Creative Family Fun

Your one-stop shop for kids activities and family fun

Learning Activities for Kids

Apple Counting Rocks

By

I’ve always been a fan of using manipulatives for math, especially for kids who are just learning a new concept.

You can add with them, subtract, multiply, or even divide. Manipulatives are a great tool to use with any kid to help illustrate math concepts.

This simple set of Apple Counting Stones is perfect for either preschool or early elementary math. They’re easy to make and you only need a few supplies.

Disclosure: There are Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations. You can read our full disclosure policy on our Disclosure Page for more details.

Supplies Needed:

Red Craft Paint
Brown Craft Paint
Black Stones

How to make the stones:

Pick out ten black stones. I tried to find ones that were smooth enough on one side for painting and also sat nicely on a flat surface. (I didn’t want a stone that would tilt or wobble.) Also, make sure the surface is wide enough to paint an apple.

Use the red paint to make your simple apple shape. An apple is super-simple to paint. Make a modified heart shape. Make the top of the heart a bit shorter and instead of a point at the bottom, make it wider and flatter.

Keep it simple! It doesn’t need to be perfect. Finish your apple off with a short brown stem.

Note: In order to get the dark, vibrant colors, I had to paint over my apples several times. The first coat went on super thin and then I got a deeper coverage on each coat. Each coat of paint only took a couple of minutes to dry, so don’t worry, this project didn’t take all day. I painted 4 coats, but however many you need depends on the brand of paint you use and how dark you want your apples. 

How to use your Apple Counting Rocks

Play a Simple Counting Game: Use these rocks with a child who is just learning to count. Give your child small groups of the rocks and have them count them one at a time. This is a simple way to practice counting with a child who is still working on 1-10.

Play Apple Hide and Seek: Hide the apple rocks around the room. Have your child search for them, counting along the way. Once they reach 10, they’ll know they’ve found them all.

Use the Stones as Manipulatives on a Ten Frame: A ten frame is a great way to visualize numbers from one through ten. Have your child place 4 stones on a ten frame. Then have them count and add the correct number of stones to fill in the ten frame.

Another version is to have the stones already on a ten frame. Place anywhere from one to ten stones. Have your child count and tell you how many stones are there. Practice being able to say the amount without having to count each stone one by one.

You can get a ten frame to use with these stones at this link. It prints landscape and takes up almost a whole sheet of paper. It’s the perfect size to use with your Apple Counting Stones or any other larger manipulative (such as Duplo Blocks or toy cars).

Make a set of apple counting rocks for some fun math activities. You can use them to count, to add, to subtract, or with a ten frame.

More fun ways to use your Apple Counting Rocks

What Makes 10? What number combinations will create 10? Use the ten frame and your stones to find out. If you have 4 stones, how many more do you need to create 10? For an added challenge, try it without the ten frame.

Practice Adding: Set out two groups of stones. Have your child add the two groups together. How many stones are there total?

Practice Subtracting: Set out a group of stones. Ask your child to take away a certain amount. How many are left. For example, give your child 5 stones and ask them to take away 3. How many stones do they have left?

These Apple Counting Stones are a great math tool and can be used in so many ways. How will you use them? 

You may also like one of these fun math games:

Counting to 100 Activities for Kindergarten

LEGO Addition: Add & Fill a Base Plate

Practice Counting On in Nature

Pumpkin Ten Frames at Playdough to Plato

Outdoor ABC Game on the Driveway

By

With a preschooler, sometimes you just need to get them moving.

So, I decided to sneak a little learning in with our moving and created a simple outdoor abc game.

This Driveway ABC Game is easy. It’s fun. And, it’s a great way to review the alphabet.

Grab your sidewalk chalk, go outside, and have some fun learning the alphabet with this fun outdoor abc game you can play on your driveway.

Disclosure: There are Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations. You can read our full disclosure policy on our Disclosure Page for more details.

Supplies Needed:

Sidewalk chalk

Large dice (can be played with small dice if that’s all you have)

Large stretch of concrete. You can use a driveway or a sidewalk.

Set-up and play your outdoor ABC game

I drew a long, winding path on our driveway and divided it up into sections.

I then wrote one letter in each section.

When it was time to play, my preschooler threw our giant die and moved that many spaces.

When she stopped, she had to say each letter she stepped on out loud.

The concept was easy and she had a blast. We played it again and again. Not only was she reviewing her letter, but she was running all over the place chasing the die.

When I drew our game, I wrote the letters in alphabetical order ending at “k”.  I didn’t make a very long game board. Feel free to mix up the letters and add additional letters if you want to make a more challenging game.

