It's Playtime! Get Moving Indoors!

This time of year...
Even though its been a mild winter in Iowa.
We're still itching to get outside more and run!

We're finding creative ways to burn off energy in the house.
And so our some of our It's Playtime playdates!

I love the ideas that you guys have been coming up with to get active indoors.

[Crafty Moms Share: Indoor Snowball Fight!]

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It's Playtime! The Heart Project Features

The Heart Project has been kicked off great.
A week into it and we've raised well over our initial goal over $1,000 for the American Heart Association. We've now re-evaluated our goal, and lifted it to $2k, will you help us make it?

The Heart Project is a book [The Heart Book] full of heart projects for kids to do! So many great ideas to get crafty and artsy, even get the kids in the kitchen with you, or play with some hearty items!

A few were found last week on It's Playtime. I thought I'd give you another sneak peek of the hearts in the book.

I don't mind giving you these sneak peeks of the heart projects that are in the book. Because there are well over 100 heart projects in the book. So this is just a slim choosing of them!


Plus, they're pretty awesome and I just have to show them off!

[A Little Learning for Two: Stacked Rainbow Hearts]

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It's Playtime: Some Favorites

Sometimes I just like to look through It's Playtime and find some great ideas to bookmark [on Pinterest] for the kids to do.

Okay. Most of the time. That's what I do.

Here are a few that I'm pinning to do with the boys in the near future.

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It's Playtime! Activities for My Toddler

This year is the year for George.
Or at least that's what I keep telling myself.

He's 16 months right now.
So he still can't do a lot of the activities that Henry and I get into.

We have a lot of time to ourselves, just the two of us.
Some nice Mommy and Me time.

But we rarely set out to do something.
We just play.

I want to start getting him involved.
Be hands on with him.

I found a few activities from last week's It's Playtime to get me started.
[I also have a few bookmarked on my Toddler Activities Board on Pinterest for more inspiration.]

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It's Playtime! Science Experiments for Preschoolers!

After doing our lava lamp experiment, I've been on the lookout for more fun with science!

Especially experiments that my preschooler will find fun to do!
Here are a few experiments I found just on last week's It's Playtime! from my playdate friends!

[Science Sparks: What's Heaviest?]

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It's Playtime! Christmas Treats

Some last minute treats for Santa?
Or for our family get together!

Try these Christmas sweets and goodies with the kids this year!

[Crystal & Co. : Christmas Cookies]

Have you made cookies to set out for Santa yet? Its getting close! Time to get baking! We have yet to start this tradition, but I think this year might be the year to do it. This Ranger Cookies Recipe from Crystal & Co. look great for a Santa treat!

Above, from left to right:

• Aren't these the most adorable gingerbread men you've ever seen? Chicken Babies adds a candy cane to these sweet men!
• Um, YUM! This is a Christmas Treat I've never seen! White Rocky Road Recipe from Sassy's Sanity.
• A cute gingerbread tree at NurtureStore! Just icing and candies to decorate!
• You'll Thank Me One Day has these sweet reindeer sandwiches! Made with peanut butter and a couple pretzels and M&Ms!

High Five to these play friends!

[Go leave them a playful comment!]

[Please grab the featured badge on the right if you were featured]

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It's Playtime is a community for play loving bloggers to share ways to play.

Head on over to my playtime co-hosts:
The Imagination Tree, Messy Kids, Quirky Momma, Let the Children Play.

New to It's Playtime? Read How to Play to get all the details. 
Basically, share your play ideas at the party below and browse for more play ideas from others! 

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Happy Holidays!

Have a very merry Christmas everyone!

The Playtime gang is taking a break next week.

We'll be back in the New Year!

[No blog? You can leave a comment here to share, too!]

Be sure to LIKE your favorite play ideas!

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Henry is 3 years. George is 1 year.

Current sponsors :  Fudoo Boards  :  A Mom with a Lesson Plan  :  CraftProjectIdeas.com

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It's Playtime! Let it Snow!

The Creative Christmas Countdown is well under way.
Kitchen Counter Chronicles has today's advent activity, Making Snowflakes!

Looking around the It's Playtime posts has gotten me in the mood for snow [okay, just a little though]! So, bring on the snow!

Let it Snow!

[Adventures at Home: Snowflake Mobile]

Adventures at Home makes paper snowflakes into a pretty mobile for the winter season!

Above, from left to right:

• A Childhood List made these beautiful pasta snowflake ornaments that are so sparkly!
• Another homemade ornament from Let Kids Create. Snowflakes grown from Borax! A great science experiment!
• Snow paint! We gotta try this one. A shaving cream and glue mix. Great idea from Beansprout Preschool.
• A twist on bowling - make snowmen to knock over with a giant snowball! Imagination Station reuses Danimals containers as the snowmen [I bet Puffs containers would work great too]!

High Five to these play friends!

[Go leave them a playful comment!]

[Please grab the featured badge on the right if you were featured]

---

It's Playtime is a community for play loving bloggers to share ways to play.

Head on over to my playtime co-hosts:
The Imagination Tree, Messy Kids, Quirky Momma, Let the Children Play.

New to It's Playtime? Read How to Play to get all the details. 
Basically, share your play ideas at the party below and browse for more play ideas from others! 

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Happy Holidays!

Time to Play Away! - Link up your Play Posts!

[No blog? You can leave a comment here to share, too!]

Be sure to LIKE your favorite play ideas!

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Henry is 3 years. George is 1 year.

Current sponsors :  Fudoo Boards  :  A Mom with a Lesson Plan  :  CraftProjectIdeas.com

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It's Playtime! : Christmas Countdown

It's the beginning of the Christmas countdown.

There's 24 Days before Christmas!
Add to that a collection of 24 Kid Bloggers.
And that means there's a Creative Christmas Countdown!

Creative with Kids has organized an activity a day from 24 creative kid bloggers to countdown to Christmas! I'm very excited for this, and I'm taking part! I'm day 12! Yay!

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30 Days to Hands on Play : Concoctions

DAY 10 CHALLENGE:

MIXING CONCOCTIONS

Mixing together a few ingredients, creating a concoction that does wonders.

Your kids will love this challenge!
And learn a little about science in the process.

Vinegar and Baking Soda.
Oh the magic.
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It's Playtime! : Preschooler Games

As a child I loved games! Maybe its the competitive part of me. I loved [and still do] a challenge. I hope [to a certain extent at least] my kids have this same competitive drive throughout childhood and into adulthood. Games that are age appropriate for a preschooler are sometimes hard to come by. To make a game exciting as well as stimulating can sometimes be a challenge! A Challenge?  Well, I found the answers on last week's It's Playtime!

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It's Playtime! : The Areas of Play

In yesterday's post, P is for Play, I went through a few of the ways I look at play, and how I believe it is an important part of learning for a young child.

Luckily enough, I find inspiration for all kinds of ways to play every week from It's Playtime! [Yay Playtimers!]

Here are your ways to play in each area of Play that I outlined yesterday.
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It's Playtime! : Energy Busters

I have lately felt the itch to get moving.
To get Henry and George moving, more specifically.

I noticed that we haven't been doing as many energetic activities as we were prior to the summer. Being outdoors all day does get the kids moving.

I looked through last week's It's Playtime for inspiration to get the kids moving. I found some nifty ways to get the kids tangled up and burn off their energy.
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