Sensory activities offer children the opportunity to learn, explore, and play through their senses. Being able to manipulate items helps young children develop, engage, and learn. Sensory play has been an activity all of my children (both in my home and the classroom) have always gravitated towards and enjoyed participating in. This is part of …
Pretend play… Dramatic play… Dress up… whatever name you want to call it, is so important in nurturing the creativity of children and in helping them to explore the world around them. There are so many important ways that pretend play helps kids and even more ways that this type of play can be encourage in children. Here are 25 super …
We drive around town quite frequently as we run errands or pick up Pip and her friends from school. This can sometimes make for boredom for Bear in the backseat. Something that we often do is backseat storytelling. I start a story based on what I see and Bear finishes my sentence and adds anything to it …
A while back, I was talking with someone very close to me as we watched Bear play. He was in the driveway pushing a baby doll in our stroller. That’s when the words came out of the person’s mouth: Them: You know, if he keeps doing stuff like this, he’s gonna be… y’know… Me: Stuff like what? …
I don’t remember how exactly this game came about. It was an uneventful day when Bear {4.5} was bored beyond belief and not at all interested in playing with any of his toys. At the time, we were playing with Matchbox/Hot Wheels cars and our Fisher-Price Little People Garage. Then the idea popped into my …
I’ve had this dollhouse kit in the garage since we lived at our apartment before The Sergeant and I got married. I think I bought in…2004ish {??} Marked down from $130 to $87. I’ve always thought about building it, but never really got up the motivation. Bear has seen it and asked about building it …
I got the awesome opportunity to become a contributor over at the Kids Activities Blog last year. The experience has been awesome and I’ve been able to share even more ideas with others. I just wanted to share the posts I’ve written for them so far in case you’ve missed them…{I’ll update this as I …
Bear {4 yrs} likes to play bank. We usually play it with invisible money, a ring box, and our Fisher-Price Little People Garage. It’s fun and I can incorporate learning into play it without him realizing it. This time though, the bank dramatic play came about while we played with our Lite Brite cube. Don’t ask …
Pirates are a fun theme for dramatic play, Halloween costumes, and birthday parties. Last year, Bear actually had a Lego pirate themed birthday party. My one stipulation when it comes to pirate play is that there are no swords, cannons, or other violent elements involved. Here’s a quick and cheap pirate sensory bin activity that gave …
Bear loves everything garbage trucks! When they come thundering up the street, he goes tearing off to the window to catch a glimpse of them. So what better theme than garbage trucks for me to plan learning activities around? For a garbage truck literacy activity, I got out some of our easy word flashcards with …