Other variations of this outdoor alphabet game:

Use lower case letters instead of upper case

Use the letters in your child’s name for an easy name recognition game

Write the entire alphabet or only the ones that are challenging to your child

Use sight words instead of letters for kids who are already alphabet experts

Grab your sidewalk chalk, go outside, and have some fun learning your ABCs with this fun outdoor alphabet game you can play on your driveway.

Our outdoor abc game got rained away after only playing it once, but I know we’ll do this again. After all, it’s so much fun to learn while playing a gross motor game!

Grab your sidewalk chalk, go outside, and have some fun learning your ABCs with this fun outdoor alphabet game you can play on your driveway.

You may also like one of these fun outdoor learning ideas:

Outdoor Shape Activity: Driveway Shape Maze

Go Outside: Shape Hopscotch

Go Outside: Counting Walk

Garden Flower Ten Frame at Rainy Day Mum

My recommended alphabet resources

It’s so much fun to learn your ABC’s with a game. If you don’t want to head outside, here are some fun game you might want to try.

Do you want to do more activities with your kids?

Join our fun Facebook community, Creative Family Fun for Busy Families, for daily activities that are great for kids and families. We’ll chat, share, and have fun. It’s a safe and private place to share ideas for family and kids activities.

I’d love for you to join me! Just click the link below, request to join, and answer the questions (they’re easy, I promise). Come join the fun! Join the Creative Family Fun for Busy Families community here.

Easy Sun Prints STEM Activity

By

We’ve been reading and learning about the sun lately. It seemed like a fitting subject to learn about during the summer.

While thinking about some things we could do I remembered making sun prints when I was a kid.

It was an easy and fascinating project; one that was perfect for a summer day.

So, we combined a little science with a little art and made sun prints.

Let’s gather our supplies to do this fun STEM project.

Combine art and science with this fun Sun Prints STEAM activity that uses the power of the sun to make art. It's a fun project for a sunny day!

Disclosure: There are Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations. You can read our full disclosure policy on our Disclosure Page for more details.

Supplies Needed:

Dark, bright colored construction paper (red, orange, blue, or black would work perfectly)
Pennies
Tape
Lots of sunshine

How to make sun prints

Find a nice sunny spot to work on your project. Once you’ve arranged your coins, you will not want to move your paper until your project is complete, so choose wisely.

We chose a spot in our backyard that had sunshine for many hours during the day.

If the day is windy, you will want to tape your paper down so that it won’t blow away. We made the mistake of not taping ours down and had to go rescue our pennies halfway through the project. Let me tell you, pennies are hard to find in a grassy lawn!

Arrange your pennies in a pretty design on the paper. Then, don’t move them for several hours. Create a pretty design, try to write a word, or make a simple picture.

Observe the process

Make some observations along the way. Is your paper getting darker or lighter? What do you think is happening underneath the pennies? Touch a penny. How does it feel?

Combine art and science with this fun Sun Prints STEAM activity that uses the power of the sun to make art. It's a fun project for a sunny summer day!

We left our paper outside for 8 hours. You don’t have to leave it out as long as we did, but the longer the sun shines on your paper, the more contrast you’ll have on your design.

The first thing we noticed on our design was that our paper was a lot lighter than when we first brought it out.

Combine art and science with this fun Sun Prints STEAM activity that uses the power of the sun to make art. It's a fun project for a sunny summer day!

Next we started removing our pennies and saw the design form right before our eyes.

The paper underneath stayed dark because the pennies blocked the paper-fading UV rays of the sun, a process described as “really cool” by my girls.

Above is a close-up of one of the pictures. If you can’t tell, it’s a girl with long pigtails standing on the ground.

Have you ever made sun prints? It’s a fun experiment to show just how powerful the sun’s rays are.

You may also like one of these fun STEAM activities:

Color Mixing Lab

Spinning Tops Color Mixing STEM Activity

Melting Crayons Science Experiment

Summer Science Experiments and Activities for Kids at Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls

My must-have STEM resource

I don’t know about you, but I don’t always have time to prep a fun science project. That’s why I love Green Kid Crafts Discovery boxes. The boxes are packed full of projects that are fun and inviting. You can choose to get a subscription or a one-off box based off of a specific theme. Any one you choose would be a lot of fun!

Get a subscription here.

