Creative Family Fun

Your one-stop shop for kids activities and family fun

Preschool Activities

LEGO Washing

By

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.

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.

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.

Space Basket

By

After we retired our Hawaii basket, we replaced it with all sorts of fun things about space.The space basket was quite popular with the girls, so I kept it around longer than I planned.

I also discovered a very helpful side benefit to these theme baskets. It’s very easy to just grab it and go when I needed entertainment for the girls while we were waiting around for things like oil changes. We had a very pleasant waiting room time thanks to the space basket!

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.

I scoured some of my favorite blogs for fun stuff to put in the basket.Here’s what I came up with: space flashcards from the Target dollar aisle held together with a binder ring, planet/not planet sorting game from the Solar System preschool pack at 1+1+1=1, and rocket size sorting from the Astronaut preschool pack at 1+1+1=1.

I also made some simple counting cards. I wrote the numbers 1-10 on index cards and paired them with a pile of stars. The girls would take a card and count out the correct number of stars.

As always, I included a file folder with several space-themed coloring pages (not pictured).

And finally, for fun, we added our 4th of July headbands after determining that they looked like alien headbands.

I found so many great space books at our library, but finally narrowed it down to these five:

Floating Home by David Getz

The Planets by Gail Gibbons

The Magic School Bus Lost In The Solar System by Joanna Cole

If I Were an Alien by Vivan French(this was a favorite)

Shooting Stars by Franklyn M. Branley (which unfortunately appears to be out of print)

When it’s time to pack away the contents of our theme baskets, we usually have a day devoted to it’s contents. This time, we decided to celebrate with Galaxy play dough! Now we’re working on putting together a butterfly basket – should be fun!

On the Farm

By

We’re having a bit of a low-key week this week.Last week completely got away from us and was much busier than I anticipated. We also did very little preschool-type activities and Lizzie let me know, in no uncertain terms, that she missed it.

So, this week, it’s all about the farm. Luckily, there are tons of already prepared materials out in blogland!

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.

Both girls love to play with these baby/parent farm animal cards I found at Counting Coconuts.The girls love looking at the pictures and matching them up. Their favorite way to play with them, though, is using them as a memory game. If you want your own set, you can find them here.

I didn’t need to do much, if anything, in setting up pretend play opportunities. Our barn, which is FULL of farm animals, has been getting a lot of mileage. It seems our house gets taken over regularly by “Super Cow,” a cow with a very loud moo who likes to terrorize the other farm animals!

I found these great images in the Farm Unit from Lawteedah. We’re using them with our felt board for storytelling, making pictures and just playing.We’re focusing on the animals on a farm and learning all sorts of little facts about them with just a little bit of letter writing practice thrown in as well.

I think this low-key week will be just what we need!

Sorting Puffballs

By

Since AJ had a lot of fun learning how to play Memory with our seashell match game, I thought I’d come up with another version. It was also a sneaky little attempt to help her start recognizing her colors.

It was pretty simple. I just gathered up a couple of bowls of puffballs and cut coordinating circles out of construction paper.

Then I set the girls to work. Their goal was to put the puffballs in the correct colored spot. Lizzie thought it was great fun even though it too easy for her.

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.

I wish I could tell you they had great fun and played peacefully together.

But, let’s keep it real here. This peaceful little picture was taken a few minutes before the hissy fit to end all hissy fits broke out. It seems Lizzie put her organizing skills to work and wanted to each girl to have certain colors… and well, they both wanted red. Sigh. We had crying, we had screaming, we had separate corners. Even the dog decided to hide in some far corner of the house wanting to be as far away form the hissy fit as possible. Then, as quick as it started, it was over.

And now, peace reigns. They still have the game and have learned to play peacefully together. Let’s see how long that lasts!

Hawaii Basket

By


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.

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.

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!