My files and whats in my head about DIY building are bursting with ideas. It has been challenging for me to reign in and organize them in a readable format. My boys taught me so much at home in the 80's about building with anything that becomes available. I got it to some degree. I was the "land art" Queen when I was little. My art was created by loose nature bits and left on the forest floor. But they made magicwith anything recyclable. I remember a tiny Weston telling me that a building block can become anything he could think of. I remember thinking..."I did good on this one. He got it..."
Give children toys that are powered by their imagination, not by batteries.
H. Jackson Brown
Whether outside or inside, ignite your child’s curiosity and investigation with explorative play. Like, little pioneers, they discover themselves and the world around them through exploration. Find out how you can support the benefits of exploratory play.
Exploratory Play
First, let’s define exploratory. It meansto search, discover, and learn more about something. Exploratory activities are a way to immerse your child in a variety of experiences and adventures. As one of the earliest forms of play, it involves using your child’s senses, such as taste, touch, and smell. Consequently, they often include their entire bodies in the process.
Also, linked to your child’s development, it encourages them to ask questions. Furthermore, it gives them the chance to explore their surroundings and discover the how and why of their world.
Play is FUN, spontaneous, andimaginative. It is where children are free to make their own choices and decisions. As a result, thisfree playis crucial to inviting your child to take risks and building their confidence.
We want to be clear that open-ended and unstructured play is still a critical part of block play. Kids need free time to build and develop their imagination and creativity. So, be flexible. Start with a plan, but let your children take the lead. Keep it fun, and let them be imaginative!
Increasing Creativity
As a society, we need to model and encourage creativity in our children. By doing so, we can cultivate a generation of innovative and gifted thinkers. As your child’s role model, they learn more from what they see you do than what they hear you say. Consequently, exhibiting the importance of creativity can spark your child’s creativity.
To bring out the best in your child, you must be intentional and consistent with rewarding desired behaviours, setting clear expectations, and providing consistent discipline where necessary. Building mutual respect and trust is key in any relationship and is especially important in helping bring out the best in your child.
Bring out the Best in your Child
Raising children is no easy task. There will inevitably be times when you feel like you are at your wits' end, but even in those moments, your goal should always be to help bring out the best in your child. This isn’t just about providing them with a good education and instilling moral values. It's about helping them become the best versions of themselves.
Where do you even begin? Fortunately, we’ve compiled a step-by-step guide for helping bring out the best in your child. We'll provide honest advice on communicating with your kids, practical tips on recognising their potential, and effective strategies for guiding them towards success. In short, this article will serve as your roadmap to unlocking their full potential.
When you pause to recognise the successes, big or small, your child begins to see how much they have accomplished and how capable they really are. It is in these moments, when they feel confident in their abilities, that you get to see their best selves come out. Here are several ways that you can nurture these feelings in your child:
Verbal Praise: Catch your kiddo doing something good and give them meaningful encouragement. Make sure it’s specific so it resonates—telling them that they "did great" is fine, but saying something like "you did such a good job putting on your shirt all by yourself!" helps make a more concrete connection in their mind between success and effort.
Nonverbal Expressions: A sincere smile or hug lets children know that their efforts have been noticed and appreciated!
Celebrations: Highlighting successes with a special treat or family activity makes accomplishments fun for everyone involved!
Celebrate Successes Big and Small
When it comes to bringing out the best in your child, celebrating successes—big and small—is a great way to go. It’s so important to recognise their accomplishments and make them feel special!
Just as adults need positive reinforcement, children do too. For younger kids, give them lots of praise for completing tasks like getting dressed or brushing their teeth. For older children, you may want to up your game a bit by rewarding them for getting good grades or taking on responsibility.
So what does a successful celebration look like? Here are a few ideas:
Buy your child a small surprise for doing something well, like finishing a project or accomplishing something difficult.
Take them out for ice cream or a special day trip as part of the celebration.
Write an encouraging note and tuck it in their lunchbox or leave it on their bedroom door so they can find it when they wake up in the morning.
Give your child verbal praise in front of family and friends—nothing boosts confidence more than public praise!
Have a family game night—this is always fun and helps build family bonds!
Let your children pick out activities when you’re going out together—this will make them feel included and valued while they learn more about themselves and discover new interests!
When praising successes—no matter how big or small—try to be specific about what you’re praising so that your child understands exactly why you’re giving the reward or compliment in the first place. This goes much further than just giving empty words!
If you have a child that enjoys building and creating, you're sure to find some great gift ideas in our newest gift guide- Building Toys for Kids! This gift guide for kids has popular building sets, unique toys, and more! Be sure to check out all our gift ideas for kids on Buggy and Buddy! My preschooler has always loved doing things with his hands, whether it be creating giant towers with his blocks or playing our homemade fine motor game. To help build on Theo's interest in ...continue reading...
Suitable for 3-18 months
Playing with babies
Key points
Play is essential for overall baby development, learning and wellbeing.
At this age, play is about interacting and letting babies lead play.
Baby play ideas include playing peekaboo, making noise or music, singing nursery rhymes, reading and talking.
In this Section:
Baby play: why it’s important
What to expect from baby play
Baby play ideas and baby games
Languages other than English
Baby play: why it’s important
Play is essential for your baby’s overall development, learning and wellbeing.
Through play, your baby learns about the world around them, as they explore and figure out how things work. For example, when your baby shakes a rattle, it shows them that they can make things happen.
Active play that gets your baby moving strengthens muscles and builds gross motor skills and fine motor skills. And any play that involves looking at each other, talking, singing and reading is great for helping your baby learn about emotions, language and communication.
Playing with your child sends a simple message – you’re important to me. Play strengthens your relationship with your child. And a strong relationship with you is essential to development, because it gives your baby the confidence to keep exploring and learning.
What to expect from baby play
Babies enjoy playing with people – touching faces and listening to voices.
Babies also love moving their arms and legs. They’ll reach out to touch everything – toys, pets and siblings! In fact, play becomes more active as your baby grows. Your baby might start pulling out drawers, dropping cereal onto the floor, and pushing any button they can find.
Sometimes your baby wants to be in charge when they’re playing and likes you to follow their lead. Other times your baby might want to try something on their own. It’s good to encourage your baby to take the lead in play, but you’ll need to take control if play puts them in danger or at risk of injury.
Your baby isn’t aware of danger so dangerous things can look like fun to them. Now’s the time to think about making your home a safe place for a baby on the move.
Baby play ideas and baby games
Babies love playing with you. This means that baby play is simple because all you need to get started with baby play is yourself and your baby.
It’s good to try plenty of different play activities with your baby. This gives your baby many ways to learn about their world. Here are some play ideas:
Blow raspberries, poke out your tongue, make faces or try a game of peekaboo. Babies love faces, so these are all good ways to play with your baby.
Make some noise together. Sing all kinds of songs, both loud and soft, and fast and slow. You can hit pots and pans loudly or shake rattles or bells.
Make a safe place in your home that encourages movement and play. This lets your baby practise skills like sitting up, crawling, pulling up, cruising and walking.
Give your baby different things to touch – smooth-skinned apples, rough toy blocks or a cold ice cube. Babies also love touching different parts of your face, and having you touch theirs.
Have a ‘conversation’ with your baby. Talk or make other sounds, and wait for your baby to respond. Your baby might surprise you with how much they have to say!
Read with your baby. Reading together can be a special time with your baby, even if your baby wants to read the same story many times. Hearing the same story many times is a way for your baby to learn about language.
Play is about having fun. Your baby will use special baby cues to tell you whether they want to keep playing and when they’re tired and want quiet time.
MAKE YOUR OWN BLOCKS FOR BABies AND Beyond
Here’s a tutorial of how to make your own baby blocks that you can customize with images of your family or holidays too. An Eco-Friendly toy idea for baby.
It’s block time at our house! One of the best investments you can make with toys is to invest in blocks for your little one.
BABY BLOCKS and ACTIVITY IDEAS
There are so many fun ways to play with blocks as a baby and toddler, we’ve put together a collection of our favorites, plus a DIY Block pattern to make your own.
Fabric blocks are available for the youngest of babies that makes fun noises for them to enjoy.
Lighter plastic blocks are a good choice as they are easy to pick up for babies and toddlers and easy to wash.
Then there are all sorts of Peek a Boo blocks available that are fun to stack and also to shake and rattle and look inside.
Nesting blocks are a great choice to help your little ones begin to about varying sizes.
By around 12 months your little one should be able to start stacking the blocks on top of each other.
Playing with blocks can help both your child’s brain and body. It also helps foster creativity.
By playing with blocks your little one will naturally start to learn to organize, balance, and stack. These skills help to build their hand eye coordination and fine motor skills.
We started around the time my little one was sitting with the fabric blocks and lighter plastic blocks.
ACTIVITIES WITH BLOCKS FOR BABIES AND TODDLERS
Here are a few fun and easy ways to play with blocks that help build your child’s fine-motor skills and eye hands coordination.
Plus it even helps them to develop their own problem-solving skills and vocabulary.
UP AND DOWN
My daughter is having so much fun right now at 10 months watching Mommy stack up blocks and then she knocks them down.
FILL AND DUMP
She also enjoys helping Mommy fills up the Bowl with blocks and then she dumps them all out
SORTING
As she grows older we will start sorting them by colors and by what is inside
GROUP BY SIZES
Soon she discovers that they are bigger ones and smaller ones. You can encourage your little ones to put them in order of size. Nesting boxes are perfect for this skill.
STACKING BLOCKS
You will be surprised how much entertainment a child will discover when they begin to learn how to stack blocks and…. knock them down.
There is so much development of eye-hand coordination and fine motor skills and even gross motors skills as they stock baby blocks.
DIY MIX & MATCH WOOD PEOPLE
FEBRUARY 1, 2018
*This post is sponsored by DecoArt.
Give me all the scrap wood pieces and all the fun paint colors and let’s make something fun like mix and match wood people! Wood blocks can be pants or tops, dowels become skirts or shirts, wood wheels become belts and scarfs, the options are endless.
I built a simple wood base with a dowel in the middle and all of the wood parts have a hole in the center so kids (and adults) can mix and match the shapes to build imaginative wood people.
Using all my favorite colors from the DecoArt Americana acrylic craft paint line I painted the wood parts all different colors keeping it fresh and bright with dot accents. Nothing fancy just use the back end of your paintbrush and create patterns with dots.
This would make a great gift idea and you could even prepare the wood parts and provide the paint for that special little one to paint their own designs.
Let’s get started making mix and match wood people. Below are step by step instructions and supplies to complete this project.
Step 1: Cut and gather various wood parts. I used various lengths of 2×2 boards and also cut up a turned wood leg. The pieces range from 1 1/2″ tall to 3″ tall.
Step 2: Paint the 1 1/2″ wood doll heads in various skin colors mixing the paints to make different shades.
Step 4: Using a 1/2″ forstner bit, clamp the wood parts in a vise and drill a hole straight through the center of each piece. This bit is one size larger than the 3/8″ dowel, you want the wood parts to move easily onto and off of the wood dowel so a larger hole makes that easier.
Step 5: To make the base use a 1×4 cut at 3 1/2″ l and a 3/8″ dowel cut at 7″l. Drill a 3/8″ hole in the center of the base about 1/2″ deep. Apply wood glue into the hole and insert the dowel. Let dry.
Once dry let the fun begin! There are so many possible combinations of tops and bottoms and accessories. Such a fun toy that any child is bound to enjoy.
You don’t have to be a skilled painter to make this project either. I used a combinations of dots made from the end of my paintbrush to form patterns. Rows, lines, flowers and layers all made using dots. You could add stripes and other shapes to suit your style.
I hope you enjoyed these mix and match wood people, I sure had fun making them!
Goodness… I’m pretty sure I put making these simple little sensory blocks on my to do list about 3 months ago. It’s ridiculous that it’s taken me this long to get to them given the fact that the entire project took about 10 minutes start to finish, but feel like that’s just my current state… Read More
DIY RAINBOW SAND BLOCKSCreating handmade toys for the kids are as much about showing them the fun learning process as it is the final result. I love these fantastic rainbow sand blocks you …Read More
DIY CHALK BLOCKS Here is a simple, DIY project that combines two playtime favorites into one: chalk and block play. Now, your child can have an activity and toy that incorporates both …Read More
Every kid should have at least one good set of building blocks. Block play stimulates learning in all domains and is researched to lead toward academic success. These DIY blocks for kids make it easy to have enough for everyone!
Kids love to play with blocks and rainbow peg dolls. Click on the link to learn how to make your own!
The Best DIY Building Blocks for Kids
I have placed this amazing collection of DIY blocks for kids and adults into categories so you can easily find what you are looking for.
There are blocks with the letters of the alphabet, recycled blocks, basic wood blocks, interlocking blocks, colored blocks, painted blocks, house, city, and people blocks, natural blocks, outdoor blocks, and puzzle blocks–whew!
Enjoy making one of these sets or find inspiration to create your own! Click on the link to see the tutorial for each set.
Every kid should have at least one good set of blocks. These DIY blocks for kids make it easy to have enough for everyone. Enjoy making one of these sets or find inspiration to create your own!
Building activities are always a huge hit! They’re a great option when it comes to engineering activities for preschoolers. Put a twist on traditional building fun with a Frozen-inspired wonderland.
Okay, that might be overstating it a bit, but we did make into a place for the students to build “ice castles”. These Frozen-inspired building activities for preschoolers were a huge hit in my classroom! Even better, the kiddos were instrumental in planning everything.
Planning Like I said previously, the children took on a huge role in planning this activity. One of my lovely coworkers overheard a few of the kids talking about making ice castles in the building center. She mentioned to the children that clear plastic cups might be fun for that. Well, the kiddos just ran with that idea!
A small group of children (and not just the girls) came to me with the suggestion. I grabbed our large writing pad and we started mapping out what we were going to do. I asked the children a few questions – “What do you want the ice castles to look like?”, “What materials do we need to turn the block center into Arendelle?”, and “Who is going to help make this happen?” These questions led to a lot of note-taking on my part, and tons of ideas on the part of the children. I loved showing the children how to record their ideas, and I loved hearing what they had to say! Our notes were up in the classroom as we prepped everything.
Prep The main thing the children wanted to do was paint some of our wooden blocks. I checked with our director to see if we had any blocks in storage that were okay to paint. There were, so we set to work! The children took turns painting a variety of blocks with acrylic paint, then adding glitter to “sparkle it all up!”
The kiddos thought having snow falling from the ceiling would be fun. That part was a little harder to pull off with their help. I ended up stringing some cotton balls on fishing line, then hanging the lines from the ceiling. A few children helped me, but many became a little frustrated with the fishing line coming out of the needles we used.
Set Up To invite the children into our own version of Arendelle, I placed a white fabric shower curtain on the big rug in the building center. The “snow” got taped up to the ceiling above the center, and the rest of the supplies were set out in bins near our blocks. When the children arrived, they were SO EXCITED to see everything set out!
How the children played There were a variety of ice castles built in the classroom, of course. Some castles were for Anna and Elsa, while others were for “superheroes who live at the North Pole” and “snow dogs.” All of my students got a kick out of the block set up!
Some just used the blocks to build with, while others loved incorporating the plastic cups. I was challenged to build an ice castle taller than me, so I had fun showing the kiddos I could do just that. They loved that I got the cups almost to the ceiling of the classroom before gravity took over!
There was, of course, a bevy of snow showers at this center. And by “snow showers” I mean cotton balls and pompoms being tossed around. The children had to be reigned in a little and reminded that the “snow” was to stay in the confines of the center. Other than that, it didn’t bother me – they were having a blast! Even Miss Brit popped in to check out the fun and make snow showers of her own!
There’s no denying the fact that play dough has some serious magical powers, agree? But did you know that it’s not just an amazing sensory experience for our little learners?! Using play dough is an excellent fine motor exercise which will help to strengthen the muscles in your child’s hands. These muscles are so important
Play dough is one of our go-to activities for little learners of all ages. Not only is it a really exciting sensory activity, it’s also a fantastic way to develop fine motor skills and strengthen the muscles in our fingers. This week I’d like to share one of my absolute favourite play dough activities which
Today I want to share a super simple play dough activity perfect for developing fine motor skills with toddlers and preschoolers. But first, I want to share a little story about how this activity came about.
Today I’d like to share how you can make magic play dough! This is a great little gift to give your students on the first day of school. First you’ll need to make a batch of play dough. I have an amazing no-cook recipe which I use all the time! Just mix all the dry
This week, we made some play dough for sensory play! As a teacher, I’ve had to make my own fair share of play dough. I’ve always just followed the recipe on the back of the Cream of Tartar tin. Once I discovered this fantastic no-cook play dough recipe on Pinterest, I never went back!
There’s no denying the fact that play dough has some serious magical powers, agree? But did you know that it’s not just an amazing sensory experience for our little learners?! Using play dough is an excellent fine motor exercise which will help to strengthen the muscles in your child’s hands. These muscles are so important
DIY Children's Toy Blocks | How to Make Wooden Blocks for KidsIn this video I will give you a brief overview on what it takes to make you own wooden blocks! ...
