Creative Family Fun

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Learning Activities for Kids

Leaf Collecting…

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We’ve been working on our fall bucket list a lot this week and decided yesterday was the perfect day for leaf collecting. But first, we needed something to put those leaves in.

I took brown paper lunch bags and cut them in half. We were only going to use the bottom half.

I used a pair of my craft scissors to get the zig-zag pattern on the top. Then, we got out the markers and the girls started decorating.

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When they were finished, I opened up the bags, punched a hole in each side and added a long length of yarn. It was a windy day, so I wanted the girls to be able to wear them messenger-bag style.

And then, we were off!

We went to one of our local parks. It is full of trees and has several walking paths. I knew it would be perfect for leaf collecting.

We walked and picked up leaves, then walked and picked up leaves some more. Most were already brown and on the ground, but we found a few treasured yellow and red leaves while we were out.

We also stopped and examined the mossy wall. AJ loved touching it!

After a lengthy playground stop, we brought our treasures home. They’re now being pressed under heavy books, just waiting for us to have more fun with them!

Have you been doing any fall activities? What sort of fall fun have you been having?

Preschool Corner

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It’s been awhile since I posted about our preschool corner. It’s a small cubby and I place a variety of learning activities in it. Lizzie does not attend preschool so it’s up to me to get her ready for kindergarten next year. I’ve been gathering and using quite a lengthy list of activities, so I thought I’d share a few that we’ve been working on lately.

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1. Sorting – Lizzie loves to sort, so it’s been a challenge for me to come up with ways for her to sort. This is a recent idea. I found clip art examples of different items that were hot or cold, punched them out and made two simple sorting mats. Her job is to decide if it’s hot or cold. Lizzie is a whiz at this sort of activity, but she enjoys doing it, so we keep it up.

3. Alphabet puzzle – I ran across this puzzle at the dollar section of a certain favorite big-box store. Lizzie is familiar with all of the capital letters, but still needs to work on her lowercase letters. I pull these about five letters at a time because she had grown tired of the entire puzzle. Dividing it into small pieces seemed to renew interest.

4. Building words – We love our magnet letters and usually use them on an old cookie sheet. Lizzie is currently working on spelling names. She’s learning her name, her sister’s name, our dog’s name and our cat’s name. (Charlie is the dog, by the way!) I have all the letters in the basket so she has to dig through to find the letter she is looking for.

5.  Punching – I’ll sometimes set out a fun punch, scraps of paper and a small basket to catch all of the little bits of paper. Lizzie and AJ both love to use the punches. They work on their fine-motor skills and learn about cleaning up after themselves.

6. Transferring – This is AJ’s favorite activity, so it often shows up in our preschool corner. We do a lot of transfer work with puffballs. Sometimes we’ll working on transferring from one container to another with tweezers or kitchen tongs. To make it more challenging, I found this mini ice cube tray and the girls have to put one puff ball in each hole.

These are just a few of the learning activities I have set out on a daily basis. When I have them set up and easily accessible, the girls will often go grab one and start working on them on their own. They love learning and I try to keep it fun for them at their young age.

Do you do preschool at home? Where do you find your ideas?

Coin Matching Game

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I can’t take credit for this game, but I did want to share it with you since it is such a great idea. I found the original idea at this post from Sun Scholars.

This is a relatively simple game and it takes just a few minutes to prep. I took a scrap piece of card stock, a handful of coins and my Sharpie. I traced the different coins and wrote in how much each was worth.That’s all it took! I always present it to Lizzie with the exact coins she will need.

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Matching the size can be a little difficult as some coins, such as the penny and nickle, are very similar in size.But, I don’t necessarily want Lizzie to just learn the size of the coins; I want her to start associating each coin with how much it’s worth. This game has been so effective in helping her learn this concept. She also seems to really enjoy playing it, therefore, it tends to show up in our preschool corner on a regular basis.

Butterfly Color Match

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After we packed away all the contents of our space basket, I started working on filling it with butterfly-related games and books.One activity I decided to make myself was a butterfly color match game.

My first stop was our local home improvement store for paint swatches. I picked some of the brightest colors I could find and made sure I had two each of the ten colors.

You could have as many or as few different colors as you want, as long as you have two of each color.

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I kept one swatch of each color whole and used the other to cut a butterfly shape.Then, I showed the girls the cards and how they match. But, other than that, I have no actual rules to this game.I tend to let them use the cards as they want.

There are times when they make up a game that I never would have even thought of. Usually, though, they do play a match game with this set.

I had my 2-year-old in mind when I made this game. I knew this would be something she would be able to do and it would allow her to participate and play with the butterfly basket.It’s so easy to find activities at my 4-year-old’s level and much, much harder to find easier, toddler-friendly activities.

I added several other activities, games and books in the basket, all with the butterfly theme. Don’t worry! I’ll share them all here soon!

LEGO Washing

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Sometimes all it takes is something simple. I need to remind myself of this often especially when my mind is full of activities and projects I want to plan for the girls.

The other night I needed something for the girls to do while I was cooking. They have a tendency to get directly underfoot while I’m prepping dinner, so on nights when having their help would less than helpful, I need something to keep them occupied.

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This is how LEGO washing was created. I set up a tray with a dish towel and gave each girl a washcloth and small bowl of water. They got right to work and loved every second of it. They washed up all the LEGOs they had in front of them and went back for more.

See how proud she looks! Needless to say, the mission was accomplished. I was able to cook in peace, the girls had fun and now all our LEGOs are squeaky clean. Sometimes simple really is better.