Creative Family Fun

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Learning Activities for Kids

Hawaii Basket

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I’ve had this green basket forever.In the past, it’s been used to hold toys and sometimes hold nothing. But, it’s main purpose was to get in my way.While staring at it one day, it occurred to me that I could use it as a theme basket. Our first theme basket was bugs. It was full of books, coloring pages, small games and a magnifying glass. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of it.

After we were done with that, we turned it into a Hawaii basket. Lizzie has been fascinated by Hawaii lately, so I thought it would be fun to explore that theme. I found several books at the library.

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ABC’s of Hawaii by Sharon L. Asta and Jeanne Donovan
Punia and the King of Sharks: A Hawaiian Folktale by Lee Wardlaw
Good Night Hawaii by Adam Gamble and Joe Veno
 
 

I also added several activities they could grab and play with whenever they felt like it.I added a flower lei, a map of Hawaii (found via Google images).

I printed out a large picture of a sea turtle, then cut it into pieces to make a puzzle.

I took unlined index cards and turned them into color-your-own postcards. I drew a picture on the front and added the address lines and small square stickers for stamps on the back.

We had a shell matching game that came from the back of one of Lizzie’s old High Five magazines.

Finally, I found some Hawaii-related clip art, enlarged it so it took up half a sheet of paper, then printed them out. I used contact paper to reinforce them, then punched holes around the edges. Voila, homemade lacing cards!

I also added binoculars and a file folder with several Hawaii coloring pages (not pictured).

We had fun with it while we had it. The girls especially love the shell match game.

Before retiring the basket, we had a couple of days devoted to Hawaii.We packed our bags for a virtual trip, watched several YouTube videos of hula dancing, which inspired a bit of hula dancing ourselves.

We also did the classic vinegar and baking soda science experiment to see how a volcano erupted.

So, what’s in the basket now? Lizzie requested an outer space basket, so you’ll have to stay tuned to see what we added!

Our Preschool Corner

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Tucked between our couch and the wall is our little preschool corner.

Other than the girls’ bedrooms, we don’t have a dedicated room for them. In the past (very recent past), their toys and books were taking over the living room and family room.

I’ve been trying to tame it by making small spaces for their stuff. This is one of the spaces I created.

This is the corner where we do all of our preschool activities. I keep small activities here that they can grab and work on whenever they feel like it. I also strung some twine along the banister where we can display some of their artwork.

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Next to this area is our weather chart and a basket where we keep books related to the topic we’re working on. Can you tell we just finished up ice cream week? The basket is now full of books about cats and dogs.

The girls enjoy this space and now we’re starting to work on our next challenge related to it… cleaning up after ourselves!

Do you have any dedicated kid’s spaces in your house?

Ice Play for Toddlers and Preschoolers

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How do you beat the heat (and learn a little at the same time)? Playing with ice, of course!

Yesterday, we set up a couple of ice play experiments to have some fun.

Beat the heat and have some fun with these simple ice play activities for toddlers and preschoolers. You'll learn some simple science and have some fun.

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Ice Play Experiments

The first experiment we did was ongoing as we played with our other experiment. We put some ice cubes in a small glass bowl, set it aside and waited to see how long it took to melt.

We had to keep checking back to see the ice shrinking. It was completely fascinating (at least for the under 5 set)!

Beat the heat and have some fun with these simple ice play activities for toddlers and preschoolers. You'll learn some simple science and have some fun.

We took pictures to track out progress, the ice in the beginning, half-way through, and our bowl of melted ice. It was fun to try and guess how long it would take the ice to melt.

Beat the heat and have some fun with these simple ice play activities for toddlers and preschoolers. You'll learn some simple science and have some fun.

Next, I set up a cookie sheet with a bowl of ice and two glasses of water.The goal was to count how many ice cubes it took to make the water flow over the top of the cup. I was inspired by a game in the book, Math Play!.

Beat the heat and have some fun with these simple ice play activities for toddlers and preschoolers. You'll learn some simple science and have some fun.

We took our time with this ice play experiment.

We added ice, took away ice, played with ice and did whatever struck our fancy at the moment.We practiced our observation skills. What color is the ice? Is it hot or cold? Fuzzy or slippery?

And yes, we finally did get to the point where our water flowed over the top.

So, we took our ice out of the cup and started over again.

Beat the heat and have some fun with these simple ice play activities for toddlers and preschoolers. You'll learn some simple science and have some fun.

When we were done with our experiments, we had a little ice play time. We had a lot of fun with this simple activity and learned a little about ice in the process.

How are you beating the heat this summer?

You may also like one of these simple play ideas:

Colored Ice Fun

Go Outside: Shape Hopscotch

Go Outside: Counting Walk

Rock Collecting & A Rock Journal

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The girls and I went on a rock collecting adventure a couple of days ago. It was on our summer bucket list, so it was definitely something I was preparing to do. After running various ideas through my head about where to take them, I ended up with the most simple idea of all… walking through our own neighborhood. We had a lot of fun wandering around and enjoying each others company.

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We turned our trip into an art project. I made each of the girls an art journal and we took those along and a bag of crayons. I taught Lizzie to do rock rubbings and she was soon a girl on a mission, running around, finding rocks, then doing a rubbing.If you want to make your own rock journals, you can print out the cover here. It prints out on 8.5 x11 inch paper and then you fold in half for the front and back. I found it works best on card stock, but any paper would work, so don’t let that stop you! Then add as many interior pages as you want, I used two pieces of paper per journal, which was 4 pages. I didn’t want too many pages to make it overwhelming for my girls.

To hold the pages together I used embroidery thread. I used one continuous thread, sewing through the top, then through the bottom. I left the ends on the outside of the journal, so I could tie them together. (You could also staple!)

So head out and look for rocks! Use the journal to record observations, practice drawing rocks or make rubbings like we did. Turn your trip into a scavenger hunt and search for specific colors, sizes or shapes of rocks. Bring some home and create with them. Here are a few fun projects I’ve seen lately.

Make alphabet rocks like these from Momtastic.
How about some cute ladybug rocks? Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas shows you how.
Education.com shows you how to make a painted rock mosaic.

Go out, hunt rocks and have fun!

Math Play: Counting Blocks

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On Monday, I mentioned that we had been using the book Math Play! by Diane McGowan and Mark Schrooten lately to work on our numbers and have fun at the same time. I wanted to tell you a little more about it, because it truly is a great resource for toddlers and preschoolers. The book is designed for ages 2 to 6, making it perfect for my 4- and 2-year old. The activities are fun, easy to set up and require little if any special supplies. We’ve had the book for a couple of weeks now and have already done 8 activities with plans to do more.

 

One game we had a lot of fun with was Tower Counter. The supply list: blocks. Yep, that’s it. Easy-peasy. I started by asking her to build towers with a certain amount of blocks. She’s build it. Then I’d either ask her to add a certain amount or take away a certain amount. After she did that, she recounted the blocks in her tower. It was a great introduction to addition and subtraction for the preschool age. Lizzie had a blast and kept wanting to play well beyond the point where I thought she’d want to stop. What was AJ doing this whole time? She was building with us, just not using the math concepts. She was in the build and knock down mode.

If you’re looking for a great way to introduce or reinforce some math concept, take a peek at Math Play! It’s a great resource.