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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Sand Sensory Art: 100th Day of Preschool

Henry had his first homework assignment for preschool.
To create the number 100 out of something.
[Not 100 of something, but to make the numbers themselves.]

We discussed it together to decide what to make.
[Henry told me his teacher made one out of corn!]

We decided we wanted to make one with dirt.
Well, its February in Iowa and it just snowed about six inches, so dirt wasn't to be found.
We settled on sand. [Thankfully, our sandbox has a lid!]

Henry created the number 100 while playing with sand, inside!
It was fun and George even joined in.

First, I had Henry write the number 100 on a piece of scrapbook paper.
I was amazed at how easy this was for him.
His writing skills have really taken off, even if they aren't correctly done all the time, I'm still impressed. [He often starts at the bottom of letters and numbers, instead of the top.]

I then traced over it to thicken up the lines.

Henry painted the numbers with glue. 

And then the real fun began.

The sand came out.

Henry decided to dig in it with his backhoe.

Loading it up and hauling it to his paper.

This literally took him well over an hour to do.

He covered his numbers with sand, as well as pushing the sand around to make piles and spread it out. He was pretty busy.

When all the numbers were completely covered, he picked up the paper and shook it off.

Ta-da! 

The number 100 was still there where he painted his glue! 

What's your opinion?

Does he get an E for effort?

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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! 

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Fun Kid Activity: Lines of Colored Tape

I finally got some colored tape!

I didn't even have plans for it, but I felt the need to have it for some fun kid activities!

We got to it right away.

I taped some fun lines on the floor in three different colors.

A blue zig zag line.

A red curvy line.

And one straight line in green.

We ended up with two activities with this one setup with colored tape.

1. Walk the line of colored tape.
2. Blow pom poms along the coordinating color line.

Fun Kid Activity #1: Walk the Line
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Kids Experiment: How Much Water Does it Hold?

Henry wanted to do an experiment.

He said he'd come up with one for us to do after nap.

So, after nap, Henry collected his things for his experiment.

He brought a tractor and his wagons.

He told me his experiment was to pour water into them.

So I grabbed some cookie sheets in case of spillage.

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Block Activity: Build a City

After doing our tape maze of numbers. The maze stuck [yes, pun intended] around awhile.

On one of those 'no-nap' days, Henry and I kept busy [while George was napping] with blocks and the tape maze and made a Block City!

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34 Recyclables to Upcycle for the Kids

I don't think its possible to be a hands on mom without saving anything and everything imaginable.

Ever since I started doing crafts and activities with Henry, we've been hoarding recyclables.

Henry actually has his own 'recycling center' now.

So, what is worth saving?
What can be put to good use for the kids?


I've come up with a list of 34 items to reuse that tend to be in your recycling bin. Try setting them aside before taking them out to be recycled.

What can this recyclable become?

What can it be upcycled into?

A collection of 34 Recyclables to Upcycle just for the Kids

Believe me though, its not just limited to these! 

I'm collecting more and more ways to upcycle your recyclables on Pinterest.

Its never ending.

	Milk Jugs Jug Toss Creative Connections for Kids Water Bottle Big Bubbles Projects for Preschoolers

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Sensory Activity for All Ages: Dish Soap Foam!

I knew when I saw this snow sensory activity from dish soap, from You Pinspire Me, when I collected the ideas for the Snow Collection, that it was something the boys would love and we just had to do it.

Dish Soap Foam!

So easy, your child could, and can, do it!
I put some dish soap in a measuring cup [just squirted a good amount] and added a tad bit of water.
Dumped that in my food processor, and let the kids foam it up!

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Counting Activity: A Maze of Numbers

I taped out a maze on our floor with masking and painter's tape.
I simple labeled it with numbers, not necessarily in order.

[By the way: that was the extent of George's participation in the maze activity. Sitting on the maze.]

I used the tape itself as the road of the maze [instead of between the tape lines].

I made sure to include numbers that Henry wasn't quite as familiar with [to fifteen].
He's got 1-10 down pat, but starts getting confused at 13 [skipping to 16, then 19].
He also has troubles recognizing any double digit number, so this was great practice!
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10 Ways to Get More From Walks with Children

Liven up your walks with some fun and learning! A post written and shared by Aimee at Raising the Cameron Clan.

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It is no secret that there is an obesity epidemic in the United States. As parents it is important that we do our part to encourage our kids to get out there and move. Going for a walk is an easy way to get everyone moving. However, sometimes it takes a little creativity to get your kids out the door.

 Here are 10 ways to have fun and learn while out on your walk.

1. Make a scavenger hunt. Write a list of things to find or for non-readers you can make a picture list of objects for them to cross off as you walk. This list can be based on colors, or certain objects or a certain numbers of objects; it just depends on where you are walking.