Get STEM fun delivered to your inbox

Wouldn’t it be so much fun to get STEAM family activities delivered to your inbox? I think so! That’s why I’ve created this fun series, STEAM Family Fun, to be delivered to your inbox. After going through all the letters in STEAM each week with a fun activity devoted to each, you’ll start receiving a fun STEAM activity once a month. (And I’ll also pop up in your inbox occasionally if I’ve got other fun things to share.)

Fill out the form below to start receiving STEAM Family Fun in your inbox.



Tips for Hiking With Toddlers

By

Does the thought of hiking with toddlers send shivers down your spine? Where can you go? Will I end up having to carry my kids half-way through? How can I keep them safe? All. The. Worries.

I’m here to tell you to stop worrying. You’ve got this.

Hiking can be such a fun family activity. It gets everyone moving. You can explore a new place. And, it’s a fun way to learn and explore in nature.

.All the best tips for hiking with toddlers

Disclosure: There are Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations. You can read our full disclosure policy on our Disclosure Page for more details.

How to have fun hiking with toddlers

I took my kids hiking by myself all the time when they were younger. But, here’s the thing, our hikes looked a lot different than they would if it was just me and my husband.

But, no matter how they looked, they were fun and they were valuable. My kids loved a family hike.

The key: keep it simple and keep it on your kid’s level.

You don’t need to hike up a mountain or go deep in the woods to experience all the fun of a hike. For our hikes we often stayed local and would choose a paved path in a wooded area.

We also kept it short, stopping and turning around when the girls requested it. After all, there was no way I could carry both of my kids back to the car if we went too far.

A long hike for a toddler may not necessarily seem long to you and that’s okay.

Let your kids lead the way

Another thing that worked well for me when hiking with young children was to let my girls lead the way. I would stop when they stopped. I would look at what they looked at.

We would examine anything and everything that they wanted to look at. I saw so many nature treasures that I would have missed if I didn’t have the kids along.

We’d look at a cool rock or feel the texture of the bark on a tree. My daughter had an eagle eye when it came to spotting wildflowers.

We picked up sticks and laid them all out to examine and figure out which were the best ones. Apparently there is special 4-year-old criteria when it comes to finding the best stick.

If you look high and look low, you’re sure to find something interesting, like this bird’s nest already abandoned for the winter.We also found bright yellow leaves, a big curvy tree, a small batch of berries (which we learned not to touch since we don’t know what they are), a secret path leading to a dock on a small lake and lots of nature treasures.

We found all of these on small, simple hikes.

Tips for Hiking With Toddlers

  • Keep it short.
  • Bring along water and small healthy snacks for energy. (And be prepared to carry your waste until you find a trashcan.)
  • Keep it slow. Let your kids explore and examine as much as they want.
  • Go someplace familiar. You will feel more comfortable if you know the area well.
  • Turn back if the kids start getting tired. You don’t want to push them and end up having to carry an exhausted child!
  • Use your eyes, ears, and nose to learn a little about the natural world around you. Experience the hike, don’t just walk it.
  • And the most important… Keep it simple! You will all enjoy yourself more.
Yes, you can go hiking with young children. It's a fun and rewarding family activity. Find all the best tips for a successful hike with your toddlers and preschoolers here so you can plan a successful family hike.

Let’s Go on a Family Hike!

Are you ready? Let’s do this.

Pick a location, get the kids ready, and just go. I guarantee you’ll have fun and want to go hiking over and over again.

Hiking is such a great family activity that you can do with kids of all ages. Keep it simple while hiking with toddlers and then as your kids grow older, you can go on longer and longer hikes.

Get out, explore, and have fun.

You may also like one of these fun outdoor family activities:

Top Ten Simple Summer Field Trips

Go on a Family Adventure and Discover a “New to You” Park

10 Fun Walk Ideas for Families

10 Reasons to Visit a State Park This Weekend (or any Weekend)

20 Summer Scavenger Hunts at EDventures for Kids

Kids to Parks Day

I wrote this post to help celebrate Kids to Parks Day from the National Park Trust which happens on the third Saturday of May of each year. It’s a fun day to get out and have fun with the family. You can attend an official event or do something on your own, like a fun family hike! You can check here to find a local event.

No matter what you do, take the opportunity to celebrate the outdoors and to celebrate your family. Have fun! Share your adventures with the #KidstoParks hashtag on social media.

Yes, you can go hiking with toddlers! Find all the best tips for a successful hike with your young kids here so you can plan a successful family hike.

Do you want to do more fun activities with your family?

Join our fun Facebook community, Creative Family Fun for Busy Families, for daily activities that are great for kids and families. We’ll chat, share, and have fun. It’s a safe and private place to share ideas for family and kids activities.