Building with Playdough and Wooden Blocks
Posted on November 23, 2012
Just when I think we can’t possibly come up with a new way to play with playdough, we do! Well, my five year old play dough lover does!
A cranky Morgan demanded that we play with playdough this morning… “And bits of wood.”
Lucky for me we had a big batch of playdough that we made yesterday, and a huge supply of ‘bits of wood’ thanks to the never ending renovations and a grandfather who’s hobby is wood turning, and combining the two turned out to be the coolest play dough activity ever!
The boys used the playdough to stick bits of wood together, to balance bits of wood on, and to support bits of wood so they could create structures that would never have worked on their own.
They also used the play dough to add little extra details, like rolled snakes, lots of little balls and all kinds of other embellishments for their constructions.
The toddler practiced his fine motor skills and worked on his sharing and the five year old’s imagination ran wild as he built more amazing things and worked through problems of structural integrity along the way.
Individual constructions soon became a whole town!
What’s your favourite playdough activity?
Here are some more ways we’ve enjoyed playing with playdough….
Baby Sensory Activities: for Newborn to 14 Months Old
For babies, almost everything they do is sensory play. That’s because, at this stage of play development, they constantly learn about their bodies and environment through the senses.
Small changes to tummy time or an extra few minutes at a meal can turn into sensory play. You don’t need to spend too much time planning or setting up sensory experiences. In fact, most of these sensory activities are no mess, no fuss.
Always, always supervise babies during sensory play. Babies are constantly learning and developing new skills. You might not be able to anticipate how a baby will engage with a particular material.
Why Is It Important For Kids To Learn Through Sensory Play?
Children are naturally curious about everything around them. Exploring with sensory bottles and bins are just another way to activate the senses while exploring any way they would like. Whether you premade sensory bottles or make your own, the sensory play is beneficial.
Exploring Senses
Sensory play can help children develop new concepts and find ways to explore their different senses. What colors are the lemons? What do lemons smell like? How do they taste? What other liquids could we put in the empty water bottle?
Connect with Summer
A lemon theme is just a fun way to celebrate and connect with summer. What other food and drinks are associated with summer? Get kids thinking about summer classics, like ice cream, picnics, and beach days.
Mixing Up Materials
Learning how to make sensory bottles involves combining water and glue. This is an example of a mixture, where ingredients are combined to create something new.
Sustaining Social Skills
We can build this together! Social play is so important for early learning. Our children can practice taking turns, communication skills and being kind to others.
Sensory Activities for 0 to 8 Months Old
These sensory activities are great for younger babies who are not rolling, starting to roll, and starting to sit up.
Shadow & Light Tummy Time
Changing the location or lighting during tummy time creates a new play environment for babies. Show your baby how toys light up or how shadows move. Just avoid anything that flashes.
Tummy time in sun rays
Adjust window blinds
Turn off lights and explore shadows
Plug in nightlights
Place scarves over lamps
You may even discover some lighting combinations that are calming for your baby.
Senses: sight, vestibular
Mirrors
Mirrors are a tool for helping early learners develop social-emotional skills. Babies can use mirrors to learn more about their bodies and expressions. Mirrors are also a way for babies to explore reflections.
You can prop a mirror up for your baby to look at during play or set a mirror on the floor to explore during tummy time. Choose a shatterproof mirror if you have access to one.
Senses: sight, proprioceptive, vestibular
Water Play
Water play is a safe sensory activity for babies as long as they are being supervised. Even just a couple of tablespoons of water can be fun for babies to explore. Try one of these ideas:
Water directly on the highchair tray
Water on a cookie sheet on the floor
Water sealed in ziplock bags and taped to the floor for tummy time
Taking tummy time outdoors introduces babies to outdoor play. They can experience different types of weather and safely explore nature while working on gross motor skills.
Hang Loofahs For Kicking, Pulling, Swiping, Swinging
Hang loofahs of different sizes and colors from a baby play gym. Your baby can reach out to touch the unique textures. They can also use their legs to kick the loofahs and watch them swing.
Senses: sight, touch, vestibular, proprioceptive
Sticky, Tacky Contact Paper
Use masking tape to tape squares of contact paper to the floor, wall, or highchair tray. Let your baby explore the stickiness with their hands or with toys, pieces of fabric, felt, or ribbons.
Create a tummy-time space on the floor with layers of blankets and pillows. Babies can explore each item’s different colors, textures, and weight. Babies who are rolling or starting to crawl can work around the lumps of pillows. Adjust the space if your baby seems overly frustrated or tired trying to move around.
Senses: touch, sight, vestibular, proprioceptive
Exploring Weather
Experiencing different types of weather is part of the human experience. Simply step outdoors with your baby for even a few minutes. Talk about the wind, rain, snow, humidity, or fog. Check out our favorite weather books for help discussing the weather.
Senses: touch, smell, hearing, sight
Bubbles
There is something magical about watching bubbles. Even babies will be mesmerized. Talk to your baby about how the bubbles pop, float, bounce, and burst. Avoid getting lightheaded or out of breath by investing in a bubble machine.
Senses: sight, touch
Wet + Dry Sponges
Offer your baby two or more sponges, some wet and some dry. They can explore the different sensations of wet versus dry. You can also put a small amount of water on a tray and offer your baby a dry sponge that will slowly soak up the water.
Cut out 12″ by 12″ squares of contact paper and bubble wrap. Tape each square to the floor with masking tape. Encourage your baby to crawl or walk across the different materials. For a sensory bonus, do the activity barefoot.
When your baby is ready, introduce foods of different flavors and textures for them to explore.
Citrus fruits
Chia seed pudding
Multiple colors of bell peppers
Variety of crackers
Senses: taste, touch, smell
Push & Pull Play
Babies love to push, slide, drag, roll, lift, and pull large or heavy (for them) objects. Look for safe ways to create this activity.
Cushions
Buckets
Baskets
Walkers
Crates
Ride-On Toys
Boxes
Totes
Large Balls
Add weight and/or ropes so your baby can use muscles pushing and pulling large or heavier objects.
Senses: touch, vestibular, proprioceptive
Nature Walks (Or Sits, Or Cruises)
Time in nature is an incredible sensory activity for babies. And it takes almost no prep work for parents and educators. If you want ideas and inspiration for outdoor play, check out our nature play posts.
Music is a sensory play experience. You can introduce babies to finger plays, rattles and toy instruments, or your favorite music. Musical instruments, singing voices, dancing, clapping, and exploring how to make sounds all stimulate sensory systems.
Once your baby can sit up, it’s safe to slowly introduce drinking from an open cup. This is a great learning experience and a sensory activity all in one. For more sensory play, give your baby a dry washcloth that they can use to start wiping up spills.
Senses: taste, touch, proprioceptive
Exploring Light & Shadow
Lights and shadows activities are fun for babies and don’t have a messy cleanup. As babies get older, they can take part in exploring light.
Rope lights or string lights
Children’s flashlights
Cover lamps with scarves
Translucent objects
Reflective objects
Explore shadows outdoors during dusk or nighttime
Senses: sight, touch
Goofy Moves
Encourage your baby to roll, dance, or turn upside down. Or you can gently perform these moves with your baby.
Spinning
Upside down
Rocking
Swinging
Rolling
Senses: vestibular, proprioceptive
Under + Through
When babies crawl through tunnels or under tables, they are learning about how to move their bodies through obstacles. If you don’t have a pop-up tunnel, you can create your own with chairs or by draping blankets.
Using loose parts is a great way to incorporate sensory play into your home. Exploring objects is an engaging, developmentally appropriate sensory activity during a baby’s first year. You can learn more in our ultimate loose parts materials guide.
Loose parts are items that babies can safely manipulate, mouth, and explore. Objects with various textures, colors, weights, and sounds create a sensory experience.
I want to highlight some of my favorite loose parts materials for babies.
Themed Treasure Baskets (find ideas in the ultimate guide linked below)
Fabric: scarves, felt pieces, fabric squares
Shaker Bottles: made with plastic bottles or empty spice bottles
Bangle Bracelets
Cardboard + Felt Cutouts
Lids + Containers
Cookie Cutters
Cooking Utensils
Sponges + Loofahs
Coasters
Turning Household Items into Play since 1992(ish)
My FREE list of Household Items you can turn into LOOSE PARTS PLAY for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers.
Turn that muffin tin in the back of your cabinet into a play prop.
Young children need to experience the world through the senses to develop their motor skills, sensory processing, and cognition skills. For babies, sensory activities are an introduction to emergent science skills.
At What Age Should You Start Sensory Play?
Sensory play activities can start when a baby is born.
For newborns and very young infants, sensory play activities are very simple, such as touching the fabric of their clothing or listening to a parent sing. Babies will seek the sensory experience of being held and gently rocked.
Mouthing toys is a sensory activity for babies. Babies love to put things in their mouths because while they do not have great control of their hands and fingers to explore, they can use all the nerves in their mouths.
Sensory activities will become more complex as a baby gets older.
How to Do Sensory Play with Babies?
Sensory play for babies is honestly super simple. Start with a developmentally-appropriate activity (hint: it isn’t screen time).
Next, think about how that activity could stimulate one or more senses.
Here is where I need to mention that there are two more senses: vestibular and proprioceptive, in addition to the 5 senses of smell, taste, touch, hearing, and sight. I still love to geek out on that.
Then consider the individual interests and skills of your baby. Adjust the experience to meet your baby’s interests or connect to their current learning.
Are they starting to roll over?
Do they love to shake toys or crinkle paper?
Do they dislike getting wet?
Have they started trying new foods?
Find a sensory activity that your baby adores. You can feel confident in doing that activity over and over again. As your baby develops new skills, you can modify the activity. If your baby is engaged, they will keep learning each time.
So many cute, fun DIY baby toys that you can make for your little one!
In honor of the crinkly tag blanket I shared with you earlier this week, I thought I’d share some other cute fun DIY toys fror baby from other bloggers! Some of these are real “why didn’t I think of that?!” ideas and some are great new twists on classic toys.
There are so many adorable projects you can make for your little one to keep them occupied in the car or during playtime. And really, there’s nothing better than a DIY that really gets USED, am I right?! I just can’t decide which one Baby V would have the most fun playing with… (Or maybe I should focus on which one would absorb the most drool??) As always, please click through and pin from the sources.
When Miss G was born full-term the day after my due date, making sure she met milestones reasonably ‘on time’ wasn’t something that was even on my radar… We simply trusted that she’d develop new skills as she was supposed to and celebrated them when they came along. With Sam, our little preemie babe born 27 weeks into my pregnancy, it’s a different story… Thankfully he’s done remarkably well in his first year home from the NICU, but his development has been closely monitored every step of the way and I’m much more aware of what he’s supposed to be doing at each stage. So when our baby boy developed a fascination with the hook-and-loop fasteners on Sister’s well-loved school sneakers, the first thing that popped into my mind? ‘Ooooh – what awesome fine motor practice!’ Seriously, this is how my mama brain thinks now. {Also, did you know that when we use the term “velcro”, we’re actually using a brand name to describe hook-and-loop-fasteners?? Me neither, but the team over at VELCROⓇ Brand kindly let me know that it’s much like using the term “kleenex” to describe all tissues… You learn something every day I guess!}
If you know me well, you know that my love for play dough runs deep. I’ve loved it for ages… It was a total lifesaver while babysitting and nannying as a teenager and university student, it was a staple in my Kindergarten classrooms when teaching, and it’s always out and available in our house now that I’m a mama. Over the years, Miss G and I have created some pretty amazing recipes… Amazing sand dough, gorgeous starry galaxy dough, lemony dough made with real lemon zest, chai tea latte dough, super soft chocolate dough, celebration dough full of foil glitter, the most fragrant ever gingerbread dough, vanilla mint dough {one of my favourite ever scent combos}, pumpkin spice dough made with real pumpkin… The list could go on.
I love, love, love water beads and because Sam absolutely loves anything big or small that is ‘ball’ shaped, I knew he’d love them too. The trouble is that we’re still very firmly planted in the put everything in the mouth stage. Old food bits on the floor, dry crunchy leaves, shoes, tissues, sand…it all goes straight into his cute little mouth. So we’re definitely not ready for a water bead sensory bin just yet. That being said, a water bead sensory bag – YES! Putting different activities and materials into a large zip-close bag and taping the top shut is my go-to move when it comes to fun for this little one of mine. It allows him to explore so many things that would normally either be unsafe or at the very least, extremely messy {not that there’s anything wrong with mess – getting messy is important too} and this little water bead play for babies set-up has been a total hit so far!
Miss H and I have been having such fun putting together fun little discovery baskets for our sweet Sam to discover and explore. He loves them because it means that he gets to put his curious little hands all over all kinds of things he may not often have the opportunity to explore, and I love them because they’re fun and super easy to pull together. Plus I get to watch him very carefully inspect each object independently, which in my mama opinion, is the cutest thing ever.
Goodness… I’m pretty sure I put making these simple little sensory blocks on my to do list about 3 months ago. It’s ridiculous that it’s taken me this long to get to them given the fact that the entire project took about 10 minutes start to finish, but feel like that’s just my current state of life. Non-priority tasks aren’t happening as quickly as I’d like them to, but it is what it is. Either way, they’re made now, and I’m so happy with how they turned out! Sam loves them too, which is exactly what I’d hoped for. They’re sort of like a combination of a miniature sensory bottle {making them perfect for little hands} and these really fun little sensory blocks that I was highly considering buying online late one night {making them perfect for stacking and crashing}. They’re also part musical instrument, so multi-purpose indeed {hah – have I sold you on making a set for your bub yet??}
Oh goodness… Have this little guy and I ever been having fun lately! When Miss G was this same age, we were in a major state of transition {hello packing up an entire life overseas, moving home to Canada, staying with family for several months, and then resettling in a different city} and doing fun little activities probably wasn’t at the very top of my priority list. But this time around, things are different… We’re a year into being back in Canada {for the second time}, Miss G is now in school full days {*gasp*}, and I get to spend my days with our sweet little preemie babe who seems to be curious about almost everything.
Today’s fun? Exploring hot and cold – a very simple activity inspired by the curious little hands wanting to investigate my cup of morning coffee.
We did it! At 10 months actual age and 7 months corrected, our little preemie babe born at 27 weeks is sitting up independently! It took some time obviously, but my goodness – is being able to sit up ever a game changer! And not only for him and his play either… For me too- hello, being able to set your baby down on the ground for just a minute while you put on your shoes! Have I mentioned that I’m so proud of this little guy? The moment a ‘oh goodness, he’s so behind’ thought even considers creeping into my head, I remind myself that there was a time not very long ago that I wasn’t even sure we’d be leaving the hospital with our baby and gain some quick perspective. And so we celebrate each new milestone {whenever they happen} instead.
This afternoon, with Brad outside mowing the lawn and Miss G being his water / sweat rag girl {hah!!}, I thought Sam and I would try something fun while doing our daily tummy time play. Since our tummy time painting was a hit a few days ago, I figured we’d give a sensory bag a go this time around. My initial thought was to create a quick and easy bag that was clear gel or shampoo based, but we had neither on hand… so water it was!
This little bub. Gosh, he melts my heart. At 8 months old {and 5 months corrected} now, we’re working hard on building his strength and motor skills and he’s already come so far! According to his physiotherapist, the number one thing we can do at this point to help his development along is tummy time. I’m absolutely not a professional, but according to her, it’s sort of ‘the gateway’ to many of the other skills he’ll be working on mastering in the upcoming months.
There’s no denying that Tuff Trays are becoming increasingly popular in homes and early childhood settings across the world. Sometimes they can be hard to source so I was so incredibly excited to be approached by our sponsor, Mess It Up, to bring you this post today! We have had our Tuff Tray for many
Whether you’ve been following me for a little while or a long while, you’ll know that I love all things sensory play! But when it comes to food-based sensory play, well that can be a bit controversial. You see, many early years childcare centres don’t allow food-based play (often for cultural reasons), but I am a very strong advocate for using food for sensory play.
Our youngest daughter Audrey had a tough start. She had very poor oral motor skills so after careful guidance from her team of occupational therapists, a dietician and a speech pathologist, it was recommended that we do alllll of the sensory play with as many different textured foods as possible. And you betcha I was all over that!
Sensory play goes much deeper than being a fun way to spend 10 minutes with your little learner. These experiences are rich with so many opportunities to develop fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, oral motor skills, cause and effect and so much more. Check out the pincer grip on Audrey as she picked up these frozen peas!!!
These food-based sensory experiences allowed Audrey to explore food in a totally risk free environment. She was able to have a little taste without sitting in the high chair having an official ‘meal’ and she was able to practise moving the foods around in her mouth as she explored and played.
Today I’m going to share with you some of the taste-safe, edible sensory play experiences that I’ve prepared for my own children over the years.
Before we get started though, please always supervise your child closely during sensory play. You know your child better than anyone else so be sure to use your best judgement and do a full risk assessment before playing. Please consult a medical professional if you have any concerns about your child’s development. This blog post does not constitute or replace medical advice!!!
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Handling the mess
Let’s address this right upfront – sensory play can get messy pretty quick!!! Does the idea of cleaning up a messy play session REALLY turn you off? It can be so hard to watch the mess go EVERYWHERE and not want to jump in to clean up!