2. Take Pictures. My boys love to take pictures when we go on walks. You can give them an old camera, buy a disposable or help them use yours, but kids enjoy taking pictures. When you get home, you can take those pictures and make them into a simple book.

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30 Kids Activities & Materials for Promoting Fine Motor Skills

Fine Motor Skills have always been put on a back burner in this house, until recently.

What a difference a year makes!
Last year, Henry wouldn't sit still, or have any desire to do anything that didn't involve a lot of running around. We were really into activities that promoted his gross motor skills at that time.

But recently, Henry's taken a turn and likes to focus on some of these littler things.
He loves to cut especially.

Now that's he's interested in these fine motor activities, what can we do?

I've gathered up some inspiration.

Some materials that promote fine motor skills, 

along with some activities to do with them!

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Preschooler Activity: Counting Blocks, Building Towers

Counting blocks on their corresponding numbers. Sounds kind of dull, huh? So...

How do you get a preschooler boy excited about learning?

Bring in the big machines.

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"Make it Kid Friendly" Idea: Fine Motor Hearts

Feeling the love?

Hope so! Valentine's Day is just around the corner.

And so is The Heart Project! 

We have 60+ bloggers creating a terrific ebook of heart projects!

These hearts caught my eye.

They're beautiful.

And the clothespins are such a nice touch!

I apologize, but I cannot find the origin of this photo.

I found it via Pinterest and cannot find it on the website that its linked to.

On to the fun stuff now!

How to make this a kid-friendly activity:

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Fun Kids Art: Melted Crayon Shavings

Henry, Grandma and I made some pretty art with crayon shavings!

And it was fun to do!

The crayon shavings are what makes this art so pretty, but it also gave Henry some time to work on his fine motor skills.

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Science Experiment : DIY Lava Lamps

Make a lava lamp with your preschooler, and your preschooler love science experiments!

I can't promise that, but Henry has.

Lava lamps are simple to make, too.

What you need to make a DIY Lava Lamp:

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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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Parenting: Learning to Let Go

Guest Post by    Ever feel like this project just isn't turning out? Let go. Remember the process. A post is written and shared by Ali at At Home with Ali.

  
Learning to Let Go

Doing art and craft with young children can drive anyone crazy. Paint going everywhere except on the paper, glue on fingers and in hair, mountains of glitter spread out for no purpose, oil pastels having their wrappers ripped off and smushed into the couch... frankly it was all too hard for me.

However, one day I turned around and realized I had limited my 2 year old daughter's art and craft activities to a set of waxy crayons, a glue stick and some paper – no paint, no pva glue and no glitter.

I love art and craft so how did we get here?

Luckily, I was fortunate to have a mother-in-law trained in the field of early childhood education and we had many conversations about the importance of process over product and child-centered play... which really got me thinking.

You see, I am a graphic designer and all my working life has been focused on the product, sure there is process but I am not happy if the end product does not look great. This sort of thinking had transferred to my art and craft activities with my daughter, Cakey. Time for a different approach – I stopped trying to create beautiful things with Cakey and let her lead the way.




First up, I changed my meaning of a 'successful' activity – I started to measure success only in terms of time spent [the longer the better] and fun had. I stopped whipping away collages when I thought they were finished [i.e. looking lovely with heaps of bits and pieces glued on]. I left them out for Cakey to destroy. She seemed to get more pleasure from ripping the pieces off than she did from sticking them on.

I also re-introduced paint but I took away the easel. Instead, I set the paint up on a big table and supplied a variety of different materials to paint on – bark from a paperbark tree, little canvasses, coloured paper of various sizes, stones from the garden. This stopped her from painting on the table or pavers. And I gave myself a break – on days when I couldn't cope with cleaning up the mess from painting I pulled out our little tray of watercolours instead.

As Cakey got older [she is now 3.5], I introduced good quality [i.e. sharp enough to actually cut paper] child-friendly scissors. I let her experiment with these by cutting up strips of thick paper. I also used to sit her at the table with a magazine and let her go to town on it.

But by far the best thing I have done [in terms of independent arts and crafts go] was to teach her how to use the sticky tape dispenser. I bought a decent tape dispenser and the most expensive sticky tape because it breaks off easily for little fingers. It was well worth the investment. Cakey will happily sticky tape together amazing creations for hours with no help and is always so proud of her results. I do have to buy sticky tape in bulk now though.



Handing control over to Cakey has been hard. I realized that I have many pre-conceived ideas about what are the right and wrong ways to do something, but Cakey doesn't see the world in the same way. She doesn't want me to tell her how to do something, she wants to discover it herself. As I have slowly loosened up, art and craft activities have become loads of fun for both of us and I am learning the difference between supporting her rather than directing.

