Fun Learning Activities Kids
Five year olds are adding head knowledge to the wonder they have of the world around them. I love watching my kindergarteners play pretend, soak up learning through games, and create through arts and crafts. Here are some of my kids favorite activities when they were/are five. A play tent is super easy to make! [...]
Four year olds love life and enjoy creating, tinkering, and exploring. Here are some of my favorite activities that I have used to help engage and interact with my four year olds. Build your own blocks from a tree. These Tree Blocks are great for re-creating “natural” scenes. If you have pencils (or pens) toilet [...]
Kids love to color, love mixing the colors, love exploring with color – the brighter the better. Here are a few of my favorite color experiments that were linked up during last week’s It’s Playtime. Many thanks to my co-hosts for making this a great kid’s meme! Be sure to check out their blogs to [...]
Often what is fun is really simple. So simple that all it requires is two willing participants. My 5 y/o, Rhett, is ALWAYS willing to play our little gymnastic games. His favorite is flying. I lay on my back {preferably on a soft grass surface, but often in our living room} and put my feet [...]
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 [...]
This Monday night, October 3rd, 9pm CST, I am joining Toni of Happy Housewife on the KOA Campfire Community to talk about kids, traveling, and ways to keep youngsters entertained for long hours in a car. In anticipation of that live chat (Oh, make my day and join us!!), we are featuring our favorite crafts [...]
Every week on Wednesday afternoons we host a kids meme called “It’s Play Time”. Hundreds of fun ideas of ways you can play with and enjoy your kids are featured each week from bloggers around the world. Below are some of my favorite posts that were recently linked up. . Make time to play. At [...]
A good foundation is important for both buildings and for life. This week’s sponsor, Cerra, is a company with a wide variety of products, ranging from comforting oils, candles, journal aids and more. Their products help remind us to be grounded in who we are and to build with what we have around us. They [...]
We Quirky Mommas are on a camping kick! A few weeks ago we played pretend camping at home, we made a tent from PVC pipes and this weekend my daughter is off to her first sleepover – and it’s going to have a camping theme! I love watching the kids go on grand adventures in [...]
It is not quite cool enough yet to play outside for long periods of time. It is still 100+ degrees here in Texas, but we are dreaming of the 90s and bookmarking some fun outdoor play ideas as inspired through last week’s It’s Playtime Link-up. Each week over a hundred bloggers link up their favorite [...]
As summer is drawing to a close, I am dreaming and scheming of different things I can do with our deformed and wilted pool noodles. Thanks Chocolate Muffin Tree, Frugal Fun for Boys, Gratefully Growing and Mama Pea Pod for submitting a bunch of inspiring ideas in previous It’s Playtime Link-ups. I am thrilled our [...]
Ice is a necessary outdoor play ingredient in Texas summers. Temps haven’t dipped below 100 this week. Ice Play Solid frozen water is my preschooler’s friend. They can drop cubes, watch ice melt on their chalk drawings, chomp on cubes, throw them down their shirts. Pretend cook, stirring icy slivers. Here are several ways that [...]
We have tubs of playdough around here and love making our own batches. Just last week we had fun creating coffee playdough. Here are four creative posts that inspired me to play with playdough. Thanks for submitting them to It’s Playtime! Kate of Picklebums, had fun with her kids, some jungle toys and props, and [...]
Cars, the movie and the toys are beloved friends of my four year old. This summer, Redbox is asking moms, “What’s the best animated movie that both kids and parents can enjoy?” Plus, they are rewarding 2 lucky people with a chance to win $10,000 as part of the Redbox Summer of Fun & Games [...]
There are so many things the kids and I want to do together. We only have 6 more weeks of summer! Not enough time! Here are a few of the activities from last week that looked like so much fun that we put them into our family’s “Summer Bucket List”. Fun things to do. Bucket [...]
Is your recycling bin overflowing? Mine is! Here are four ideas of ways you can turn your trash into treasure – or at least half an hour of play and exploration! . Melissa over at The Chocolate Muffin Tree (one of my favorite blogs!) used the lid of a dish soap bottle, an old CD [...]
What ways have you encouraged (or allowed) your kids to interact and play in the outdoor world around them? Preschoolers are so curious! I love how these sites, from last week’s link-up “It’s Playtime” party, had fun outside or inside, with “outside” things. 1 -Gina of Play-Based Preschool brought a number of outdoor “treasures” into [...]
This week Jenna’s, of Happy Little Mess, post on the way her boys interacted with the alphabet resonated with me! Her son enjoys playing with a laser light. So does mine! Her son drew with chapstick last week – and so did mine! The only difference was that she was able to channel that enthusiasm [...]
All kids love playing with playdough. Here are some of the best playdough recipes I’ve found from the web, along with a bunch of different ideas of ways we can use playdough to play and learn with our kids. 1 – In the blog, Creativity in Progress, Sunghee created a fun way to showcase those [...]
Preschoolers love to be read to and to play pretend; combine the two and you are sure to have a great afternoon activity. Here are some of my favorite link-ups from our Kids Meme, It’s Playtime, that featured families reading and playing with their kids: Preschool lesson plans: If I got to award a “prize” [...]
Looking for ideas of ways to help your preschoolers explore their world? Sensory tubs are a great! Most preschoolers love touching and feeling things. Tubs (or in our case, a kiddie pool) full of sensory objects are sure to keep your kids engaged and exploring! . Some of the things you can put into your [...]
I have a preschooler who loves her Polly Pocket dolls and accessories and an infant who wants to put the tiny brightly colored bits into her mouth! We tried keeping the tiny shoes, combs and purses contained and tidy – but were not successful. Solution: Make a Polly Pocket Bracelet! This was a perfect early [...]
Do rainbows put smiles on your faces? I know my kids love discovering a rainbow in the sky. Here are some of our favorite rainbow activities that we discovered (or added to) in the worldwide web! Which one is your favorite? I love the simplicity of this rainbow from Tribal Times. She squirted paint on [...]
My kids and I love to read, and love to play pretend. Playing pretend with the stories was a great way to check to the kiddos comprehension. Our recent reading dramatization was with the adaptation of Goldilocks and the Three bears, by Steven Guarnaccia. One of the things I liked about this version is that [...]
Do your kids enjoy making a mess? I know that mine do! We got a really fun book in the mail from Penguin books, Mess: The Manual of Accidents and Mistakes, by Keri Smith. This is such a fun book filled with activities and ideas of ways to make art from messes, or rather to [...]
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, [...]
One of the things I love about blogging is meeting people who become the friends I have never met. Debbie is a mom/grandma who blogs about her life and experiences with her preschooler. I love how she incorporates learning into play! Debbie collected a bunch of doll houses, barns, and cars and trucks to create [...]
With the weather warming up outside my kids and I both enjoy being outside! That said, there are times when I have to encourage them to stay outside. Remember our Boredom Buster Dice? We made a new one full of activities they can do outside. Whenever they complain, “Mom, but I don’t want to ride [...]
As my younger children napped, one of my preschoolers and I grabbed a bunch of little items and played a game of “What is missing?” using our used Easter Egg casings from the weekend’s festivities. . . . . . . . . How to create your own “What is Missing?” Game: We used Easter [...]
Does your preschooler love foamy bubbles? Last year my kids and I went to the town square where the kids were amazed to have discovered a prank (here’s a picture of the Quirky kids with Bubbles). Some kids (I’m assuming) dumped soap suds into the fountain and there were bubbles everywhere! Since then we have [...]