Here are a few tips before you get started:
Prepare for the mess – Sometimes mess is unavoidable, so make sure you have everything on hand for tidying up before you even get started.
Prepare the area – I almost always pop a big queen sized sheet down on the floor to catch spills but you could pop a Tuff Tray on the ground or even do your sensory play in the bath for a very quick tidy up!
Just have fun! – Sometimes the mess might be hard for us to see past, but I guarantee that your little one is having a wonderful time and learning so much through the experience. The short term miss is so worthwhile!
Keeping it Simple
Getting your baby involved in edible sensory play is as easy as giving them something mushy and fun to play with at dinnertime! There are so many amazing textures and flavours that you can use which will treat all of their senses!
One of my all-time-favourites were frozen strawberries! We popped a few on a tray for baby Lilly and she had a ball squishing the berries around in her hand…and covering her entire body like paint!
Another really easy edible sensory tub is jelly! Whether you buy a packet mix from the supermarket or make some flavourless jelly out of gelatine, it will only take you 5 minutes to set up! This one can be quite enjoyable for teething babies with jelly straight from the fridge.
You can extend this one by placing some of their favourite toys inside the jelly before you set it in the fridge. A lot of people have great success adding some link toys to the jelly ready for their little learner to pull out of the set jelly!
I mentioned this one earlier, but frozen peas are a great one to help get those little fingers working hard! This one is great for scooping and pouring practice as well as encouraging the use of their pincer grip to pick up the individual peas. The pincer grip is when your little learner uses their pointer finger and thumb to pick up a small object.
T he rainbow of (edible) colours
After something a little bit different? You can re-imagine so many items in your pantry just by adding a bit of food colouring!
Pasta is an easy one to add colour to. Just pop about a tablespoon of colouring to the water as your pasta cooks and you’re good to go! Just make sure you rinse it a few times before you give it to your baby to play with so that you don’t have any colour rubbing off during your play session.
Long strand pastas like spaghetti or fettuccine work well for this as there is ‘more’ for them to grab! I loved this spaghetti below – it reminded me of octopus tentacles and had a great texture for Audrey to explore too.
Cous cous is another fun edible sensory tub for your little learner! Similar to the pasta, you can just add the food colouring to the cooking water. Using the larger pearl cous cous will make it easy for your little learner to pick it up with their fingers.
Next is my all-time favourite! Hands up if you have that packet of baby rice cereal sitting in the cupboard? Maybe given to you by a well-meaning grandparent! We always did baby-led weaning but my Nana often grabbed a packet of rice cereal so I often used it for edible painting!
Mix up a batch following the instructions on the packet but add a drop of two of food colouring. Pop it down on a sheet or in the bath for a quick clean-up and let them explore!
So where to from here?
Once you get started with sensory play, I have no doubt that you’ll become a little bit addicted like I have! In fact, I love sensory play SO much that I wrote an entire book all about the topic! Click here to learn more about my sensory play book!
Sensory play is such a wonderful way to support your baby as they begin to make sense of the world around them.
I hope this post have given you some ideas to get started with when it comes to taste-safe or edible sensory play. If you try any of the activities shared here, I’d LOVE for you to tag me on Instagram at @littlelifelonglearners or use my hashtag #littlelifelonglearners so that I can see what you’ve been up to with your little food explorer!
Support your baby's development through play!
Fill in your details below to grab our FREE Baby Milestones eBook with matching play ideas for each developmental stage!
Am I the only mom and teacher that loves to play with sponges? They are so versatile for play and art. Really, I promise.
Check out the collection of activities that include making observations with sight, smell, hearing, touch, and taste. When Hope was really little, I noticed that she needed multi-sensory input for learning. So I chose all her toys and art supplies around her developing her senses. My rule was to hit up three senses or it stayed in the store. So, how did my love for sponges begin? While working at the YMCA in 1983, there was not enough funding for daycare supplies. However, they had an open budget for cleaning and office supplies. I wanted soft blocks for the babies that were dropped off while their parents used the facility. They were gnawing on the wooden blocks. From that point on, I was hooked on sponges.
Water play is a perfect outdoor activity for babies and toddlers on warm summer days. Add materials gathered in nature to a simple sink or float activity to provide some awesome hands on learning and sensory play
When doing STEAM activities for babies do not leave any amount of water unsupervised. Have a plan to add water to your activities together.
Exploring The Absorption of Liquids and How to Move Liquids
Discovering Sponges through Water Play
Whenever Brandon and I have fun with a messy activity, I like to have a water activity set up too. This naturally extends our play time and it means I get him cleaned up without any protest – that’s a bonus on both counts!
Obviously it requires a bit more preparation to set up two plays at once, however I find it reduces tears and tantrums when the messy play is over and the clean up operation begins.
This one was beautifully simple to set up as we played in the wet room. We don’t have a bath in our house and the bucket he is playing with is actually his bath tub. Fortunately he loves bath time so he is always happy to play with his tub.
I set the tub up with a variety of household sponges in the corner of the room. Brandon didn’t even notice it until he grew bored with painting and began to explore other things in the room.
Play!
Brandon was excited to see his bathtub filled with objects. He cracked out a huge smile and plunged straight in.
As expected he fished out the cow sponge. He loves chewing it, engorging it with water and trying to drink it, waving it…. The list is endless.
He played with it for a good while before (finally) looking into the tub again. This time he located the big shower puff sponge.
He spent some time flapping it about and pulling at the netting. He has never touched this sponge before so it was fun to see him investigate it.
He got soaking wet playing with the sponges but really enjoyed it!
Next I popped him in the tub to scrub up and to explore the other sponges. He enjoyed chewing on the scouring sponge, I think it felt nice against his sore gums.
He enjoyed touching the scouring pad and spent time scratching his nails through it. He seemed pretty impressed by the noise it made. He then had a good poke at all of the cloths and sponges and enjoyed splashing them in the water, cleaning himself in the process!
This was a really fun way to clean up from an exciting messy play. Brandon had fun and we avoided all melt downs! Now I’m just biding my time until he can help me clean up the mess we make too!
Have I convinced you that sponges need to be in your childrens toy box? They are also featured as blocks in the STEAM construction and Building page. I just love their versatility. Let me continue...
Sponges as Loose Parts in the Playroom
Pick up a package of colorful dollar store sponges to add to your collection of loose parts in the playroom. Here, I’ll tell you all the creative ways my littles explored and played with ours in a mere half hour the other day.
“Children learn as they play. Most importantly, in play children learn how to learn.” – Fred Donaldson
This little quote has an important message: Never underestimate the potential for play that even the simplest of items provide.
Water Play with Sponges
We have had great fun with this water play with sponges activity. Water play activitesare always popular, especially in Summer. This one is an easy activity to set up for toddlers, and one they are sure to love! It provides simple unstructured play, and there are lots of options for adding toys and other manipulatives. One of these options is putting sponges in the water. With various colors, sizes and textures, sponges offer unique sensory play opportunities for kids. You can even buy sponges in fun shapes like these animal ones.
Kids are drawn to water play for the sheer fun of it: filling and emptying a cup,; squeezing a rubber toy; stirring with a wooden spoon. These are repetitive motions that a toddler can enjoy over and over while building fine motor strength. Water play can be soothing and calming, as well as a fun sensory experience.
A simple plastic bin is all that is required to start the fun. Water play with sponges may get a little messy so prepare the area ahead of time with a drop cloth (we love this one) and some towels for wiping up spills.
Add a variety of sponges, in different sizes, shapes and colors. These are usually found for little expense at a hardware or dollar store or on Amazon.
You can use the sponges as it or be creative and cut the sponges to resemble the shape of a boat or a fish. You can also add craft eyesor fins to a sponge to make a sea creature.
These sponge boats by Makes and Takes will keep your little ones entertained for hours! Play with them in the pool, bathtub, and of course those water tables!
Sail away, sponges!
FINDING NEMO-INSPIRED FISHING ACTIVITY
Use these colorful kitchen sponges to create this school ofFinding Nemo-inspired fish activity by Family Disney! Kids will love using aquarium nets to go bobbing for their favorite movie characters — like Dory, Peach, and Nemo.
Can you catch Nemo?
Engage your toddler with conversation and hands-on activities.
Show your child how to squeeze the sponge to release the water. Squeeze water over your hand and over the sponges and toys.
Practice filling a small bucket or bowl. Then pour the water out of the container.
Observe how sponges float.
Stack the sponges.
Sort the sponges by color, size or shape.
Place small toys on the sponges to see if they sink or float!
Kids often enjoy water play at bath time, or blowing bubbles outside on a sunny day, or washing dishes with a grownup.
At other times, it can be helpful to introduce water play in a plastic bin like the one in this activity, to increase engagement with developmental skills.
Sponges are a perfect addition to water play. With a variety of ways to use them, they provide a unique sensory experience your child will love.
Water play is an effective way to entertain a busy child! Make water play a routine part of your toddler’s learning experiences. If you enjoyed this water play with sponges activity, you can find lots more fun things to do with sponges below.
SPONGES AS LOOSE PARTS
My husband came home from grocery shopping the other day, and tossed me a sleeve of brightly colored kitchen sponges, and said “I picked these up for a dollar. I thought you and the hooligans might be able to use them for something”. He’s such a great guy. 🙂
My wheels started turning, thinking about all of the things we could do with them, but it was getting late in the day and there wasn’t enough time left to start a craft or to use our sponges for an art project.
I put the sponges in basket and simply presented them to the kids that way to see what they would do with them.
OOOOH, AAAAH…
First of all, you should have heard the squeals of delight and the ooohs and ahhhhs, when I placed the basket on a table in the playroom. You’d have thought the basket was filled with candy.
It’s so great when kids get excited over the simple things.There was no question that THEY could see the possibilities that this basket held.
LOOSE PARTS ENCOURAGE IMAGINATION AND CREATIVITY
That’s the beauty of “loose parts” for play. Open-ended items that have no pre-defined purpose opens the door for all kinds of creative and imaginative play, which won’t happen nearly enough with toys that are “meant” to be played with in a certain way.
All hands were scrambling to grab as many as they could, and the basket was quickly emptied, and they headed off to do what they do best.
For the next half hour, until they children went home, these sponges were the main attraction. Each child played with them in their own way.
I took a few photos to show you how they were being used.
Safe Building Blocks
If you have little ones, consider making safe building blocks for them with different colored sponges. Just cut them into strips, and hand them over to your kids. They’ll know how to use them.
COLORFUL SPONGE BLOCKS
Do you have quiet time at your house? Looking for a little quiet activity to keep the kids entertained? These colorful sponge blocks from Inner Child Fun are perfect for quietly entertaining kids of all ages!
What other structures can you build?
SPONGE BLOCKS FOR KIDS
Building towers, creating train tracks, and designing model homes, are all favorite past times! And these sponge blocks by Toddler Approved are perfect for building for small kids!
Build away, little architect!
CREATIVE EXPLORATION
They were the key pieces in a construction site here.
ENGINEERING
Someone used them as building blocks to build a tower.
IMAGINATION
They became beds for the animals.
PROBLEM SOLVING
The kids used them as obstacles to drive their toy cars around.
Crafts with Your Kids
Cut sponges into fun shapes like circles, stars and squares. Then, get out the paint. Let your kids create art pieces by dipping the sponges in the paint and pressing them onto paper.
SPONGE FINGER PAINTING
Sponge finger painting is another great sensory way for your kids to play throughout the summer! Whether they are designing a masterpiece or simply enjoying the bright colors, your kids will love this spongy activity by De Tout Et De Rien Caroline!
Have a spongy fun afternoon!
COOL SPONGE STAMPS
Keep those adorable little fingers clean with these easy to use handled sponge stamp ideas from It Happens In a Blink!
Stamp it all the way!
WATERMELON SPONGE STAMPS
Have some fun with your kids making these watermelon sponge stamps from Clumsy Crafter! They look so good, you could eat them! (But please don’t!)
I love, love, love making nutritious treats for my bubbas and thank goodness for that! While I really wouldn’t mind buying more and saving myself some time, I find that most of the treats and snacks currently marketed towards kids are filled with sugar and other unnecessary ingredients… Even the baby aisle is a scary… Read More
If you know me well, you know that my love for play dough runs deep. I’ve loved it for ages… It was a total lifesaver while babysitting and nannying as a teenager and university student, it was a staple in my Kindergarten classrooms when teaching, and it’s always out and available in our house now… Read More
It’s hard to believe, but we’re already amidst December, and in our house, December 1st means that all things Christmas are fair game. We’re doing a very low key Christmas this year {like really low key}, but low key doesn’t mean without tradition. Our fun little traditions are much too special anticipated to let go… Read More
This afternoon, with Brad outside mowing the lawn and Miss G being his water / sweat rag girl {hah!!}, I thought Sam and I would try something fun while doing our daily tummy time play. Since our tummy time painting was a hit a few days ago, I figured we’d give a sensory bag… Read More
This little bub. Gosh, he melts my heart. At 8 months old {and 5 months corrected} now, we’re working hard on building his strength and motor skills and he’s already come so far! According to his physiotherapist, the number one thing we can do at this point to help his development along is tummy time.… Read More
Oh, how we love slime. Grae and I started making it when she was just over two years old and one of our favourite things has always been to create slime strings using slotted spoons, sand sifters, and colanders {check out Baby G’s slime strings during her first ever slime play session!} It’s just so… Read More
My goodness – this apple / pear / spinach / chia sauce has been on repeat like no other over the last few months… So much so that it’s earned itself a nickname. HULK FRUIT SAUCE. Hah! I actually have no idea how that name came to be, but the Hulk is green, so…?
You know those days that, despite the camera roll full of lovely photos you’re left with at the end of the day, were just sort of a disaster? That was our last day of 2017. My gosh. Now in all fairness, our kids are sick. Like really sick. And have been since our house cleared… Read More
Last fall, Missy went through a huge ‘inventing’ stage. She loved nothing more than putting random bits and bobs together to create these elaborate structures and objects… It was SO cool to watch her imagination come to life. Since she was constantly rifling through our craft drawers and recycling bins to find what she… Read More
It feels like we’ve had a slow start this year, but summer seems to be here in the Okanagan and Sam’s been enjoying his little backyard truck garden again!
Here’s what inspired us creating a truck garden… This hilly corner of our yard filled with dirt, rocks, and loads of debris discarded by our big old tree. Now if we knew that this home was our forever home, we’d probably do something different, but without wanting to invest a whole lot of time, energy, or money, a truck garden turned out to be a fantastic solution.
Of course every yard is going to be different, but I do think the truck garden concept could be adapted to many different spaces, hilled or flat.
Another fun part of this project? Other than the little orange pilons and some paint, we only used things we already had on hand to put it together.
First up were these road bricks… They started out as regular old bricks left in the yard by the previous home owners, so I painted them grey with a sample of outdoor paint I picked up and then added some little yellow dashes freehand using some acrylic craft paint from the art cupboard. More than a year later, these have held up super well. What I love about them is that they can be moved and configured how ever Sam likes, and they give him an opportunity to do some heavy lifting.
The other little upcycle / repurpose project we did was turning some wood and flooring scraps into these road planks.
I had previously seen this idea on my friend Chelsey’s site, Buggy and Buddy, and when I found a bunch of wood scraps left in one of the sheds, I knew it would be perfect.
I just painted the boards a charcoal-y black colour using an outdoor paint we already had, then freehanded the white dashes using a small paintbrush, some acrylic craft paint, and an old metre stick as a guide. And voila – wooden roads and ramps!!
Then we added all of the fun stuff… Our kids’ garden tool set for raking up branches, creating dirt mounds, etc., a big bin of DIY blocks Brad and his dad made using some 2×4 and 2×8 scraps that were also left in our yard, and Sam’s collection of Green Toys and Wonder Wheels trucks. All of these have been gifted to him over the years and they’ve seen endless hours of play. They’re big, sturdy, and made from recycled plastic. These are the ones he has currently:
I also created a little picnic space at the top of the truck garden using our kids’ picnic table from Ikea and a little black and white striped umbrella, but I didn’t find that it got used a whole lot last summer, so I skipped it this summer and kept those items on our patio below instead.
It was a cute little set up though!
Possibly the biggest hit of the space? This little sit-on excavator we got during a campaign I did with Canadian Tire. Sam just LOVES it and could spend ages scooping up loose dirt and moving it to a different space or filling a bucket.
I can’t tell you how much play this little space has seen!
Here’s a look at the whole thing… It’s certainly not the prettiest thing, but it’s such a great spot for playing in the dirt, getting filthy, and enjoying trucks.
One final addition that’s also been a favourite? These PVC pipe ramps! While this wasn’t something I felt comfortable taking on myself, I took advantage of my brother being in town and he helped me pick up the largest piece of PVC pipe Home Depot carried and then cut it in half vertically. We sanded the edges and created these ramps that smaller cars can ZOOM down!
YOU GUYS… It’s March 6th and currently? It’s snowing. SNOWING!! I can’t even. And so, when you don’t have the power to change the weather, you may as well enjoy it, right? Except for that it’s cold and miserable…. So we brought the blizzard inside. {Just enough to fill a small bin – my kind of blizzard. Hah!} Mixed Sam’s very favourite thing (vehicles, obviously) and created an icy blizzard car rescue that he absolutely loved.
