It's Playtime is Learning Time!

I love to find fun ways to teach new concepts to the boys.

Henry's been really into counting lately, so we've been doing a lot of things with numbers. [He's even adding and subtracting, and even sometimes dividing without even knowing it!]

Here's 4 learning activities for the kids from last week's It's Playtime!

Above, clockwise from top-left:

• Mama's Little Muse had fun mixing primary colors with Shamrock Color Viewer!
• Adventures at Home with Mom matched shapes! Match little shapes to their big shape and make a collage!
• A number game from Mummy Mummy Mum has had me thinking of how to make this perfect for Henry! Roll the ball through a tunnel and add [or subtract!] the number above the tunnel to your score!
• Compare, predict and test. Play Create Explore set up a WAY to learn about WEIGHT!

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

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Kid Activity: Crayon Color Sorting

The kids and I were out shopping, actually doing it to waste time to pick up Dad.

And I came across these crayon shaped paint sample cards. 

I had no plan for them, but I've been seeing a million ideas for sample cards lately, and thought there must be something I could do with them. It seems I'm starting to hoard things without a plan lately. Yesterday's activity was with colored tape that I had no plan for either!

I did come up with a learning activity for the paint sample cards.

Fittingly, we sorted crayons!

I taped the crayon shaped sample cards inside the holes of a muffin tin.

I set out our box of mixed up crayons and Henry sorted them!

We found out very soon that the color of the crayon, or the paper on the crayon is sometimes misleading.

A black crayon has a very light gray paper.

Sometimes a burnt orange crayon looks brown.

Henry learned to test his crayons before deciding what color it was. 

A sneaky way for me to have him practice scribbling, drawing, writing... as well as his pencil grip!

[tee hee hee]

Henry went through each and every crayon we had.

Placing it in the corresponding muffin tin.

Henry observed that there were a lot of orange crayons!

And blues!

[We counted them then to see which had more, turns out orange did!]

A fun color learning activity, and a piece of art in the process! 

Like it? Share it!

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"Make it Kid Friendly" Idea: Geometric Garland

I found this colorful garland of shapes on Pinterest.

So colorful and bright, I thought this could be turned into a kid project!

Visit Weekday Carnival to buy this gorgeous geometric garland!

I'm not sure what these are made of, or how they're made, but I can think of a few ways to do this with the kids, and even add some learning into the process!

What can be done to make it a kid-friendly activity:

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Outdoor Play : Scavenger Hunt

It has been a while since I made a scavenger hunt for Henry.

This time I wanted Henry to be more self-sufficient at it.

So I made a scavenger hunt guide with pictures [as well as the word].

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Art : Frozen Painting

Beating the Heat has been fun last week. 

Even though it was miserably hot, we used lots of ice to keep us cool.

So far, George has played with ice cubes [a simple sensory activity for babies] and Henry discovered a healthy snack of fruit in a frozen ice excavation.

We even managed to keep cool while creating art!

I've seen a lot of ice cube paintings out there, 

where you color some ice cubes with some food coloring.

It often gives a watercolor effect, often very pastel.

For this paint project, I was looking for a something a little more... vibrant!

So we got artsy with some frozen paint.

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Art : Homemade Window Paint Take 2

I love when Henry chooses the activity for the day.

This time he wanted really, really badly to paint the big window again!

When we made window paint last time, it was super sticky and goopy.

This time, I looked up a new window paint recipe from Home Spun Threads.

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It's Playtime! : Colors

Henry has learned his colors long ago.

He has also learned the different shades of green, blue, pink, purple and other colors.

We're just learning what happens when you mix two colors together.

[I do think he has what blue and yellow make together figured out though!]

There are lots of fun ways to implement learning about colors in your preschooler, 

These Playtime pals have given us great examples beyond just color recognition. 

There are an infinite amount of shades of colors, identify them in a color hunt. Sun Scholars uses paint swatches and sends the kids off to find the colors.

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Free Play : Fabric

Yesterday's basket of fabric scraps that George explored, 

turned into some exploring from Henry, as well.

The entire basket, of course, was dumped onto the floor immediately.

Henry began sorting the fabric scraps by color.

At least that's what he told me.

He was collecting the blue fabrics. 

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Rolling Eggs & Balls Painting

I decided to take this art activity outside.

It took Henry awhile to get into it.

At first, he only wanted to play with his dump truck and stack the paints in it.

I started by showing him what we'd do to spark some interest.

Henry joined me soon after.

This activity was inspired by Tinkerlab's Rolling Easter Egg Painting 

and Teaching 2 and 3 Year Old's Cars Down Ramp in Paint

But, Henry created and played with the paints in his own way.

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Paper, Paint & Vehicles

[After two other failed crafty attempts today]

Henry created this piece of art:

While I was getting supper on the table,

I handed him a piece of 12x12 scrapbook paper.

