside in our backyard and Rory noticed all of the pinecones and sticks that had accumulated on the ground. She immediately begin picking them up, throwing them, and kicking them. I tried to think of craft things to make with these great items from nature. I decided to combine Rory’s two favorite [...]
Play dough can be an amazing doorway into imaginary lands. Take a batch of home-made dough – we always use this no-cook play dough recipe - and add in some food coloring to set the scene. Today we went with blue for the ocean. Provide some props. I like to offer open-ended items – materials [...]
A kotinos or laurel wreath is given as a prize to a winner in the ancient Olympic Games and it was a horse shoe shape. It was placed on the winner’s head to celebrate their victory. A simple laurel wreath can be constructed and displayed on your champion’s head using three simple materials. Supplies for [...]
On Father’s Day Weekend, my preschooler and I were busy filling up ice cube trays with food coloring and water and made a few spills. After mopping up our mess with some paper towels, we realized that we accidentally had come upon a beautiful Paper Towel Tie Dye art activity. Materials paper towels water food [...]
The foundation for math learning begins much earlier than we adults realize. Our children and their developing minds are capable of understanding and taking in abstract thinking early in their lives. We (and they) may not know it fully until they hit a point in life when they just “get it”. This idea hit home [...]
Olympics for Kids With the Olympics right around the corner it is the perfect time to use the symbols of the Olympics to create activities for children that review or introduce learning concepts such as color sorting. The Olympic symbol of interlocking rings of red, blue, green, black and yellow is a wonderful tool for [...]
Have you discovered water beads yet? They are polymers, also called gel beads, that start off as tiny little balls and expand to much bigger balls as they absorb water. They’re often found in florist stores or the home decor aisle of stores – and they’re great for all sorts of play. As they grow [...]
Counting a Handful of Buttons This simple counting activity helps emergent counters work towards: Correctly counting collections of up to ten objects Consistently matching one number word to one item in the collection. How to play: Pick up a handful of buttons Guess how many buttons have been picked up Placing the buttons in a [...]
The word “read” is define by the Encarta World English Dictionary as the ability to interpret: written material, printed signs, body language, and by understanding intuitively. Despite the normal lack of ability to read the printed word, there are a variety of early reading skills that toddlers can develop. A Toddler Can Read… Tone of [...]
Every Friday our friend Katy comes over to play and we always try to do some sort of fun activity with her. So when Katy informed me of a painting craft she thought Rory would like, we immediately started gathering supplies to make water bottle flowers. This painting craft is a great way to help [...]
I love to put creative combinations of materials together and see what the kids come up with. This week we’ve paired up play dough and some pasta – and the children made up their own game! The play dough is home made, using this easy no cook play dough recipe. Play dough is so versatile [...]
A few archways cut in to an old shoe box can be a fun way to practice adding. The numbers one, two and three have been written on the top of these archways for my four year old to work on counting. Small sticky notes could be placed for each archway with various numbers to [...]
I am always on the lookout for ways to encourage and extend the natural learning that happens through play. Language acquisition, fine motor skills, gross motor skills, and social development are easily recognized as being developed through play. But have you ever thought of science skills and concepts as fitting naturally into play? As children are playing, [...]
We’ve been reading about ocean creatures a lot lately, especially jellyfish. I started pulling together some supplies for my preschooler to make a little jellyfish craft project with a paper plate. But we decided to take it a step further and make our jellyfish glow like those found deep in the dark depths of the [...]
There are so many things you can do while blowing bubbles. You can simply chase them and that is a lot of fun to do, but you can add in learning and that can be fun too. Here are some way you can tie learning to bubble blowing fun: You can sing a song with [...]
Play dough is the number one way to play in our house right now. The children love it because there are no limits to what they can make with. They can mix up a batch of home made play dough in minutes, add in some extra props and their own imagination and then they [...]
It’s another week and another It’s Playtime round-up! Thanks to each and everyone of you who share fun activities for our kids to do together – you are an inspiration to me (and the source of many of the pins that I tag with hopes of doing that activity “one day”). This week’s collection of [...]