Here’s how I did it…
{this post contains affiliate links}
First of all, I picked out a few Hot Wheels / Matchbox vehicles from Sam’s collection and placed them into a small bin with just a couple of centimetres of water and two drops of aqua liquid watercolours (one of my very favourite art supplies – they’re super vibrant and super washable). Then I popped the bin into the freezer, arranged the vehicles as I wanted them, and let it all freeze over night.
When it was time to play, I sprinkled some snow on top in order to add to the whole blizzard feel, but if you don’t have snow you could certainly skip this step.
Next up, I set out a few ‘tools’ to assist in the rescue…
a little wooden hammer for breaking / chipping away at the ice
some coloured salt (just regular table salt and a couple of drops of liquid food colouring shaken in a reusable bag until uniform in colour), also for melting ice
Here’s the finished play invitation!
NOW… I just purchased this FLISAT table from Ikea {even though we really didn’t need it} and although I’m already so, so in love with it, you certainly do not need a fancy sensory table to set this, or any other sensory play invitation, up. A smaller bin inside a larger bin would work perfectly, as would a blizzard bin with a tray of tools next to it.
When I told Sam that the vehicles were stuck in an icy blizzard and needed to be rescued, he was thrilled.
I briefly ran through the tools with him and he was off!
I feel like ice rescue activities like this one {and this frozen ocean animal rescue and this frozen ocean mermaid excavation} are great for helping kiddos develop grit, patience, and perseverance because they take a good amount of time and effort.
While Sam immediately went for the warm water and salt, he soon moved onto trying the wooden hammer.
What I didn’t anticipate is that he would create his own warm salt water mixture in hopes of that being the winning solution… Clever little nugget!
It took some time {and maybe a tiny bit of assistance from Sister – she just can’t help herself!}, but he eventually got a truck loose.
Of course Miss Chloe was right in on the action as she always is.
One thing I should mention is that the combination of cold and salt can sometimes bother little ones’ hands. Miss G’s never minded – even after ages of play – but after dunking his hands in water and then into the salt, Sam told me that his hands felt ‘hot’. A couple of things you can do to if your little one seems to have sensitive hands: a) let them play with gloves on or b) have a bowl of clean, warm water and a small towel nearby.
Of course as time passes, the vehicles become easier to rescue…
Last year, Miss G’s very first year of school, was a doozy. Beyond having just left her home, friends, and most of her possessions in the Middle East to start over here in Canada, Miss G was also becoming a big sister after 5 years of being an only child and starting school for the… Read More
Oh, how we love LEGO and DUPLO in this house! LEGO bricks and sets to add to our collection have pretty much been permanently stationed on Miss G’s wish list since she was 3 and now that Sam’s really taken a liking to DUPLO, I think we’ll have to work on expanding that collection too.… Read More
I’ve been pretty terrible at sharing day-to-day life sorts of things recently… When I do actually find the time blog, I seem to share mostly kids’ activities, which means that all of the fun milestones, monthly Sam updates, and birthday celebrations get to continue their stay in my drafts folder. :/ The thing is, when… Read More
You know what I love? I love fun little activities and explorations that both Miss G and Sam can enjoy despite their 5.5 year age difference. I also really, really love colour theory and how magical it is in the eyes of little ones, so this super simple exploring colour theory with ice cubes activity… Read More
Oh my goodness… Only two more days and it’s officially spring break! I’m not sure who’s more excited – Miss G or me. We’re going to work on getting some things done around the house, maybe go on some fun outings around the city, and best of all, get away just the four of us!… Read More
When Miss G was born full-term the day after my due date, making sure she met milestones reasonably ‘on time’ wasn’t something that was even on my radar… We simply trusted that she’d develop new skills as she was supposed to and celebrated them when they came along. With Sam, our little preemie babe born… Read More
Goodness… I’m pretty sure I put making these simple little sensory blocks on my to do list about 3 months ago. It’s ridiculous that it’s taken me this long to get to them given the fact that the entire project took about 10 minutes start to finish, but feel like that’s just my current state… Read More
Oh goodness… Have this little guy and I ever been having fun lately! When Miss G was this same age, we were in a major state of transition {hello packing up an entire life overseas, moving home to Canada, staying with family for several months, and then resettling in a different city} and doing fun… Read More
We did it! At 10 months actual age and 7 months corrected, our little preemie babe born at 27 weeks is sitting up independently! It took some time obviously, but my goodness – is being able to sit up ever a game changer! And not only for him and his play either… For me too-… Read More
With our sweet boy now well out of the sleepy newborn stage, we’ve been having a total blast playing together while his big sister is at school in the mornings. Our little play sessions are more me sitting back and watching him play
Wow. As of today, we have 10 days left in Kuwait. The end of our time here has crept up incredibly quickly, and with our calendar as full as it currently is, I know our last days are going to fly by faster than we can possibly imagine.
Okay, so I’m fairly certain we’ve gone off the deep end with this LEGO minifigure mini bath station, but hey – Miss G loved it. In fact, she thought it was the cutest, silliest, most fun thing ever! Win.
{this post contains affiliate links} Last week, while standing in the courtyard browsing our copy of 150+ Screen-Free Activities for Kids {as you do}, one of my mama friends mentioned wanting to start some simple sensory play with her little lady. Lucky for us, her first birthday was coming up, which allowed us the perfect… Read More
One of my very favourite things about the holidays is making all kinds of fun homemade ornaments with Miss G. I just love it. We gather up our materials, put on some music, chat while we create side-by-side, and in the end, we’ve got at least a couple of new colourful and quirky ornaments to… Read More
Gosh, I love setting out fun play invitations for my girl. This one, set out today for our Thanksgiving celebration is nothing new, but the classics are classics for a reason, right? My kindergarten students used to love creating colourful feathered play dough turkeys at our play dough station and Miss G loved it just… Read More
While cleaning out our vehicle yesterday, I realized that we still had a big stash of beach shells we’d collected a couple months hiding in our hatch (you know you’re a parent when…) We’d originally collected them with the intent of painting them, so that’s just what we did.
The other day, while quickly picking up a couple of craft supplies at the dollar store, Miss G and I stumbled upon these adorable miniature clay pots. We both laid eyes on them at the same time, and just as I was thinking, ‘Oooh! I must have those pots!’, she asked, ‘Mama, can we please… Read More
The moment I came across Kate’s printable people play dough mats on Pickelbums, I knew that they’d bring us hours of fun. We loooove play dough, and pairing it with a mat and loose parts makes it even better.
{this post contains affiliate links}
As soon as i finally picked myself up a printer, I printed off the entire set and laminated the pages using self-adhesive laminating pouches {best invention ever for those who don’t own laminators!}
Then I made a few batches of our favourite ever no-cook play dough and split it up to create 6 different colours {this batch went to Bright Minds with us earlier in the day, hence it being a little bit ‘mixed up’ as Miss G would call it}.
For our loose parts, we included googly eyes of all sizes, coloured matchsticks, sparkly coloured pasta, pony beads, buttons, and aquarium rocks. We adore our circular divided containers for this exact purpose.
With everything set out, the creating began!
First up, Grace got busy creating a man wearing glasses. Of course he needed a belly button too.
Our friends from downstairs were over for our weekly play date, so they got busy creating too.
Pretty elaborate, hey?
I may have even decorated a few play dough people myself.
This guy apparently had his ‘rain clothes’ on.
We had so much fun with this activity and Grae has already asked if we can play with it again tomorrow morning, which is a pretty sure sign of how much she likes it!
Today was Miss G’s first birthday party back in Canada and she was thrilled that a) it meant she got to finally see one of the friends she’s missed terribly while away, b) that it was princess-themed and involved art, and c) that it gave us the perfect excuse to create a ‘princessy’ gift.
It goes without saying that being back in Canada means a need for some new play dough kits! {Obviously.} And since we’ve been in the land of beige for the last 10 months, what better way to celebrate being back in Canada than with a colourful Canadian wilderness play dough set?
Play dough kits. We can’t stop making them. Not for ourselves, and not for our friends. Tomorrow morning we’re headed to a preschool co-op play date combined with a little birthday celebration, and since the birthday girl requested a mermaid themed celebration, we thought we’d make her a mermaid play dough kit to match.
While I didn’t have anything LEGO-inspired planned for today, Miss G and I had a little bit of downtime this afternoon and while brainstorming, we remembered the laminated LEGO people printouts we paired with plasticine for last summer’s house boating trip…. Perfect!
LEGO. Miss G’s been into it in a big way for sometime now, so when some blogging friends made mention of an entire week dedicated to LEGO-inspired fun, I jumped aboard as quickly as I could.
After his dad’s Facebook post about the number of times the word ‘and’ shows up in the book Where the Wild Things Are, I knew that we had to get today’s birthday boy a new book {something with more than 8 sentences, preferably – that nifty fact also learned through a FB post about the dreaded/beloved Where… Read More
I don’t think we can help it. I mention an upcoming birthday party, and Missy automatically thinks, ‘play dough kit!!!’ This one, a cupcake play dough kit, was actually inspired by the little cupcake play dough favours that we gave out at Miss G’s very low-key… Read More
While I quite like the super simple no-fuss chocolate play dough we made on vacation with an empty pantry, it just isn’t quite as lovely as our usual play doughs, and that’s simply not right when you love play dough as much as we do.
So today, during quiet play time, I set off… Read More
Spring on the horizon means that it was finally time for us to say au revoir to the Christmas and winter play dough kits we’ve had around for months… New season, new play dough sets – that’s what they say, right??
{this post contains affiliate links} Mmmm…. Chocolate. Miss G and I made a batch of our super simple chocolate play dough {but added cream of tartar and glycerine since we had it on hand} for our recent Valentine’s tea, and took it out again this afternoon for some fun and easy play. Grae decided that… Read More
This morning when we woke up to a miserable windy, dusty, trash-floating-through-the-air sort of day, Miss G and I opted to stay in and have a quiet day at home. We made a big pot of oatmeal, read stacks of books, played some games, built puzzles, and then played this super fun and simple play… Read More
Celebration play dough, also known as ‘party play dough’ in our house, is a favourite. I mean really… How can you not love it? It’s super sparkly and shiny, it’s bright and colourful, and it’s soft and squishy. Fun on soooo many levels. So in preparation for the big day tomorrow {how is it already… Read More
It’s very likely that our friends may soon disown us for constantly gifting them with play dough… And until then, we’ll probably just continue coming up with clever ways to present it and give it anyways {sorry, friends}.
Okay, so I admit it – we’re a bit play dough kit obsessed over here. We can’t help it. Play dough is something that we play with on a daily basis and having pre-made kits filled with dough and interesting loose parts makes it really easy to delve into the fun – everything that’s needed is right there… Read More
I’m pretty sure Gracen’s obsession with Frozen has reached an all-time high recently. She’s always really enjoyed the movie, but since removing the YouTube app from her iPad a while back, I’m fairly certain she’s spent at least a portion of her allotted screen time watching it every single day. Of course, when your start… Read More
Grae and I absolutely love putting together fun play kits as gifts, especially when they involve sensory play materials. While we’ve made a very simple homemade play dough kit previously, time around we decided to make the birthday boy a colourful kit filled with a rainbow of play dough and a bunch of fun tools… Read More
The fact that it’s fall doesn’t rule out ice cream shop pretend play, does it? Because today when Miss G realized that it had been a looong time since we last played with cloud dough {the last time probably would have been when we had our indoor beach kicking around}, ice cream play is what… Read More
Gosh, I love setting out fun play invitations for my girl. This one, set out today for our Thanksgiving celebration is nothing new, but the classics are classics for a reason, right? My kindergarten students used to love creating colourful feathered play dough turkeys at our play dough station and Miss G loved it just… Read More
While fall may not be in the air here in the desert, that certainly doesn’t stop us from pretending. One of my favourite things about fall back home in Canada {besides the crisp air, the colourful leaves, the scarves, layers, and boots}, is walking outdoors with my girl with a steaming hot chai latte in… Read More
It’s no secret that Miss G and I like to create and give little homemade gifts. I’ve always loved giving gifts and it’s important to me that Gracen sees that there’s just as much joy {if not more} in giving as there is in receiving, even if the gifts are tiny and made by hand.… Read More
In preparation for this week’s Hawaiian-themedCrafty Kids class, Miss G and I experimented with a new-to-us dough this morning… Sand play dough! While I have seen several different types of sand doughs and clays floating around the internet, I figured we may as well try just adding some sand to our very favourite no-cook play dough… Read More
One of the things I do for the Crafty Kids class i teach here in Kuwait is prepare some open-ended materials for the children to explore and create with after they’re done their main project for the day. Since this week’s theme Bright Minds was ‘bedtime’, I decided to prepare what I originally called ’sleepy… Read More
The moment I came across Kate’s printable people play dough mats on Pickelbums, I knew that they’d bring us hours of fun. We loooove play dough, and pairing it with a mat and loose parts makes it even better.
There’s no doubt that we love play dough. In fact, we’ve given it out as gifts and favours several times before. But that being said, I can’t take any credit for these sweet, simple little Valentine’s Day treats…
Even though Gracen has known how to spell her name for a long while now, we still enjoying doing fun name activities every now and then. I set up today’s activity while Miss G was resting, and kept it very simple. 3 trays, each with some play dough and some letter ‘manipulatives’ I collected from… Read More
Oh how I adore lemons! We bought a ton of them last week in order to make a big batch of our favourite homemade cleaner and some chia lemonade, but only really needed the juice of the lemons for both projects. It seemed sort of sad to let all of those rinds go to waste,… Read More
Gracen’s been loving the tiny build a snowman play dough kit we brought with us so much this trip that I decided it was time to make a full batch for her to enjoy during our downtime at the apartment. I gave her some options, and she decided that chocolate play dough was the way… Read More
I truly love giving gifts and it seems as though Gracen feels the same way. Whether it is homemade ribbon wands or jars of pink sparkly slime for her ballet buddies, lavender rosemary bath fizzies or homemade cleaners for her grandmas, or fun play kits for her friends’ birthdays (we’ve done a craft kit, play… Read More
{this post contains affiliate links} One of Miss G’s favourite holiday activities last year was making play dough gingerbread people. Our little bin of simple materials kept her happily engaged for hours and her cousins loved it just as much as she did, so there was no doubt in my mind that we’d do the… Read More
With our last crafting class of the year coming up in just a few short days, Miss G and I wanted to prepare some simple gifts to share with the little friends she’s made at Bright Minds over the last few months. We adore play dough and had so much fun with our larger scale… Read More
{this post contains affiliate links} There’s no doubt we’re a little play dough obsessed around here… We use it to practice cutting skills, we gift it to our friends, we open pretend play shops with it, and apparently we create shoes out of it too!
Cloud dough is an old favourite of ours. We started experimenting with it when Miss G was about 19 months old and she’s loved it ever since. If you’ve not played with it before, you must. It’s soft and silky and powdery, but mouldable at the same time, which is loads of fun. Pair it… Read More
Now I know it’s good for kids to learn that they don’t always get something when someone else does, but I still really enjoy bringing a small and simple ‘sibling gift’ when Miss G and I attend one of her friends’ birthday parties. Most of the time it’s something handmade and useful or consumable –… Read More
Play dough is an everyday thing in our house. Grae is free to use the bin of tools and dough we keep in the main living space of our home at any time and she also has a smaller set in her bedroom to use during quiet play time too.
One day, while playing with our well-loved pumpkin spice play dough, Gracen asked if we could have some friends over so she could share her new dough with them. She’s always adored having friends come over, and now that we’re in an apartment building filled with teaching families, arranging play dates is easier than ever.… Read More
I adore fall. The colours, the crisp air, the scarves, the boots, the crunch of leaves underneath your feet… It all just makes me warm and fuzzy inside. My social media feeds have been full of it recently, and for that I’m thankful (because hey – I’ll take it however I can get it). While… Read More
Is it crazy that I’m totally stoked on this awesome, non-crumbly, and fully edible peanut butter play dough we came up with today?! The truth is, it’s taken us a few attempts to come up with the perfect recipe. I really should have known which ingredient would be the key to our success – it’s… Read More
While Gracen napped this afternoon, I decided to finally put the bag of marshmallows I’ve been carting around for the last couple of weeks to good use. And oh my word, am I ever glad I did!