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I am a graphic designer and a stay at home mother to my two beautiful daughters - Cakey [3] and Boo [1]. Cakey wants to make things all the time - sometimes it is fabulously fun and sometimes it makes me want to pull my hair out. I love the challenge of trying to channel Cakey's interests and ideas into activities we can do together. I also love watching Boo's personality come out and am intrigued by what her interests will turn out to be.

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It's Playtime! Indoor Activities

Its that time of year.
When we all duck our heads and hibernate for a couple of months.

Granted, we try to get outside as much as we can.
But most days its not for long, if at all.

So...
What indoor activities can we do on these cold days coming up?
[Really, its been pretty nice here lately, I can't believe its in the 40s in January in Iowa...]

[Make Do & Friend: Playing in the Dark]

A flashlight does wonders!

Make, Do & Friend Found a way to calm a fear of the dark! Play in it! Take a flashlight and find lots of things shiny and see how it reflects! My kids loving playing with their flashlights, adding shiny objects would definitely be a hit!

Above, from left to right:

• De tout et de rien shows learning in a spot I never thought of , and we all probably all have one. Adding beads to a baby bottle drying rack! There's so much learning that could be done... it could go on and on, and plus keep the kids' hands busy, busy, busy!
• Play with plastic! Drawing on and cutting plastic, a definitely time-waster for the kids, I'm sure! Happy Little Messes has more in store for these plastic creations on a light machine!
• Another dark post, but this time with the aide of a black light! The Mommies Made Me Do It when on a glow hunt in the dark! Shut off the lights!
• Play dough is a go-to activity, especially when we're stuck indoors. Here's some yummy chocolatey play dough! Make birthday cupcakes from play dough and add pasta for candles! A sweet idea from What's Fun Today?

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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[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.

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Learning Activity: Cutting Snowflakes

Henry's been on a cutting kick lately.

Since its winter, I decided to take advantage of this and cut snowflakes!

I tried my best to make this as preschooler-friendly as possible.

We used coffee filters for our snowflakes.

Coffee filters are easy to cut, plus they're already round!

And they were really easy for Henry to cut. He didn't struggle cutting through them at all. 

He has a Crayola sharp pointed child scissors that work perfectly for him. 

And they cut really good.

[Seriously, we've tried many others that don't work worth a hoot.]

I folded the coffee filters into eighths [in half three times].

-- You could add in another degree of learning by talking about fractions with your kid.

So Henry would know where and how to cut the snowflake, I drew marks in a simple pattern on the folded coffee filters.

We did several snowflakes, and I learned how to best draw the lines. [For example, don't draw marks to cut right across from each other, they very may well cut a little to far and cut through the coffee filter.]

We had a mishap with one snowflake being almost completely bare. 

I had almost crumpled up the coffee filter and threw it out.

But, Dad had stopped me, and told me to open it up to show Henry.

[Ah.... see, there's a consequence for an action....]

We decided to keep the mishap snowflake and hang it up with the rest.

Dad even made his own coffee filter snowflake! 

[Can you believe, he had never done this before? Seriously! Even as a child!]

-- Sorry, I don't have any pictures of Henry actually cutting because I had to hold the folded coffee filter as he cut out the snowflake.

Henry is 3 years. George is 1 year.

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Christmas Crafts: Child-Made Cards

Guest Post by    Two fun Christmas Card Crafts for the kids to make!  Its shared by Cathy at NurtureStore.  [I love her point that they don't have to be perfect. That's kind of the best part!]

Simple child-made Christmas cards

With two crafty kids in the house we love to make and send some simple child-made Christmas cards to our friends and family. I love adding homemade touches to our celebration and I think sending a special card to someone they love is a fun way to involve children in the spirit of the holiday.

Here are two simple design ideas that are easy to make and look super cute.


Simple Christmas tree card:
 

This design is so easy to make and invites the children to add their own embellishments. The tree is made from a triangle shaped piece of paper, which you simply stick to the front your card. Then it's over to the children to add all the decorations. You can glue on shapes, use stickers and, in our house at least, add lots and lots of glitter.


Easy snowman card :


The snowman is made from two circles of cotton wool, glued in place on the front of the card. Even very young children can add faces, buttons and arms with a pencil or marker pen. We like to add a few falling snowflakes, made by sticking on some sequins. I love how each of the snowmen my kids made looks different, with it's own little personality.

Child-made Christmas cards don't have to be perfect.
The very fact that they have been hand-made makes them special, and using bold shapes with your child's own embellishments is a great-looking combination.


More Christmas craft ideas :
If your kids love lots of Christmas making they might like to try our paper plate angels or our model Christmas village.

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Cathy James writes the blog NurtureStore which is packed full of play ideas, kids crafts and fun activities. Visit NurtureStore and sign up for your copy of the Weekly Play Planner for lots more fun ideas.

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