I’d love for you to join me! Just click the link below, request to join, and answer the questions (they’re easy, I promise). Come join the fun! Join the Creative Family Fun for Busy Families community here.

Nature Activity Books for Young Explorers

By

It’s so much fun to explore nature. You can just wander, observe, and learn so much.

But, sometimes you want some help guiding you and teaching you. I’ve found a few nature activity books that do just that and I wanted to tell you about them.

They’re fun. They’ll inspire you to get outside. And, you’ll learn a lot in the process.

Get inspired to go out and explore nature with one of these fun nature activity books. They're full of fun kids activities and family activities. You'll have fun and learn a lot too.

Disclosure: The Nature Arts and Crafts ebook was provided to me free of charge, the other two books I purchased myself. They’re all books that I highly recommend! There are Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations. You can read our full disclosure policy on our Disclosure Page for more details.

We used all three of these nature activity books for summer learning. We explored our backyard and made some fun creations inspired by nature. These books all got two thumbs up from each of my girls (and me too).

I hope we get them out again and again!

Get inspired to go out and explore nature with one of these fun nature activity books. They're full of fun kids activities and family activities. You'll have fun and learn a lot too.

A Little Bit of Dirt by Asia Citro

Get inspired to explore and create with A Little Bit of Dirt: 55+ Science and Art Activities to Reconnect Children with Nature by Asia Citro. It’s got fun ideas for nature exploration, and creative ways to use nature finds.

You can make Texture Garden, play Rain Drums, or do some Pounding Art. Doesn’t that sound like fun? I love that the ideas appeal to all ages of kids, from toddlers and preschoolers to my own elementary aged kids.

We had tons of fun making our Acrylic Paint Sun Print t shirts. The instructions were clear and the project was easy for my girls to do. Plus, the results were stunning!

We have plans for several more projects in this book. It should be fun!

Get inspired to go out and explore nature with one of these fun nature activity books. They're full of fun kids activities and family activities. You'll have fun and learn a lot too.

100 Backyard Activities by Colleen Kessler

Learn all you can about your own yard with this fun book, 100 Backyard Activities That are the Dirtiest, Coolest, Creepy-Crawliest Ever by Colleen Kessler. It’s packed full of ideas to help you learn all about the creatures and plants in your own backyard.

This book is better suited for your older kids in elementary or even middle school, but it can also work great with mixed age groups.

We decided to try some of the roly poly investigation activities because we have so many of those fun little bugs living around our yard. My girls made the Critter Choice Container and then performed the experiments. The were observing, recording, and having fun. They learned a lot!

There are just so many ideas in this book, that we’ll be getting it out year after year. It will be awhile before my kids grow out of this one!

Get inspired to go out and explore nature with one of these fun nature activity books. They're full of fun kids activities and family activities. You'll have fun and learn a lot too.

Nature Arts and Crafts Printables by Penny Whitehouse

This fun ebook (and printable pack) of Nature Arts and Crafts by Penny Whitehouse, will inspire you to get out and get creative with nature. You’ll find over 30 printables to help you get creative from making patterns and finding symmetry to fun nature weaving ideas. You just need to print the page for the activity you’ll want to do.

This book is divided into two sections. The first will show you all the fun activities and the second section has all the printables.

We spent a fun afternoon creating with the Nature Dress Up printables. The printable includes the face, arms, and legs, and you get to use nature finds to make all the clothes, hair, and shoes for your sweet little nature kids. We had a lot of fun and my girls found some creative ways to make their clothes.

This fun book, cannot be found on Amazon like the other two, but you can find it here. It’s a great source for nature fun and you can use the printables over and over again since you’ll be printing them yourself.

Grab one of these nature activity books

All of these fun nature activity books inspired my girls and I to get out and explore nature. We had fun, learned a lot, and spent some time together. What could be better?

Which one of these books are you most excited to try?

Get inspired to go out and explore nature with one of these fun nature activity books. They're full of fun kids activities and family activities. You'll have fun and learn a lot too.

If you enjoyed these nature activity books, the above photo is perfect for sharing on Facebook or you can save the photo below on Pinterest.

Get inspired to go out and explore nature with one of these fun nature activity books. They're full of fun kids activities and family activities. You'll have fun and learn a lot too.

You may also enjoy one of these outdoor kids activities:

Parts of a Dandelion Nature Exploration

Bird Watching Journal

Forest Treasure Jars

How to Attract Fireflies at Inspiration Laboratories