One of the things I’ve always loved doing with students who’ve found using scissors challenging is pairing them with play dough instead of paper. Let’s face it – learning to use scissors properly is tricky! First there’s figuring out which fingers go where, plus there’s finding the hand strength and coordination to open and close… Read More
The other night, I had the absolute pleasure of joining several other Vancouver mom bloggers at Whole Foods for evening with Aspen Clean, a local eco-friendly cleaner and cleaning company. While there, Whole Foods totally spoiled us with delicious green smoothies, all kinds of yummy nutrient-packed salads, and the yummiest ever {vegan, gluten-free} cookie dough… Read More
Have you every come home from a shopping trip with surprise item in your bags? That’s exactly what happened with this hair gel… I do not use hair gel. Brad does not use hair gel. No one in our house uses hair gel. Yet after returning home from a grocery shopping trip with Miss G… Read More
A couple of days ago, Miss G and I experimented with making a couple of changes to our scented Kool-Aid play dough. I don’t know if Kool-Aid is just on the way out (surely it should be
), but our grocery store only stocks a few colours. So as an alternative, we decided to give… Read More
After making a few batches of ice cream dough this afternoon, Gracen and I set up a simple little ice cream shop in the living room. We used an old wooden apple crate for her table top and made sure the floor was protected with a large bath towel. Then we went around the house… Read More
This afternoon Gracen and I tried out a new sensory material originally created by Jessie of Play Create Explore (if you’re a parent and haven’t checked out her blog before, you definitely should – she’s got hundreds of sensory play ideas, fun bath ideas, and tons more) and it was AWESOME. The ingredients seem a… Read More
I loved this simple variation on the usual cloud dough, and today I simplified it even further for some messy morning sensory play with the cousins. To create some “snow dough” of our own, I simply made our usual cloud/moon dough and dumped in a couple of small bottles of silvery light blue glitter. A… Read More
Gracen is absolutely loving hanging out with her cousins. We woke up this morning, had some breakfast, and pulled out our play dough gingerbread people supplies for the kids to play with. In addition to the original supplies, this time we added some miniature baking pans, tiny rolling pins, and more cookie cutters to the… Read More
After decorating gingerbread houses this morning, this afternoon I whipped up a batch of delicious-smelling and amazingly soft gingerbread play dough for Miss G to play with. In addition to the play dough, I set out several things create gingerbread people with, including a rolling pin, cookie cutters, buttons, straw pieces, jingle bells, ribbon bits,… Read More
I’ve had this little idea in mind ever since Gracen received her ice cream sand toys back at the beginning of summer, and today was a perfect day to make it happen… With it being cool and dreary here in Vancouver, spending the afternoon on a wet beach making sand cones didn’t sound overly appealing… Making yummy-smelling… Read More
Gracen and I may have just stumbled upon the best. play dough. recipe. ever. today while combining my old go-to with a few other ideas we found around the net…. Now I know I said similar things about this recipe, but this new one involves no cooking (win!) and smells delish (double win!) We did… Read More
I’d been waiting a long time to show Gracen the magic that is moon dough, and today was the perfect day. It just so happened we had white flour in the house and I randomly came across a half bottle of baby oil when organizing the bathroom cabinets… So it was kind of meant to… Read More
This is something I’ve been planning to make with Gracen for a long while now and I’m so glad we finally tried it today. Moon dough, often also called cloud dough, is a silky, mouldable mixture of just two ingredients many families probably already have on hand. Fun and easy – love it! To whip… Read More
Everybody loves play dough, but chocolate play dough?! Now that’s what I’m talking about. I actually meant to make this with Miss G over Easter weekend, but we were so busy hunting for eggs and spending our days outdoors, that we didn’t get around to it. So this morning we whipped out our ingredients and… Read More
Today I had barely finished mentioning making play dough and my little Lulu had already retrieved her apron. Now, I have always been a fan of the 2:1:1 recipe (2 parts flour to 1 part salt and 1 part water). It’s fast, it’s easy, and it really only requires having two ingredients on hand. I’ve… Read More
Today Gracen and I used my old trusty recipe and whipped up a batch of play dough. Despite getting flour EVERYWHERE, she was a fantastic kitchen helper. She even picked her own colour – this marvellous shade of puke green. Although it might not have been my first colour choice, she loooooved the finished product… Read More
The holidays are just around the corner and I think this year more than any, those of us who have the means are making a conscious effort to support small, locally-owned shops and businesses. And because of that, I thought I’d share some of our very favourites in the form of a small shop gift… Read More
With Grae back to school, I feel like I basically have two main goals at the moment… 1) Getting us all ready, out the door, and to school on time, and 2) keeping everyone {especially my preemie babe Sam} healthy with all of the gross school germs currently being reintroduced into our lives. So far… Read More
Oh my goodness… Can we please just soak in the delicious ridiculousness that is these vegan compost cookies?! And while I’d love to say that they’re healthful, there’s really not much that’s healthful about them… They’re CRAZY delicious though! Filled with oats, pretzels, graham cracker crust, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, potato chips, and coffee grounds (everything… Read More
Oh how I love spoiling my kiddos on special occasions like Easter! My goal is always to fill their baskets with quality items that they’ll actually USE, even if it means spending a little more or purchasing less. Their baskets vary year-to-year of course, but usually include three types of things… Books to read, supplies… Read More
Creating a seasonal bucket list of things we’d like to do is sort of becoming a thing for Miss G and I… and I love it. Last year we created this Holiday Bucket List full of all the things we wanted to do throughout the winter holidays and although I didn’t create a digital version,… Read More
Anyone who knows me well knows how much I love putting together fun gifts for kids. It’s my jam. There was a period in time when Miss G was a preschooler where I’m pretty sure every one of her friends got a play dough kit of some sort when their birthday rolled around, but we’ve… Read More
Mmm… peanut butter granola! Once upon a time, Miss G and I made a big batch of chia granola every couple of weeks or so and it was absolutely delicious. That continued on for years – while living just off of Main Street in Vancouver and then throughout our second stint in Kuwait. And then… Read More
My goodness… Our EIGHTH annual Valentine’s Day tea. Can you believe that? This little tradition started when Miss G was just a tiny little nugget and we were living in an apartment building in Kuwait surrounded by all of our closest friends and colleagues. I think back to that time when there were 5 of… Read More
One thing both Miss G and I just LOVE doing is creating little favours for her classmates on Halloween, Christmas, and Valentine’s Day. Okay, and maybe on the last day of school too. ☺︎ And while we have given other things {these heart balloon valentines are proof}, our go-to is usually play dough or slime.… Read More
Oh my… Have we ever been dealing with some big emotions lately. Miss G’s always been a spirited kiddo who feels things deeply, but in the last few months it’s been at a whole new level. Especially after school. I’ve been doing my best to to not bombard her with questions immediately after picking her… Read More
You know those days that, despite the camera roll full of lovely photos you’re left with at the end of the day, were just sort of a disaster? That was our last day of 2017. My gosh. Now in all fairness, our kids are sick. Like really sick. And have been since our house cleared… Read More
If you know me well, you know just how much I love putting together creative gifts for kids. I don’t know what it is… I know I could just pop into a store, buy something fun that’s all ready to go, wrap it, and be done, but putting something special together for a particular kiddo… Read More
Mmmm… cookies. And for breakfast no less! These nutritious breakfast cookies have been on regular rotation in our house lately. I’ve been making a big batch on the weekend and pulling them out for easy breakfasts, snacks, and school lunches which has been such a treat. Both of the kids absolutely love them and gobble… Read More
It’s hard to believe, but we’re already amidst December, and in our house, December 1st means that all things Christmas are fair game. We’re doing a very low key Christmas this year {like really low key}, but low key doesn’t mean without tradition. Our fun little traditions are much too special anticipated to let go… Read More
If you’ve been around for any amount of time, you probably know that our sweet Sam was born last November when I was just 27 weeks pregnant. After a textbook pregnancy with Miss G and an uneventful first two trimesters with Sam, it was a shock to say the very least. Never in a million… Read More
You’d think that with Miss G in school full days and Sam being the happy little thing that he is, I’d have all kinds of time on my hands this year… Hah. Yeah right.
After travelling all over the world with Miss G {hello 36 hour treks to and from Kuwait!}, a six hour road trip really isn’t a big deal to us. That being said, our little lady is a huuuuuuuuuuge talker, and sometimes you just need to have a moment of quiet {or a moment to talk to… Read More
Last night, after the munchkins were both snuggled in bed, Brad and I began talking about our upcoming summer… This one will be very different for us for several reasons, one of which it’ll be our first summer with two kids {!!!}, but also, it’ll be the first summer in a long time that a) we’ll be… Read More
This week Miss G and I have been enjoying an old favourite – some slimy frog pond sensory play! It’s funny how some things just never seem to get old… I love that about play – it sort of just evolves with the child as she grows and changes herself.
Mmm… Energy balls! One of our very favourites and a go-to when in need of a quick treat for a play date or school lunches. These little balls of goodness are packed full of nutrients and are a perfect sweet treat or little pick-me-up on a long afternoon {not that we’ve had any of those… Read More
With Sam home from the NICU, one of the things we’re extra on top of now is hand washing. It’s the easiest way to keep germs at bay and help ensure our little preemie boy doesn’t come down with something during cold and flu season, which could be really awful for him. To make the… Read More
Several years ago, we discovered the beauty that is baking soda clay during one of our annual Christmas ornament crafting sessions. Since then, baking soda clay ornaments have become a regular occurrence in our house – and not only for Christmas either! We’ve used the homemade modelling clay for all kinds of projects, and this… Read More
Each year about a week or so before Valentine’s Day, I set out a Valentine’s card creation station for Miss G. It changes a little bit year to year and the supplies have matured with her somewhat over the years {the valentine’s creative table she enjoyed at 2.5 can be seen here}, but overall the… Read More
Yesterday, as Miss G and I were reading two of our favourite Hervé Tullet books {Press Here and Mix It Up!}, I was suddenly reminded of the fun colour exploration kit we put together months ago for one of Grae’s little friends. It was nearing the end of our time in Kuwait, so things were… Read More
After five {quite painful} days of looking for a new place to call home here in Vancouver, Brad and I {not surprisingly} ended up having different favourites. My choice, a 2 bedroom / 2 bathroom / 2 level townhouse, was small, but in a really lovely vibrant community filled with young families and coffee shops,… Read More
Ahhh…. Autumn. It’s something we haven’t experienced in the last couple of years, and though I certainly would mind being poolside soaking up Kuwait’s 40 degree heat currently, I’m loving seeing all of the beautiful fall colours pop up early around Vancouver this year. Of course, Gracen {my little collector of sticks, rocks, and all… Read More
I’m not sure what’s taken me so long to come up with this variation of chia pudding, but goodness gracious… Am I ever glad I finally got here. We’ve been chia pudding fans for a long time now and Grae still absolutely loves it, so make it chocolate flavoured and she’s in heaven.
{image via} Call us crazy, but this weekend {after only having been in Vancouver for two days}, we left our new house heaped full of boxes and bins, packed up the vehicle, and headed out on a weekend get away to Harrison Hot Springs. It had been years since I last visited, and Brad and… Read More
Now that we’re back in Canada and plan to be here for a while, one thing I really want to help Miss G learn is our cell phone numbers. We still haven’t decided whether or not she’ll go to traditional kindergarten next year, but even if she doesn’t, I think it’s a valuable thing to… Read More
It’s hard to believe, but in exactly 23 days, we’ll board a plane and begin the long journey back to Canada. This means that I really should be focused on purging and sorting our belongings, but I can’t help it – I’m having fun creating little plane packs and travel activities for Miss G and… Read More
Okay, so I’m fairly certain we’ve gone off the deep end with this LEGO minifigure mini bath station, but hey – Miss G loved it. In fact, she thought it was the cutest, silliest, most fun thing ever! Win.
Miss G and I love exploring books and coming up with engaging, playful activities to go with them. And the best part? When we’re done with ours, we get to try the activities our friends at Buggy and Buddy, Sugar Aunts, Frogs Snails and Puppy Dog Tails, and Homegrown Friends came up… Read More
This morning, after two months of outdoor meet-ups {gotta enjoy the cool weather while we have it!}, our play school co-op resumed its usual themed indoor play dates. Grae and I were lucky enough to be the first hosts, and with our focus being on favourite children’s books this month, we got to plan a… Read More
With Miss G being under the weather this week, we’ve spent quite a bit more time at home than usual. This has allowed us loads of time to dress-up, read in our new fairy tale fort, play round upon round {upon round upon round} of UNO, and do all sorts of fun creative projects and… Read More
Baby Play Strategies
Sometimes new moms feel like they’ve been handed over a fragile jewel when they have their first baby. What if you had infant activities at your fingertips? What if you had tips and tools for baby development, baby milestones, and therapist-approved baby play activities designed to promote development, cognitive skills, learning, and baby brain building in all the best ways? Read on for strategies to use in occupational therapy for babies and tips from a pediatric occupational therapist, and strategies that can help you move through baby’s first year with confidence.
Movement and Play FOR BABIES
Playing with your baby is a way to connect with them. It’s a means for helping them feel secure and nurtured. And more than that, play is the essential occupation of kids! So, playing with your baby may not look like typical kid play, or a major process, but it is an essential one. Here, we’ll break down the process of playing with your baby in ways that boost child development. You’ll also find some fun and creative ways to help your little one learn.
BABY MILESTONES AND PLAY
Child development begins in the womb. As that baby develops and grows in utero, they are already stretching and moving, practicing reach and grasp, and stretching against the walls of their mother’s uterus. That push and pull that you felt as an expecting mom was your little one gaining strength and sensory input! That motor development continues after birth, and that’s when the fun begins because as mom or dad, we get to snuggle that little one, engage with them, and watch their every move!
Child development and developmental milestones can throw a parent for a loop. It’s so important to remember that each child is different. Each child reaches their developmental milestones at their own rate.
WHAT IS A DEVELOPMENTAL MILESTONE?
What is a milestone? A “milestone” is basically a checkpoint for physical or behavioral development. These are basic levels that a child should achieve as they grow. The milestones and the age ranges that we’re talking about here (and what you see on Google!) is so vastly approximate. One child may reach for and shake a rattle at 2 months and another child does the same at 5 months.
When it comes to developmental milestones, the important thing to remember is that the child is progressing through the milestones. If you have concerns for your little one, speak up! Ask your child’s pediatrician to make sure you’re on the right track.
ACTIVITIES FOR INFANTS AND BABIES
Our infant activities are guided by play. Also, each play idea should be guided by judgement and based on infant development. Occupational therapists are specialists for babies use play as the child’s primary "occupation" to work on certain skills in babies but also to guide .
Never leave a baby alone during play activities like some of the ideas listed here. Some babies may be at different developmental levels despite their chronological age. These activities are not intended as treatment or a replacement for occupational therapy interventions. This information is educational only.
BABY DEVELOPMENTAL MILESTONES
Baby milestones fall into three stages:
Primitive Stage- Birth to 3 months
Transitional Stage- 4-9 months
Mature Stage- 10-12 months
The Primitive Stage is that time right after birth and lasts up to around the three month mark. During this stage we’ll see the baby interact visually with the world around them. They watch, listen, and make basic movements.
The Transitional Stage is that period of time around 4 months to 9 months of age. We’ll see greater development of things like grasp and controlled movements, effort, interaction with the world around them, and intentional movements.
The Mature Stage occurs around 10 to 12 months. During this period, baby freely moves their body to manipulate items in their world. They improve and refine mobility, grasp, and communication.
Each stage of baby development has their own hallmark milestones.
Typical development follows a pattern in child development. Progression through developmental milestones typically occurs in areas of fine motor skills, gross motor skills, the senses, cognitive development, and social development. Use these play activities as development-based activities to guide and foster play.
BABY PLAY DURING THE FIRST 3 MONTHS
During the first three months, you will see changes like the ones listed below. Use these movements and development to guide play.
Baby development begins before birth and continues to evolve into functional skills each and every day. From birth, a baby typically demonstrates random limb movements and a rounded back with drooped head. Asymmetrical postures dominate and no weight is bared through the legs when a baby is held up. By one month, baby is able to rotate their head and lift their head momentarily.
Asymmetrical postures continue to dominate At three months, baby holds their head mostly in midline and is able to bob their head in supported sitting. At three months, baby can visually follow a dangling toy from side to side. Baby may roll to either side from their back.
Following a person with their eyes
Lifting their head
Pushing up to their arms while lying in tummy time
Holding the head up while laying on their belly
Opening their fist into stretched fingers
Bringing hands to the mouth
Reaching for toys
Turns toward sounds or voices
Makes eye contact
Moving legs and arms
PLAY IDEAS FOR BABIES 0-3 MONTHS:
Tummy time on parent’s chest
Tummy time on play mat
Shake a rattle or noise-making toys
Gently clap baby’s hands together
Gently move feet as if peddling a bike
Make various facial expressions
Read to baby
Tummy time blanket and variety of toys
Sing and talk to baby
Attach colorful toys to a baby gym
Baby massage and back rubs
Snuggle and cuddle time
Move toys across bay’s field of vision
BABY PLAY DURING 4-9 MONTHS
During the Transitional Stage (4-9 months), there is so much happening! Purposeful movement drives development and development occurs through purposeful movement. This is a fun series of months. You’ll see motor, sensory, and communication milestones like the ones listed below. Use these changes in movement and activity to guide play.
At 4-5 months, baby kicks and waves arms and shows excitement with movements. They are unable to typically manipulate or purposefully grasp items. However, baby will demonstrate a strong grasp when an item such as a rattle is placed in their hand. They are unable to let go of an item in their hand. By six months, baby will demonstrate a greater variety of gross motor patterns. You will see movements of elbows and knees and they follow objects with their eyes in all directions. At 6 months, object exploration begins with crude manipulation.
At 7-8 months, baby will take objects out of a container and drop them with crude manipulations and exaggerated movements. Baby is typically able to sit up by leaning forward for support.
