Still Playing School: April 2014

Natural Elements Sensory Play: Rice Sensory Bin Challenge

What would my kids do with a bin of plain rice? What natural elements would they add to their sensory play outdoors? 

read more " Natural Elements Sensory Play: Rice Sensory Bin Challenge "

Outside Water Painting for Kids

Painting with water is a classic outdoor play and fine motor activity for all ages of children! We tried this activity when our kids were just starting to hold brushes and they still love it so we are revisiting it again! 

read more " Outside Water Painting for Kids "

Alphabet Sensory Bin

This alphabet sensory bin is a huge favorite of both my preschooler and toddler! It solely contains various letter manipulatives and provided endless literacy opportunities for matching, comparing, and sorting letters.
This alphabet sensory bin is a hands on way for kids to match, compare, and sort letters!  The literacy activities are endless!

read more " Alphabet Sensory Bin "

Comparing Homemade Volcano Recipes

My daughter's fear and fascination with volcanoes continues. We decided to test homemade volcano recipes and compare the reactions! Which volcano recipe works best? 

read more " Comparing Homemade Volcano Recipes "

Zig Zag Painting

To practice the pre-writing skills necessary to begin to form letters I set up this art invitation for my preschooler. She loved zig zag painting while practicing her fine motor skills!

read more " Zig Zag Painting "

Recycled Earth Day Craft

Once we made our melted bead Earth for the light table Earth Day crafts were on my mind! When I saw this blue lid to a container of snacks I just knew we needed to create an earth from it!

read more " Recycled Earth Day Craft "

Clothespin Bunnies

Our clothespin bunny activity is a complete kid crafted creation with beneficial fine motor work built in! While the bunnies were all my daughter's project I intentionally chose several materials that would encourage fine motor practice.


read more " Clothespin Bunnies "

Reusable Contact Paper Easter Egg Decorating

We love our contact paper rainbow so much that it's still up in our window! My daughter asked to decorate Easter eggs in the same way once she saw the contact paper egg that her toddler brother made.

read more " Reusable Contact Paper Easter Egg Decorating "

Easter Eggs on the Light Table

We decorated Easter eggs on the light table with a few simple materials! My preschooler loved the invitation to create!

read more " Easter Eggs on the Light Table "

Melted Bead Transparent Earth Craft

This melted bead Earth is the perfect transparent Earth Day craft! You can enjoy it on the light table or in the window as a sun catcher! 

read more " Melted Bead Transparent Earth Craft "

Sensory Nest Building

We're huge fans of using pasta for sensory play. We're also working on our preschool bird unit. We combined to two and made nests out of cooked pasta!

read more " Sensory Nest Building "

Contact Paper Easter Egg

My goal is to craft more with 16 month old D so I set up this contact paper Easter egg craft for him!


read more " Contact Paper Easter Egg "

Foot Print Bunny Craft

A foot print bunny craft can be made with a child of any age from infants on up. I love making simple hand and foot print crafts with each of my kids. It's fun to compare the size of the two rabbits!

 
read more " Foot Print Bunny Craft "

10 Ideas for Outside Play for Kids

We love to get outside to play as much as we can. Here is a list of our favorite ways to play outdoors as well as some ideas that are new for us to try this season!


read more " 10 Ideas for Outside Play for Kids "

How to Make Confetti Eggs

Ever since I first heard of Mexican confetti eggs (or cascarones) I have wanted to make my own. Here is how to make confetti eggs with kids to have a smashing good time!

read more " How to Make Confetti Eggs "

Top 10 Activities to Do with Extra Easter Candy

What will you do with your extra Easter candy if you don't want to let your kids eat it all?
Here are the Top 10 Activities to Do with Easter Candy:


read more " Top 10 Activities to Do with Extra Easter Candy "

Dinosaur Small World with Homemade Volcanoes

We made the perfect volcanoes for dinosaur small world play using a few household items! The volcanoes turned out better than I envisioned and my daughter said this was her favorite project that we've ever made together so it was a hit with both of us!

read more " Dinosaur Small World with Homemade Volcanoes "