Color of his choice:

Green.

Poured some washable paint in a container.

And gave him his green paintbrush.

[A couple of months ago, Henry and I bought this basting brush together, 

I told him it would be for him to paint with. 

He has been so excited to use it, and talked about it for a long time. 

I completely forgot about it until today. His excitement returned!]

I set out a couple of vehicles for Henry to drive through the paint.

[note: I only set out a couple, notice the amount Henry added himself]

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Food Tracks & Layered Playdough

Making tracks with trucks and tractors in Play Doh is nothing new in this house.

Instead of vehicles, today we tried food!

[play food]

Craters made from grapes!

Corn on the Cob made nice rows.

And a fork?

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Fruity O's Rainbow

Laziness Nixed.

Fun Revived!

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KoolAid Paint with Fun Cleanup

Some crafts don't turn out exactly how you plan... 

[isn't that the cardinal rule of crafting with toddlers and preschoolers?]

but the process of doing it is still just as fun and educational.

Henry painted with ice cubes and KoolAid.

He sprinkled a couple packages of KoolAid on paper in a tupperware.

Added some ice cubes and shook it around.

[FYI: ahead of time set the ice cubes out earlier so they are already slimy]

The ice cubes didn't melt fast enough, so I eventually gave him a syringe of water.

He had lots of fun with the syringe. 

Learning to aim where the water went

was most of the battle.

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Our Valentine Recap

What I may love even more than doing the crafts and activities themselves. 

The outcome of the craft. 

Look at my mantel! 

All homemade crafts done by my very own 2 year old.

They may not be perfect - but they look pretty awesome all together.

Happy Valentine's Day!

[1] ABC = abc

[2] Shaken, not stirred, Painted Hearts

[3] Valentine Countdown Tree

[4] Yummy Edible Valentines

[5] Valentine Tissue Wreath

[6] Sorted Button Valentine Heart 

[7] Stuffed Heart Balloon

[8] Handmade Heart Bird Feeder

[9] Stamped Heart

[10] Patterning and a Heart Hunt

We've also been reading:

Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown

Sorted Button Valentine Heart

I know I said the Valentine Tissue Wreath was one of my favorites, but this is my favorite!

I absolutely love how this looks on my mantel right now. 

It glimmers and shines in the light.

Henry started with sorting buttons by color in a muffin tin.

(I was planning on only using reds, pinks, and whites)

I made a swirl design in glue around and around a cutout heart.

Henry added buttons to his desire!

(Henry wouldn't have it with my color selection and used every single color.)

... and kept adding ...

I added some in the tiny spaces.

Then I glued it to a pink scrapbook page and propped it up against a picture frame on my mantel...

and its oh-so-pretty.

Idea from Pink and Green Mama

This project has been included in The Heart Project.

Make a donation of $5 to the American Heart Association

and receive The Heart Project ebook as a free gift!

US $5.00 Donation to AHA

US $20.00 Order the Printed Version [$5 of every sale of the printed book will go to the AHA]

Scavenger Hunt - Indoor

Henry and I did an Indoor Scavenger Hunt. I came up with a list of things that he could find around the house and put in a bag... this was our first scavenger hunt and I wasn't too sure how well Henry would do, so we started out simple.


First we did some objects:
- Spoon
- Pen
- Mitten
- Comb
- Piece of Paper
- Ball


Then I tried to be a little pickier with those objects:
- a PINK car
- the letter 'V'
- a DIRTY sock
- THREE books
- ONE Kleenex
- a picture of your BROTHER


Then I tried just using descriptive words for items that were open ended as to what he could find:
- Something that keeps you warm
- Something blue
- Something that makes noise
- Something you put on your head
- A tool you use to measure things


I was impressed with what he knew to bring. 


The only fault I see to this - what do you do with the items once they've been collected? I felt like it was very open ended and needed something to be done with them.


So, I'm trying to come up with a 'daily' scavenger hunt to prepare for the day ahead.
- a book you'd like to read with Mom today


However, that's all the further I've gotten... everything else I've come up with, he can't get himself... I've thought about making flash cards with the choices and he could pick which one he wanted. But that takes out the 'scavenger' part of the game. Got any good ideas?


Eventually, I want to get into hunting for objects that start with a letter that I tell him, but I know we're not there yet. He does know what some objects start with, but that's only because we have books that say - L is for Lion - and he has those memorized. 


I didn't get any pictures of our hunt - but Henry really liked the challenge of looking for stuff. This is usually a problem he has when he thinks of toy he wants to play with - he doesn't usually try to look for it... he just assumes he can't find it. Hopefully this will teach him that sometimes you have to look around and dig to find what you're looking for.


Have you guys done any indoor scavenger hunts? I'd love to hear of objects that you have them look for.