Rolls from back to belly and belly to back
Stands with support, putting weight through legs
Holds the head and neck steady in sitting
Moves from supported sitting to independent sitting
Bears weight through hands in crawling position
Reaches for toys while lying in the belly
Moves toys from one hand to the other
Uses both hands to manipulate and explore toys
Reacts to sudden sounds
Listen and responds to sounds or voices
Begins to babble
Shows an interest in foods
Imitates others in play
Focuses on near and far objects
Investigates textures, size, shapes, and details of objects
BABY PLAY FOR 4-9 MONTHS:
Songs and fingerplays
Talk to baby
Mirror play
Crinkle fabric soft toys
Noisy toys
Taggie toys
Play outside in grass
Play with balls
Put in/take out games
Board books
Noise making toys
Eye-hand coordination activities
Bubbles
Basket of toys
Pull toys to encourage crawling
Toys with a variety of textures
Noise making toys or shakers
Bath toys
Baby tunnel
Put toys or baby-safe objects in an empty box or basket
Hide toys with a blanket for baby to find
Read
Soft toys
Bath toys
Textured board books
BABY PLAY DURING 10-12 MONTHS
During the tail end of the first year, you see big strides in controlled movement, motor skills, interaction, coordination, fine motor skills. You see stronger eye-hand coordination, and intentional movement. You see refined fine motor skills, improved mobility, and a stronger baby. Below are the developmental milestones that you can use to guide play.
At 9-10 months, baby will explore more of his environment and will show isolated movements of fingers as they poke and explore items. They can pick up small items and begin to demonstrate purposeful play.
Pulls up to stand at furniture
Takes first steps holding onto furniture to “cruise”
Moves in various positions from laying to sitting, sitting to pulling up to stand, etc.
Drops toys into containers and grabs them to manipulate
Uses a pincer grasp (holds small items like cereal between the pads of the thumb and pointer finger)
Explores toys with mouth, hands, and visually
Says first words
Feeds self with finger foods
Takes first steps without support
BABY PLAY IDEAS FOR 10-12 MONTHS
Play and sing music
Play peek-a-boo
Interactive songs like “Patty Cake” and “Row, row, row your boat”
Roll a ball back and forth
Music
Ring stacking toy
Color with crayons or markers on large cardboard box on floor
Blow kisses “Soooo big”
Bang pots and pans
Stack, sort, and move kitchen items
Living room obstacle course
Water play
Palm-sized crayons
Read books
Sort colors
Pretend play
Sorting games
Books
Stacking toys
Blocks
Large puzzle boards
Shape sorting
Babies are such an amazing miniature human. They are developing at a rapid pace and taking in the senses of our world with wide eyes. Simply holding and talking to your baby is such a wonderful sensory experience. Then there is the sensory overload of bath time. We’ve got some easy play ideas for babies and young toddlers here, as they take on and take in the world around them.
PLAY IDEAS FOR BABIES BASED ON TYPICAL DEVELOPMENT
Note: This is not a complete list of Baby’s development. There are stages of typical development and changes in each skill area, as well as positional developmental changes. Watch this space for more baby developmental play and information.
Beyond this, baby is continuously developing in their gross motor, fine motor, hand dominance, language, and visual perceptual, skills. All of these areas can be built on with stimulating and encouraging play environments. Try some of these play ideas with your baby:
Spatial Awareness for Baby– Understand how visual spatial skills develop and how this spatial awareness impacts learning, coordination, and motor skills like crawling, feeding and play.
Tummy Time Myths– Understand everything about tummy time that occupational therapists wish you knees.
Baby Brain Building with Balls– Encourage eye-hand coordination, visual tracking, visual scanning, bilateral coordination, crossing midline, motor planning, and more.
As occupational therapists, we KNOW the value of movement for little ones. We KNOW that babies need tummy time and a chance to move on the floor without use of the Bumbo seat, swing, and other baby positioners. Baby positioner devices like these can impact development and result in container baby syndrome.
We KNOW that play is the child’s primary occupation and that through play, they develop motor skills, cognition, language, and so much more. As OTs, we have a distinct value in sharing this information with the world. If you are working with families in the early intervention arena, these are some common questions that we answer every day.
That’s why I’m SO excited to share a valuable new resource for new and expecting moms.
Remarkable Infants is a HUGE resource for new parents. This online course, taught by 5 child development experts, is a 5 hour crash course on development of the whole child from birth through 12 months of age. It is literally everything that we WISH new parents knew about tummy time, positioners, developmental milestones, baby play, communication, sleep, and nutrition.
The 5 steps in the training are: Language Development, Healthy Sleep Habits, Cognitive Development, Motor Development and Infant Nutrition. Each step is taught by a child development specialist and lays out evidence-based research, well-organized information and practical, easy things to implement immediately. After completing Remarkable Infants new mamas will have a game plan and a set of skills to proactively approach and nurture their baby’s first year.
Remarkable Infants is a MUST course for every new and expecting mom, grandmother, caregiver, and professional.
The therapists who go through this training will leave with a step-by-step game plan for teaching new parents exactly what they need to know. There are downloads, resources, AND, the OT and ST modules include certificates of completion that can be applied to continuing education requirements.
Remarkable Infants is open now through March 1st at a special introductory price…AND includes 2 amazing Bonuses that are so perfect for anyone working with kids:
Baby Sign Language Mini-Course
Exclusive Community with 5 weeks of learning and support
This course is exactly what I wish I had when I was a new Mom 14 years ago!
Finally, for more baby resources, be sure to check out the baby play ideas listed below. They are loaded with activities ideas and baby play info. Let’s get those babies moving so they thrive as big kids!
We’re adding new and older posts every day to our collection of baby and toddler play ideas. Be sure to stop back and see what’s new! As always, keep a close eye on little ones while playing with babies and toddlers with any activity. Children should always be supervised while completing any of these activities. Some children may be able to participate in a particular activity, while others are not developmentally appropriate. Please use your judgment and adjust the activity to meet the needs of your child. Or, pull out these ideas in a few months when it is safer for your child to participate.
We love playdough activities! There are very few days when we don’t play with playdough, whether it’s for practice counting, developing fine motor skills, or just for fun. All of my kids love playdough, from my 11 year old to my 3 year old. We’re thinking of new playdough activities for toddlers and up all the time, including playdough stem activities and more.
Since my kids, big and small, absolutely love play dough so much for playing, it is a no brainer to add in learning to that too. It makes it easy for me, as their mom & teacher, to incorporate activities that will assist in teaching them all different types of ideas. We have centered play dough activities around math, literacy, fine motor practice, science, sensory and more. The kids see this as playing and I know all the benefits of playdough at home and beyond.
Kindergarten playdough mats are a great way to build skills while having fun. Choose from playdough shape mats to number mats for your math centers!
Plus, the benefits of playing with your fingers, whether on shape play dough mats or just for fun, include developing fine motor skills by rolling balls, flattening ‘cookies’ and so much more!
You can cover both literacy and numeracy with playdough activities for preschool! The free alphabet playdough mats pdf helps young children learn the alphabet, letter recognition, and how to write letters.
Grab some of our favorite play dough tools for more sensory play and to differentiate your learning activities. Use the alphabet dough stamps and cookie cutters to build words in your literacy centers.
Or use the number cookie cutters with a rolling pin to create math problems or work on place value.
Inspire Your Scientist with Playdough Science and STEM Activities
Whether it’s building a race car or a volcano that really erupts, here are some great ideas for STEM challenges.
We’re big fans of science experiments and STEM activities like this Baking Soda and Vinegar Volcano. My kids love trying new…
Playdough Pretend Play Activities
Preschool playdough mats printables are great for setting up a pretend play area. Celebrate the holidays, bake a cupcake, or fly into outer space with these low-prep activities.
Follow a playdough recipe for scented playdough with essential oils, then get those imaginations engaged!
Playdough tools are a great way to add variety to your playdough station! Use textured play dough rollers, cookie cutters, scrapers and playdough alphabet tools to incorporate fine motor practice into math, literacy and science.
We enjoy trying out new playdough recipes but I have also been known to buy the big kits of Play Doh because of all the fantastic colors that are included. We also have purchased play dough tools but have made our own as well. Play dough (or Play Doh) is a fantastic activity with so many options. It’s safe to say it is my favorite too.
Here I’m sharing how to make your own Play Dough, plus how to create Play Dough favor boxes for birthdays and for kids holiday gifts! Play Dough is great for many ages and can easily be customized to any party theme or holiday (red and green for Christmas, blue and white for Hannukkah, red and white for Valentine’s Day, etc). Creating a Play Dough kit is very affordable and you may have most of the elements in your craft stash or pantry already… perfect for creating something memorable while staying on a budget!
Here are some of our favorite homemade playdough recipes:
These simple recipes for homemade playdough require simple ingredients. You can always add food coloring, make festive holiday playdough with sprinkles, or dry and paint the dough for homemade Christmas tree ornaments.
Okay, here’s the dough in action. I love seeing these kind of pictures because I feel like they give me good insight into the texture of the dough (holy #playdoughnerd alert). Anyways, it squishes…
It cuts…
And it’s really soft.
Play-Filled Fun with Playdough
Updated: Dec 27, 2020
Here are some of our favorite ways to play with playdough that are not only fun, but help to develop important skills too.
'Playdough biscuits' using loose parts. Playdough allows for creativity and imagination
Why we love playdough play!
Playdough is a great tool for learning - the possibilities are endless!
Playdough is fantastic for developing strength in your little ones hands. The rolling, stamping, pinching, poking, twisting and squishing are all great for developing fine motor skills and hand eye-coordination too. It is also wonderful for developing creativity and imagination as children are free to create and play however they want.
Playdough can be a great tool for learning too - the possibilities are endless! We will share a few ways that we have enjoyed playing with playdough - some simple and some requiring a few bits and pieces.
*Please note all play ideas in this post were supervised play by an adult. Small parts are for children ages 3+. Always supervise your child while playing.
Homemade Playdough
We usually make our own homemade playdough in the Thermomix following the recipe in the Basic Cookbook. It makes really soft playdough that lasts for ages. We separate the dough in two bowls/bags after it is cooked and kneed through the colouring. If our playdough starts to get a bit dry or tough, I simple add in a few drops of olive oil to it and kneed through to make it soft again! This trick works to extend the life of the playdough and makes it soft again.
Freshly made playdough
Playdough & Scissors
This is a great way to learn to use scissors. You can buy special playdough scissors. Help your little one roll the playdough into snakes to cut with the scissors.
Playdough and Stamps
A fun and simple way to play with playdough. Playdough stamps can be bought or homemade. Craft stores and shops like Kmart sell little packs of wooden embellishments that can be used to make your own stamps at home. With some hot glue and something to stick them on, you can have your own stampers made in no time. A plastic bottle top of a large carton of milk would work, or off cuts of wood. I used wooden rings and a cardboard circle to make ours pictured below, as that was what I had already at home.
DIY playdough stamps are easy to make
Miss 1 enjoys playing with playdough with our large stamps and trying to make prints (play is closely supervised).
Playdough with Animal Figurines
Another great way to play with playdough is to add in a few animal figurines. For little ones, one or two animals and some playdough is enough to encourage some play. For older children you can add some other elements to create a small world. This can be as simple or elaborate as you and your child would like it to be. I usually involve Miss 4 in the creation of these types of play, as it engages her in it for longer. For this flamingo small world below we used some of our Grimms pebbles and trees, some Grapat mandala pieces and a homemade tree to set the scene.
Fabulous Flamingo Small World for Miss 4
Playdough and Loose Parts
Take a simple tray filled with some loose parts (buttons, beads, gemstones, counters etc.) and add in some different coloured playdough for some creative fun.
I usually ask Miss 4 what loose parts she would like to use. Below she enjoyed using fruit counters and crystal chips. She used them to make little ice-cream cups with her playdough.
Small parts for ages 3+
Loose parts add an extra creative element to playdough play
Playdough Cupcakes
Simply add in some patty cases, birthday candles and beads for a fun time making cupcakes. This one is great and one that we come back to again and again, because it is always enjoyed. Depending on the age of your child you can add in different loose parts e.g. buttons, sequins, gems, fruit counters, crystal chips, or pom poms to make it more interesting.
This one can also lead to some fun role-play having a tea party, singing Happy Birthday, or running a cupcake shop.
Add in birthday candles and some beads to make cute little cupcakes!
Playdough Biscuits
Roll out the dough, add in some cookie cutters and some items to decorate and let the fun begin! We used sequins, gemstones and pony beads for decorations. Use some stamps to leave a cute print and then decorate.
Rainbow loose parts and playdough make beautiful playdough biscuits
Coloured Playdough Platter
Choosing one or more colours of playdough and some matching coloured loose parts can make a colourful playdough tray.
Sometimes we choose one colour and add some matching coloured loose parts, like in this purple playdough tray below.
Purple Playdough Invitation: Miss 4 made a boat for the eggs.
Other times it might be several colours. In the tray below we used yellow, purple and pink to create a beautiful tray. Miss 4 helped me to hunt around the house to find loose parts in each of the colours.
Colourful Playdough Platter
The round tray underneath is a wooden board from Kmart found in the kitchen section. The sectioned tray holding the loose parts is QToys brand, which we bought online from Rata & Roo Toys.
Invitation to Create
This is one that was set up based on Miss 4's interest in bugs. We used a tray of loose parts - pipe cleaners, googly eyes, pieces of wood, mini bugs & flowers (CollectA toobs). Miss 4 decided what to make with the loose parts. This is a great way to encourage creativity while playing.
Everyday Play with Playdough
Most the time we simply grab some playdough out and add a few simple stamps or cutters to make it fun. We have a playdough kit that lives in our dining room. The girls can choose which colour playdough they would like to use and then some stamps, cutters, other items to use with it.
Simple Playdough for Two
Sometimes we enjoy something a bit fancier, which is when we will use one of these ideas from above.
Try not to fall into the trap of thinking that fancier = better play, because it doesn't. My girls like simple things and play for longer when they have input into what is put out for them to play with, when it follows their interests and when they help make the special set up. The vast majority of our 'real' everyday play does not look 'pretty', but this does not make it any less fun, meaningful or purposeful for my little ones.
We hope you found some ideas to try and will have some fun of your own playing with playdough with your little ones.
Until next time, have fun learning in a playful way!
We love playdough at our house, but sometimes playing with playdough can get pretty boring and mundane. However, that’s not the case if you add in some fun tools from around the house to spark creativity and get those imaginations moving!
Here is a list of 55 easy-to-find playdough tools that you can set up at the playdough station to enhance play! You no longer have to worry about creating fresh ideas on how to play with playdough. Setting up these tools up is quick and easy, and provides opportunities for creative expression, learning, and imagination!
55 Playdough Tools To Spark Creativity
This post contains affiliate links. Please see our disclosure policy.
I hope this list helps to give you some awesome playdough tools that you can give your child or students to play with during playdough time.
You just never know what kind of imaginary monsters they may come up with
Here I’m sharing how to make your own Play Dough, plus how to create Play Dough favor boxes for birthdays and for kids holiday gifts! Play Dough is great for many ages and can easily be customized to any party theme or holiday (red and green for Christmas, blue and white for Hannukkah, red and white for Valentine’s Day, etc). Creating a Play Dough kit is very affordable and you may have most of the elements in your craft stash or pantry already… perfect for creating something memorable while staying on a budget!
Playdough Tools To Spark Creativity
We love playdough at our house, but sometimes playing with playdough can get pretty boring and mundane. However, that’s not the case if you add in some fun tools from around the house to spark creativity and get those imaginations moving!
DOUGH RECIPE
I have been using this dough recipe for years and it is wonderful! It’s “taste” safe for young kids, even though it’s not tasty at all while being soft and not sticky. The total recipe yields about 3 cups of dough.
RECIPE:
2 cups All Purpose Flour
3/4 cup Table Salt
4 teaspoons Cream of Tartar
2 cups Warm Water
2 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil
Food Coloring
MAKING THE DOUGH
Once you have gathered all your ingredients, mix the flour, table salt and cream of tartar in a medium or large pan. Mix the dry ingredients well for a smooth dough.
Next, add in the water and oil and bring to the stove. If you are making a single color batch of dough, this is the PERFECT time to add the food coloring. I made a single batch of green dough so I added about 30-40 drops of green food coloring directly into the water before pouring into the pan. Adding the food coloring into the water saves energy while you knead the dough and I have noticed the color seems more vibrant and even.
While mixing the dry and wet ingredients, have the heat on medium to low. As you continually stir you will see the mixture turn into a dough consistency. After about 3 minutes the dough will lose its stickiness. If the dough is undercooked, it will remain sticky. A good rule of thumb is once the dough stops sticking to the spatula it is done.
Finally, remove the dough from the heat and let cool slightly. While still warm, knead the dough to get a smooth consistency. This is my favorite part because the warm dough is actually very relaxing on my hands!
If you are making more then one color in the batch, divided the warm dough into smaller amounts and kneed the food coloring into the dough. I used 10 drops of yellow, 20 drops of blue and 20 drops of red in my dough. I also added silver glitter to one section without any food coloring. The food coloring did get on my hands as I kneaded the dough but once it is mixed into the dough it will come off off your kiddos hands.
Once cooled, the dough can be divided into small portions and wrapped in plastic wrap, or placed in an airtight container, and added to your Play Dough Kit! The dough can be stored in an airtight container for a couple of months!
PLAY DOUGH KIT
To amp up the coolness factor of the play dough, you can make a fun Play Dough kit. This is perfect for birthday party favors because you can customize it for different themes. You will want to include items such as a mini rolling pin and cookie cutters at the minimum. Other accessories are a fun addition to enhance the play and you may even have them already in your craft stash.
When packaging the kits I wanted to have the top clear and decided to use dessert boxes. They come in a large range of sizes and shapes so I bought a multi-pack on Amazon to use in the future as well!
Colorful items like pom-poms, shaped beads, pipe cleaner pieces, faux gems or paper straw segments add to the open-ended play and can be used to make faces, patterns and are just fun!
Items that can be used to create scenery such as small rocks, glass pebbles, shells, small trees, branch pieces or rattan spheres are perfect for pretend play with small animal figures or people figures. As a semi-retired floral designer, I have quite a collection of these items and they are some of my favorites to offer for play dough accessories!
Since my daughter is OBSESSED with pretend play, I like to include a small character for her to use to create stories or that will lead to an adventure. For the two kits I put together I went to the Dollar Tree to see what was available and found there were a ton of options! They had a variety of small animals for the farm, dinosaurs, horses, sea creatures, fairies and a variety of people! Each bag came with 10 figures so you can make multiple kits with each bag. Amazon also has a huge variety of options that you could use for ANY theme you are looking for. If you are worried about the size of a small toy, consider bath toys! I found adorable rubber duckies and frogs in a 3 pack are the Dollar Tree as well.
The horse play dough kit lead to a lot of play for my almost 6-year-old. She surprised me by making the green dough into a hill for a horse to overlook the others. I loved the 3D element it created and it was all from her own imagination.
CHRISTMAS PLAY DOUGH KIT
My daughter LOVES to give gifts. This year she will be giving her friends a Christmas themed play dough kit! I bought a collection of metal Christmas Cookie cutters that had a variety of shapes so I decided to tailor each kit to the cookie cutters. Some ideas for Christmas themed accessories are small bottle brush trees, bells, shaped beads, pom-poms, glittery pipe cleaner pieces, small plastic ornaments, pieces of beaded garland and artificial flowers.
PERFECT FOR ANY CELEBRATION
From Christmas to Hannukkah, and from Valentine’s Day to 4th of July ~ these custom Play Dough kits will be the hit of any party you and your little attends! Easily personalize to fit the holiday or theme by the color of dough, cookie cutters, and embellishments you include!
Here is a list of 55 easy-to-find playdough tools that you can set up at the playdough station to enhance play! You no longer have to worry about creating fresh ideas on how to play with playdough. Setting up these tools up is quick and easy, and provides opportunities for creative expression, learning, and imagination!
55 Playdough Tools To Spark Creativity
This post contains affiliate links. Please see our disclosure policy.
Two of my favourite things? Kid’s books and play dough kits… So a book-inspired play dough kit?? Oh my gosh… A match made in heaven!! We made this Little Blue Truck play dough kit last year when all of the Little Blue Truck books were on heavy rotation in our house and it was such a hit.
{this post contains Amazon links}
For the purpose of the kit, we decided to use the original Little Blue Truck as our inspiration, but they’re all so good {well, with the exception of the spring one – it’s not my favourite if I’m being honest}. They’re just such fun books to read aloud… They have great rhythm and rhyme and they have really sweet messages behind them too – win! I’d highly recommend all of these:
While I wasn’t sure what colours of play dough we’d do for this kit, a few flips through the pages of the book and it was settled. We’d go with rich, fall colours just like the ones in the illustrations.
Here’s a look… We did a deep, brick red, a charcoal grey, a mustardy yellow, a coppery brown, and a mossy green. Of course you could switch these up and do any colours you and your little one like though!
To make the play dough, I actually did 5 separate batches of dough (one for each colour) and then split each batch in half to make two kits – one for us to keep and one for us to gift. Depending on how full I want our kit to be, I usually do two or three batches of play dough, so 5 batches split in half gave us the perfect amount. You can find our go-to play dough recipe, as well as our tips and tricks to making the perfect play dough, here. For this particular kit, we skipped the scent and used our favourite Wilton gel colours.
Here’s how the dough fit into our go-to play dough kit container, the GLIS divided box from Ikea {US | CAN}. (One thing to note is that while these dough balls are not wrapped in anything, the GLIS containers are not airtight, so I do gently place the dough into a large zip-close bag and then back into the container both for gifting and for personal storage. In an air-tight bag, this play dough will last for months and months, whereas if you just leave them loose in the kit, you’ll notice them drying out and becoming sort of crystal-y fairly quickly.}
Next, we gathered up our animals and vehicles… We already had all of the animals in the story in our collection of Schliech and PAPO figurines, so that’s what we went with. You can find them here:
duck (this is a goose, but it looked more like the duck in the book than our duck figure did)
toad (ours is a green tree frog by Safari Ltd. that I can’t seem to find on amazon)
These figurines are beautiful quality and while we’ve built our collection slowly over many years, they’re definitely more pricey than others. If you’re giving this as a gift and you’d like it to be more affordable, I would recommend going with Safari Ltd. or Wild Republic figurines… Or even the ‘no name’ ones available in big toy stores and dollar stores. You should be able to find all of the story characters and more, at a fraction of the cost.
{One other thing to note is that while I always use amazon links in my posts as those seem to be the most universally accessible for most, we buy almost all of our figurines from our very favourite toy store in Vancouver, Dilly Dally Kids. It’s owned and run by a young local family and they’re amazing and the most sweet, helpful people ever. They also ship all over the place and have really good shipping rates, so I’d highly recommend checking them out.}
We also happened to have a perfect little CAT dump truck on hand too (we found ours at Winners, but you can also find it here), so the only thing we purchased was a little blue truck from our local teacher store (but this one or this one would be amazing!)
Weird, but one of my favourite things about putting together play dough kits is figuring out how to best fit everything into the GLIS box… We went with all of our little animal friends in the big spot on the left and the trucks in the middle spot in the front.
To finish off the kit, we added some natural wooden matchsticks {to be used as long grass, fence posts, or anything else the kiddos dream up} and a handful of autumnal trees from our Safari Ltd. Tree Toob.
Here’s the finished kit… Wouldn’t this make a lovely gift for a special little someone?
My favourite part about play dough kits is that you set them out and the kids have everything the need to start playing / creating…
And open-ended play invitations like this tend to appeal to a wide range of ages, which I love.
One thing I tend to get asked about play dough kits is, “How are they supposed to play with it?” and my answer is always that there is no right way to play – so long as they’re following the basic expectations you’ve set out for play dough play of course. I find that kids don’t really need instructions when it comes to enjoying the combination of play dough, loose parts, and figures… They have plenty of imagination and the best thing oftentimes is for us to stand back and observe.
They might create scenes that look similar to the ones in the story…
They might use the play dough and parts to retell the story…
Or they might do something completely different – which is 100% okay.
Either way, they’re most likely flexing their imaginations, hand muscles, and fine motor skills, which are all great things.
You know those times when your kiddo needs a little something extra special just for them? Like time alone that doesn’t feel like forced time alone? Well this spa bath for kids has become one of our go-tos in those situations and is exactly that… Time alone that feels special {maybe even a little bit luxurious} and not at all forced. It’s the perfect really chill, relaxing way to end the day and such a good mood booster for us too.
The set-up is really simple and can really be anything you want it to be depending on what your child loves and what you have in the house.
I always fill the tub up with a good amount of water and set out a towel, a washcloth, and a little ‘welcome to the spa’ of some sort. {Nothing fancy, obviously… This one is a piece of scrap paper from the junk drawer written with blue pen, but I often just write ‘welcome to the spa’ right on the tub with washable marker like I do for all of the little things I put out next.}
Alright – the little spa goodies… These are put in plastic containers (ancient apple sauce container collection for the win!) and I label each one by using a washable marker directly on the ledge of our bathtub. You can play around with different types of markers {washable obviously!} to see which ones work best on your surface, but regular old washable Crayola markers tend to be my go-to as they go on alright and wipe right off without any effort at all.
What you include is totally up to you, but I always go with the same 5 labels… ‘wash’, ‘scrub’, ‘soak’, ‘sip’, and ‘snack’.
‘Wash’ is almost one of two things… A couple of pumps of Moon Baby (or go to wash for both kids) or castile soap from our foaming soap dispenser (just put castile soap and some water in a foam dispenser that we always have on hand). BUT – how fun would it be to put out a chunk of our awesome DIY squishy soap?!
‘Scrub’ is almost always a big squeeze of the maple brown sugar scrub from Back to Earth that I love, but we’ve also done our homemade lemon vanilla sugar scrub and our funfetti sugar scrub when we’ve had them, and both are super fun and delicious smelling too.
‘Soak’ is usually a locally made bath bomb or some of our beloved coconut oat milk bath that Miss G can just pop into the tub when she’s ready.
‘Sip’ is usually fruit water (plain water with frozen fruit instead of ice cubes) with a paper straw to make it fancy…
And ‘snack’ is usually some type of cut up fresh fruit.
And that’s basically it!
When everything is ready I usually put on a calming Spotify playlist, dim the lights, and invite my little guest to enjoy some time at the spa.
She enjoys some time on her own and when she comes out afterwards… You can just tell – she feels sooooo good. Also, Mr. Sam had his very first taste of the spa bath the other night, soaked it right up, and then asked for another one midday the next day – hah!
Okay, so before you see this awesome muddy monster truck derby sensory bin and think it’s all fun and games over here all day every day, here’s what you need to know… This morning Sam came along for the school run in undies, a t-shirt, and a sweater. In minus four degree {celsius} weather. No pants. No socks. No boots. And no jacket. Let alone a toque or mittens. Thank goodness we do the whole car blanket thing and he at least had that once in, but you guys – this morning was a doooozy. We got home, I moped a bit, he continued to shout and whine and throw things, and I made a cup of coffee and gulped the whole thing back in bed with the door closed. Then we hugged it out, agreed to start our morning over, cleaned up, and put this sensory bin full of mud and monster trucks together.
Thank fricken goodness sensory play and calm music have the power to turn a day around.
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Here’s what we used to put this taste-safe, scented, amazing-feeling sensory bin together…
If you haven’t guessed yet, our ‘mud’ for our monster truck derby sensory play is CHOCOLATE oobleck!!
We didn’t even bother mixing this up in a separate bowl! Sam just dumped the cornstarch and cocoa powder straight into our bin…
Then whisked it up…
And mixed with a wooden spoon as I gradually added water.
You can play with the amounts of each ingredient to create thicker or thinner oobleck, but here’s our recipe…
CHOCOLATEY OOBLECK
2 cups of cornstarch
1/2 cup of cocoa
2 cups of water
Whisk the cornstarch and cocoa together well. Add the water and stir with a wooden spoon {or better yet – your hands!} until the oobleck has a uniform in texture.
I gave the chocolate oobleck one last mix before Sam very enthusiastically popped his monster trucks in.
{It goes without saying that Chloe was in on the fun in approximately 2 minutes flat. Seriously – this kitty of ours loves sensory play just as much as Grae and Sam do!}
It obviously depends on the size of your bin, but our layer of oobleck was thin enough to leave very visible monster truck tracks and Sam noticed right away.
He also realized how insanely neat oobleck is to touch and hold and squish.
As for the mess? With activities like this one, I just remind him to keep his hands in or over the bin. The truth is that the oobleck mud dries up on surfaces and is a cinch to wipe up, but I still don’t want it all over the kitchen obviously.
Part way through his play Sam asked for something for the monster trucks to drive over, so that’s when I offered him a few little Green Toys cars. We lined them up just like you’d see at a monster truck show and after getting a thorough drizzling of mud, the monster trucks began driving and jumping over them.
Although this addition was initiated by Sam, starting simple and adding things in here and there during play is one of my go-to methods for extending play activities.
Also his request? ‘A tool and a bucket’, plus later on, a ramp which I chopped from an almond milk carton. This was during a full one-hour play session and though I have a feeling that it would have lasted significantly longer, we had to put it on pause for nap time. With the promise that he could continue later on in the afternoon, of course.
I took it down a couple of weeks ago already, but Sam loved his little decorate a window Christmas tree SO much that when it began absolutely dumping snow yesterday, I decided to quickly put up a new window activity for him to enjoy. This decorate a window snowman activity has already been such a hit and the best part is that it can be decorated, taken apart, and redecorated over and over again.
First up, a little peek at the Christmas tree version… This was SO simple to put together and I’ve already stored the foam circles and star away for next year, so it’ll be extra easy to set-up again then. You can read the IG post details here.
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If you’re new to these foam window cling sort of activities, they’re really easy. We’ve been doing them since Miss G was teeny tiny, and though we first started out using coloured acetate sheets, we quickly switched over to craft foam as it’s super inexpensive and easy to find. I love these types of activities for many reasons, but a big one is that the required materials are so minimal. You really only need craft foam (this can be purchased at craft and dollar stores), scissors, and a small spray bottle that’s manageable for your little one’s hands (we like this style and they’re also readily available at dollar stores). This particular window snowman activity also uses some patterned white and clear cellophane (found at the dollar store also) and sticky tape, but if you’re brave enough to try it, you could skip the cellophane and use a black permanent marker on the window to make a snowman outline instead. I’ve heard that it comes off without an issue with a cotton pad and rubbing alcohol and I have tested out small spots with success myself, but try it at your own risk (and definitely do a test spot first!)
I stuck with the safe bet this time around and used cellophane to create our snowman… To do this I just folded a length of cellophane in half vertically, then used bowls as a guide when drawing a half snowman shape using permanent marker. I do find that cutting patterned cellophane is much easier with really sharp scissors, so be sure to use your best pair when cutting out your snow person.
Next, place it up on the window at your child’s height. It’ll stick up there all on it’s own, but I added some little tape rolls just to be sure it stayed put while Sam was playing.
Next up, cut several snowman ‘accessories’ out of your craft foam. I just did this step on the fly, but you can draw on the foam sheets with pencil first if it’s easier. What you include is up to you… I did a couple of different hats, a few carrots, a couple of twigs, then a bunch of buttons and pebbles.
Now I’m not nearly good enough with photography to capture both the cellophane snowman on the sunny window and the foam pieces set out on the table in the dark corner, but this was the basic set-up…
I love putting little play invitations like this one out for the kids to discover and use on their own time. Sam was immediately intrigued by the table full of foam goodies, but when he saw the snowman on the window? He was thrilled.
Having done a similar activity before, he immediately got to work decorating his snow person.
If you’ve never tried this type of activity before, the process is really neat. All the foam pieces need in order to stick onto the window is a spritz of water! So it’s just spray-and-stick for each piece.
Using a spray bottle is great for developing those little hand muscles and motor skills too, so win-win!
“Dis snowman same tall as ME!!”
It’s hard to see, but isn’t his snowman sweet? The twigs coming out of the bottom of its face are in fact arms and the green circles on the sides are his “funny ears”. Also, Sam told me that it doesn’t have a a name when he’s wearing the black hat, but when its wearing this red and white one, the snowman’s name is Santa.
Baking soda and vinegar… It just never ever gets old. This very simple fizzy eruptions activity has been a hit with so many of our little friends and guests over the years. And it doesn’t matter if they’ve just turned two or they’re nearly eleven years old – everyone who has come over when I’ve had this set out for a co-op meet-up, play date, or birthday party has pretty much loved it. I mean what’s not to love about colourful fizzy eruptions that leave your play surface looking just like that of the moon, right?
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Here’s the simple-as-can-be set-up… A plate of baking soda (or soda bicarbonate for our UK friends), several little jars of white vinegar coloured with liquid food colouring, gel food colouring, or liquid watercolours {my personal favourite because of the fact that they’re fully washable}, some pipettes, and a play tray to contain the mess {this one from Ikea is our fave}.
That being said, kids who haven’t mastered pipette use can totally still create fizzy eruptions on their own! Instead of giving them the usual jar / pipette combo, just put the coloured vinegar in old glue bottles, any other squirt bottle with a small opening, or old liquid soap bottles with a pump and let them squeeze or pump the vinegar onto their plate of baking soda.
If they’re able to use a pipette, it’s as easy as squeeze to collect coloured vinegar…
Then squeeze to release the coloured vinegar onto the baking soda base and watch the fizzy eruption magic happen!
When the fizzy foam settles down, you’ll be left with the coolest coloured spots that look just like the moon’s surface {hence why we sometimes call this ‘moon painting’}.
Now if you really want to take things to the next level {like Sam does ALWAYS}, you may want to try the triple pipette method {patent pending – HAHA!}
Simply shove all three of your pipettes into a single jar, squeeze up as much vinegar as humanly possible…
And enthusiastically squeeze them out onto your baking soda in order to create the biggest fizzy eruption possible. The more force the better, really.
I mean, just look at how fun it looks!!
And when you’re nearly done, may as well just dump the rest of the vinegar out, right?? ‘Papa says sam can do it’, I’m told. Hah!
But in all seriousness, when the entire plate is flooded in vinegar like this, most often you can dump off the liquid and use the remaining {wet} baking soda below for round 2. I mean you may as well get as much bang for your buck as possible, right? {This is especially important when you live in Kuwait and you’re buying 45 of these tiny 100 gram containers of baking soda at a time.}
Oh how I love putting together play dough kits! After years and years of them being one of our play staples {as well as our go-to homemade gift}, Miss G sort of moved onto really loving other types of play around the time Sam was born {#sadday}. Then when Sam was finally ready for it, we stuck with our taste-safe baby play dough and our go-to no-cook play dough for a long while before moving onto full-on play dough kits with loads of fun loose parts included, so it’s been a minute. Recently we’ve done a really awesome Little Blue Truck play dough kit {which I’ll be sure to share soon} as well as an autumn spice dough with whole spices, but this witch’s brew play dough kit is our newest kit and it’s been oh so much fun.
Of course a play dough kit means a GLIS divided container from Ikea, so we dug one of those out too. {Seriously one of my very favourite things to buy at Ikea. So much so that I always keep a few extras on hand for gifts and fun projects.}
Alright, so here’s how we organized our kit! Our freshly made play dough in one of the big spots {I’d first place this in a big zip-close bag if giving the kit as a gift or storing it for any amount of time as the containers aren’t air-tight}…
Our little creepy loose parts in the small slots in the front…
And some mini ‘cauldrons’ {aka apple sauce containers} and some play kitchen utensils for stirring the brew along the side.
We also tucked our rats in with the cauldrons and utensils as that’s where we had space.
Here’s the finished kit! Wouldn’t this make a lovely gift when paired with a copy of Room on the Broom? Especially for a kiddos with a birthday or party around Halloween? I also love the idea of making these and gifting them to your child’s preschool or Kindergarten class… I mean which teacher wouldn’t appreciate a ready-made sensory activity for her munchkins to enjoy??
The best thing about play dough kits like these? ANYTHING GOES.
Miss G opted to use one of the big cauldrons we use for Halloween goodies for her witches brew…
And Sam stacked his brew up nice and high and layered creepy crawlies in between.
When they were done, the kiddos removed the little bits and bobs from the play dough, sorted them back into the container {awesome sorting practice for kiddos Sam’s age}, and I popped the play dough into a zip-close bag before putting it back into our divided container and closing it up.
We’re in full-on fall mode here in the Okanagan and the kids and I have been collecting beautifully coloured leaves since they’ve started falling. Some have become part of the little nature table below our autumn bucket list, some have become leaf creatures, and tonight, a pile of them become part of a fall leaf bath.
I actually set this little fall leaf bath up for Sam last fall and it was such a hit that I had to do it again.
It couldn’t be easier, which I love. Just give your leaves a good rinse and place them on the surface of a tub of water.
This time around I also put some up on the wall – a trick Sam discovered last year. All you have to do is get either the leaf or the wall wet, and so long as the leaf is fairly flat, it’ll magically stick to the wall.
What he discovered this time around? That he could stick a leaf onto a leaf!
While he was playing, we also briefly talked about the different types of leaves in his fall leaf bath… Well, the ones I knew at least. {#momneedstodosometree/leafresearch}
And of course there were leaf hats, leaves stuck on legs and bellies, and several rounds of leaf peek-a-boo.
After Sam was done, it was Miss G’s turn for a bath, and this is what I walked into when she was done… She had separated the leaves by colour and created a game for me by having one misplaced leaf on each wall that needed finding. : ) Gosh, how I love my girl…
Welp, the first official day of fall is nearly here and I’m doing my best to embrace it despite the fact that the arrival of fall means we’re that much closer to another loonnnnng winter in our small town. A loonnnng winter in our small town that nearly did me in last year. Now if it were to stay fall for a few months and we got to soak in that crisp fall air mixed with little bursts of sun, the beautiful autumn colours, and sweater weather for a while before transitioning into the snow, freezing cold, parkas, and permanently feeling like a block of ice, I’d totally be down for that. Come on Mother Nature, work with me here! {Pleeeaaase.}
I usually switch up our play dough and play dough kits each season despite the fact that our go-to homemade play dough can last even longer than that {our black, sparkly play dough that was part of our tinker play dough activity is still going strong!}, so this week Sam and I whipped up the most delicious smelling autumn spice play dough.
It’s just our basic no-cook play dough recipe {made without food colouring or flavour packets} with a few of our favourite fall spices added to it, and let me tell you – it smells divine! {We chose to use cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves, but if we would have had allspice on hand, I would have added that too!}
To make it, we measure out our dry ingredients plus our vegetable oil and glycerine into a large bowl.
Then we whisk it up really well.
Next, I add the boiling water and immediately mix it {quite vigorously} to get the texture as uniform as possible. As soon as it’s cool enough to handle, I get my hands in there, bring it all together in a ball…
And then dump it out onto a clean, dry countertop.
The one question I always get asked about our play dough is how we get such a smooth texture, and it’s all about the kneading! I knead our play dough for probably a solid 2 or 3 minutes, or until it’s pretty much cool. I know that there’s a proper way to knead doughs, but when it comes to our play dough recipe, I start with it all in a mass close to me…
Then I push it away from me while using a decent amount of pressure to flatten it right out. Then I pull it back and repeat. (Many, many times.) I find that this method works well when the dough is still a little sticky {our recipe tends to feel a little wet until completely cool} and it really works to get rid of any little lumps an bumps that might be hiding in the dough. By the time it’s completely cool, the dough should be smooth as can be and should no longer be sticky.
Can you tell how smooth it is?
I’m pretty sure we’ve made some version of this play dough every fall since Miss G was one or two years old, and I love pairing it with natural loose parts. We often go out on a nature walk and collect conkers, acorns, pinecones, and pretty leaves to pair it with, but another favourite over the years has been whole spices and that’s what we decided to go with this time around.
Sam and I popped by our local bulk store and picked up some cinnamon sticks, cardamom pods, whole allspice, whole nutmeg, some anise stars, and some whole cloves – all of which smell amazing and have interesting shapes and textures. Then I popped everything into one of my favourite divided trays {I got this one in Kuwait at City Star in Egaila} and set it out on the table with a couple of placemats for the kids to discover after school.
I love having some sort of invitation to play or create out on the table in the afternoons… It’s always something that is open-ended and requires very little / no adult help, which means that they can just dive in and play or create independently, which I think is good for all of us, but especially Grae.
After a long day at school, I really find that she just needs some time to unwind and decompress… Some time when there’s nothing expected of her and nothing she has to do on a timeline – and creating or reading seem to be two really good options for her.
I often pick a chilled out, calming playlist on Spotify and play that too, which really sets the mood for some low-key, focused play.
Of course with play dough and loose parts, there’s really no end goal. Miss G usually works on some sort of careful creation…
While sam loves to burry and poke and dig and hide.
Both of which are equally valuable, important ways to play.
Here’s our autumn spice play dough recipe…
Autumn Spice Play Dough
1 cup of all-purpose flour
1/4 cup of table salt
1 tablespoon of cream of tartar
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of nutmeg
1 teaspoon of ground cloves
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
1 tablespoon of glycerine
3/4 cup of boiling water (measured in a dry measuring cup – this is important as wet and dry measures aren’t the same)
Place all of the ingredients, save the boiling water, in a bowl and whisk well. Measure the water using your dry measuring set and add it to the bowl. Give the mixture a quick mix with a wooden spoon, banging off it off every once and a while. At this point, the mixture may seem too wet and sticky to make good play dough… Do not fret! Once the dough has cooled just a little, use your hands to carefully bring it into and ball and then dump it out onto the countertop and knead really well. You’ll know you’re done when the dough is fully cooled, soft and squishy, and no longer sticky
Sometimes the very simplest things turn out to be the biggest hits, don’t they? Take these insanely easy paper tunnels for example… A totally random idea, thrown together on the spot, and yet Sam just loves them.
Do all little car lovers have a ‘thing’? I once nannied a little car lover who was obsessed with speed bumps. Like LOVED speed bumps. And Sam’s thing? Tunnels.
I don’t know what it is about them exactly, but he just freaking looovvvves tunnels. He’s constantly searching them out for his toy cars and will basically transform anything he can into a tunnel. Even if it’s your leg – hope you didn’t plan on moving any time soon {hah!}
So this afternoon when he woke from a nap talking about a tunnel for his purple concrete mixer, this little paper tunnel idea popped into my mind and it couldn’t be easier.
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Basically you need two things – washi tape and card stock {I love this stuff from Ikea – it’s super sturdy and the colours are gorgeous}. Oh, and a hard surface of some sort. All I did was cut some of the card stock in half and kept some whole, then folded little tabs on each side, and washi taped them to our coffee table to form little rainbow tunnels.
Easiest thing EVER.
He collected up a bunch of different cars and trucks, placed them in the middle of the table, and then drove them around and through the paper tunnels one-by-one.
One thing I really love about this activity besides it being so easy is that while the paper tunnels are fairly crash proof, the fact that they’re just paper taped down onto a table encourages Sam to practice slow, controlled, gentle movements – something that doesn’t always come naturally to him.
These remain on our coffee table currently and probably will for a while, but when we’re done with them, we’ll just take them off and tuck them away until next time, probably reusing the same paper tunnels several times over.
Come August we will have been in our new house for a year, and though we’ve definitely ‘settled in’, our house is still a little stark. We still have a few key pieces to purchase, but the biggest part of part of it? There’s really nothing on the walls. I figure it will eventually come together and while I have a few different ideas for this tall bare wall on our landing {instagram wall? low profile book case?}, in the meantime we’ve been using it for all kinds of vertical projects and play. This giant sticky collage was a total hit with both kids {and that’s no small feat when they’re 5 and a half years apart!} and was added to each day for about a week and a half.
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The best part is that so long as you have these three items – contact paper {CAN}, wide painter’s tape {CAN}, and scissors – you can pretty much make this project happen with random loose items from around the house. No need to buy anything new!
Now a word on contact paper… You can find this stuff at office supply shops, but many dollar stores carry it too. lt’s usually in the kitchen aisle with the other drawer liners and no slip grip rolls. For this project, we used two full rolls of the clear contact paper that Dollar Tree stocks.
Alright, so here’s the trickiest part of this activity… Getting the contact paper {CAN} up onto the wall. Not going to lie – it can be a bit frustrating at first. We’ve been doing contact paper activities since Miss G was wee and I kind of have my method down now, thankfully.
First off – don’t attempt this while you have little ones who desperately want to get to the playing part of the activity around. Still, even now, I put our contact paper up during nap time or at night when Sam is in bed. It’s just easier that way.
Second – roll your length of contact paper out on a table and fold back just a couple of inches of the paper backing along the length that you’re going to tape. This will reveal the sticky side {which of course you’re going to want facing outwards on your wall}.
Third – while still at the table, run a length of painter’s tape along that edge, adhering half of the tape’s width to the contact paper and leaving the other half to adhere to your wall.
Fourth – stick the contact paper up onto the wall, keeping it as straight and flat as possible and then gently peel off the paper backing.
Now if you’re going to do a GIANT sticky collage wall using two strips of contact paper like we did, prep the second strip of contact paper the same way – the only difference is that the taped edge is going to be the bottom side of the collage wall. Then, holding the non-taped edge of the contact paper strip {paper backing still on of course}, place it onto the first piece of contact paper so they’re overlapped a couple of inches. I sort of pat it into place to make sure they’re stuck together well before gently tugging downwards and adhering that bottom strip of tape onto the wall. The goal is to have it as flat as possible, I never seem to get mine *perfectly* flat and it really doesn’t matter.
Last step – add painter’s tape {CAN} along each vertical side to complete your sticky canvas.
Now for the fun part… Collecting your loose parts! Basically anything goes here – no need to buy anything new unless you truly have a house free of any little junky bits / craft supplies. Most all of our stuff comes from our craft drawers, but also look in your junk drawer. Things like bits of string, twist ties, bread ties, and scraps of packaging work well! You can also cut pictures out of your weekly flyers – they’re basically like stickers when paired with a sticky collage wall and bonus: get the kiddos to cut out their favourites for some added scissor practice!
Here’s what I originally set out with our giant sticky collage:
Then with the giant sticky collage wall set up and the loose parts collected, I left it for Sam to discover after his nap. {Of course there’s really no missing something of this size!}
He stuck up a couple of little parts {talk about an awesome fine motor skill workout} and was pleased as punch about the whole thing.
We had to run off to grab Miss G from school {yup, with Sam in robot jammies}, but as soon as we returned home, it was back to the sticky wall.
He was soooo excited to show his big sis!
What I love about open-ended invitations like this one is that kids always seem to add their own spin on them given some time and space. And honestly, most of the time their ideas are better than mine! After Sam had lost interest and moved onto something else, Miss G asked to bring out our giant ball of multi-coloured yarn and I just think it was such a neat idea.
Now here’s my secret to making the interest for invitations to play or create like this one last as long as possible… Add a few new things each day or two! So in this case, I’d make sure the landing was tidy (I’ve totally noticed that my kids don’t gravitate to spaces that are scattered and a mess), then I’d add a few new things into the loose parts tray to keep interest high.
This boy and his cars. He just loves them. Throw in a ramp and he’s pleased as punch, so imagine how thrilled he was about these mini racer wall ramps we put up on our landing today! {SOO thrilled.}
It’s incredibly easy, but here’s what we used to create our mini racer wall ramps:
several mini racers (anyone else remember these from their childhood?)
several cardboard tubes (we repurposed most of ours from our car ramp sensory bin)
Now because most all of our paper rolls were the ones we used for our car ramp sensory bin, we didn’t have to cut ours in half lengthwise, but if you do have to do that part, it does take a little bit of effort… Sharp, longer scissors are key in my opinion. With your paper tubes cut, it’s as easy as running a long piece of tape down one edge and sticking it to the wall at an angle.
There’s really no right or wrong way to do this… You can have the ramps work together or separately – up to you. I decided to start at the top and got Sam to stand near the wall to judge how high we could go with the first ramp. I thought it would be fun to make the ramps work together if possible, so with each addition, I got him to send one of his mini racers down and then positioned the next ramp so it would catch the car once it launched off the first.
Once we had all of the previously cut ramps up, I asked Sam what he’d like to do with our one new paper roll – cut it and make two new ramps or keep it as is and make one tunnel and he was absolutely certain that one tunnel was the way to go, so we hung it as is.
And then we were off!
He’d simply place a mini racer, wheels down, at the top of the tunnel or one of the ramps and then watch it go.
The transition from one ramp to the next didn’t always work out perfectly, but he didn’t mind one bit. If a car got stuck sideways or wheels up, he’d go help it and then step back to continue watching it race down.
Part way through we added a basket to catch the cars that were flying off of the last ramp and crashing into our window, which added a fun element.
I don’t know how long this will stay up on our wall for, but it’s not going anywhere anytime soon.
Oh, how I love me a good sensory bin. When Miss G was a toddler, we were sensory bin QUEENS. Seriously though. We probably had a minimum of two sensory bins going on any given day. She loved them, I loved them, and they come with SO many benefits, so we just ran with it.
Well, as soon Sam started digging in our freshly planted container garden, I knew exactly what we needed to put together for him – a gardening sensory bin! A place where he’d be free to dig, fill, plant, and rake to his heart’s content.
So that’s exactly what we did.
Here’s what it included:
– potting soil (the plainest, nothing added soil the store had)
– several small pots from the seedlings we’d purchased for our garden
We also used the double bin method that I often use with Sam (my boy who can destroy an entire room in approximately 30 seconds flat). It’s not a perfect system, but it does help contain the sensory bin filler (in this case, soil) and the extra space can also be used to house materials you want nearby, but not necessarily right in the sensory bin itself. This is our go-to small sensory bin and this is my beloved jumbo sensory bin.
As I usually do when introducing an open-ended activity, I sort of just sat back and observed from the get-go.
Now he had spent the last few days helping Grace and I transplant seedlings into containers, but it was the sweetest thing to watch him carefully fill his pot with soil and then stick a flower in the centre.
Before long, Missy oined in. I’m always more than happy to let her enjoy activities I’ve set up with Sam in mind, but I do sometimes like him to get a stab at it first – before seeing how his big sister would interact with the materials.
Now I don’t know whose idea it was, but once Grae joined in it wasn’t very long before one of our pump pressure water sprayers came into play. {Side note: I looove these for gardening with kids as I feel like they make it hard to over water or hurt the seedling with a flow that’s too strong.}
Of course once the water came into play, a whole lot of drinking and showering came along with it – hah!
Just for fun, let’s take a look at the last time I did a gardening sensory bin for Miss G, shall we? This was back in October of 2014 {so Grae was just over 4 years old} in the courtyard of our apartments in Kuwait. I took the photos for the purpose of sharing them here on the site, but never got around to it {#storyofmylife}. Her bin was similar, but included the CUTEST white picket fence and tiny wooden ladybugs. Also, those lilacs? Beautiful. {Still sad that I had to leave so many fun things behind when we moved home.}
Aw, my sweet baby girl!!
You can also see another gardening sensory bin we did when Miss G was just a year old here. My gosh – the concentration and determination in that video just kills me!
