Play

Activities, Education, Parenting, Preschool, Sensory Play, Toddlers

Treasures by the Sea Shore Sensory Tub

Here’s a simple sensory tub that we’ve been using a lot this summer. I know I’m very late posting this, but there is still plenty of sunshine outside and if you are not ready for fall, then this is for you. It started off as an ocean themed sensory tub, but Rosebud decided that she was a pirate looking for treasures. I’ve used this set up with and without water. She enjoys it either way.

What you’ll need:

  • Water,
  • Scoops and or measuring cups,
  • Mini toy fish,
  • Seashells,
  • Glass marbles.

Sensory tub

If you are really adventurous, you could add sand for the real seashore experience.

Ideas for play:

Counting marbles or sorting them by color if you use multiple colors. Those were the treasures in our case.

Sort seashells.

Identify types of fish.

Work on fine motor skills with scooping and pouring.

Watch your child using their imagination and see what they come up with.

Treasures by the Seashore Sensory bin Pin

0 comments
Activities, Education, Parenting

Five Activities to Help Create Little Problem Solvers

We have had a lot of hot and humid days this summer, so when Rosebud plays in the water table, I try to keep it in the shade. On this particular day, the sun had shifted and Rosebud was complaining of being hot. She still wanted to be outside so I suggested moving the table to a shady spot. She didn't want to, but obviously it was still a problem, so we had to find a solution. The umbrella that came with her picnic table was over her lawn chair, so she brought it over to the water table.

Umbrella over water table.

I asked her how we could stand the umbrella up to cover the table. She tried putting it into the ground which didn't work. Then she noticed a little hole on the back of the water table that is meant for an umbrella. It fit, but slid all the way down and was too close to the table. I told her what we needed to do was to find a way for the umbrella to sit in the hole without falling all the way through.

She suggested that we use tape, so I headed inside to check the junk drawer. I brought out some round rubber thing that must have been some sort of stopper. That was way too small. I showed her the rubber circle and how it wouldn't fit. We went back to the tape solution and duct tape did the trick, at least for a while. I put some tape on the bottom of the hole and the umbrella had something to sit on. Well, at least until Rosebud started splashing.

If Rosebud can't reach something in the kitchen, she finds something to stand on. Usually, she finds her drum, but that has become unsafe so it disappeared. She's always looking for things in the house to use as a step stool. One day, she tried using an exercise ball and came crashing to the flor. Luckily I was right there and she didn't get hurt, but it definitely scared her.


We all use some level of problem solving skills every day. Whether it's in our businesses, family lives and even in our hobbies. It's important that children have many opportunities to find solutions to their own problems. This can be with specific toys or just random things in their environment. I notice Rosebud's problem solving abilities most when we're not doing anything specific because the best learning opportunities naturally appear. They can appear when we're cooking dinner, creating art or playing outside. It's children's job to explore using trial and error to see what works. It's our job to ensure that they have plenty of opportunities to do this. Here are some ideas to get you started.

Child pouring water at a water table.1. Put water in a bucket or water table with a variety of objects and different sized cups. They can learn about sinking and floating, less vs more and if an objects properties change in water. For example, a sponge or cotton ball will become heavier in water. The whole idea is for them to experiment and to see how things work.

Child playing with blocks.2. Give them blocks of any kind and let them build whatever comes to mind. Rosebud likes to build castles, roads, cities and tree houses just to name a few. Bigger blocks get stacked on top of smaller blocks. Different shapes don't always work well together. The blocks may not balance well depending on if you are building on carpet vs a hard floor. There are so many ways that blocks can be used for teaching and learning problem solving and logical skills.

Child solving a puzzle.

3. Puzzles are good because children have to think about where the pieces go in relation to each other. While this is not open ended, puzzles can help children focus on a specific problem and solution.

Child playing doctor.

4. Any dramatic or aunt imaginative play can be used to encourage problem solving. When children play together, they have to decide who is playing what role. Around the preschool stage, they start planning and being more intentional about their play. They can work out turn taking, using an object to represent something totally unrelated and experiment with different roles and themes. Rosebud's favorite dramatic play theme is, doctor. I can't even count how many checkups I've had in the past year.

5. Let them experiment with a ball or marble run. Have different sized tubes. Change the tubes around with different lengths and curved tunnels. They can see how the marbles move depending on how the run is set up. One boy I was working with in the pre-k class was fixing his marble run. He was telling me how the pipe needed to be welded because there was a crack, so he took it apart and rebuilt it. He built his marble run quite tall and another boy was working on a way to reach the top of the marble run.

Girl looking at flower through magnifying glass.

These skills can be modeled and reinforced at any time. Children have a curiosity and drive to learn. Experimenting comes naturally to them and it definitely should be encouraged. You never know what discoveries they will make. For more great ideas and insight on this topic, click here.

2 Comments
Activities, Art, Parenting

To Bead or Not To Bead

It's a rainy day here, so we are stuck inside. I've been trying to find things to do to keep Rosebud occupied. First, Rosebud helped me make breakfast. She loves to mix badder whenever I bake, but today I made French toast. She loves to beat the eggs and then mix it with the milk and sugar. I always have to tare her away from this and I have to explain that it's time to cook and cooking on the stove is hot.

Sticker collage.After breakfast, we decided to make another sticker collage. This time with fish and flowers. Less than ten minutes later, I was scrambling again to find something to do.

Beads and shells.Rosebud loves to go through my drawer of craft supplies which mostly consists of beads, shells and other jewelry making items. I had some string and larger beads so I thought, why not try some beading. It's a great fine motor activity and Rosebud loves to wear necklaces. I cut the string and put a little piece of tape on the end. We often do that for the kids at work to make it easier to pull the string through the beads. However, when we started beading, the tape was making the string too big to pull through the beads.

The few beads we put on the wire.I had to go to plan B. I was hesitant to use the wire, but I was supervising her and knew it would be easier to get the beads on. I showed her how to string the beads which she was having trouble with. I expected this, as it was her first time. I decided that I'd put the beads on for her, but she had to pick out her beads and hand them to me. She picked out a couple of beads and then lost her train of thought. When I'd ask her which bead she wanted next, she'd say, "making a necklace." Then just scattered the beads around.

Small cup of macaroni with the string above it.

This was turning out to be a failure so it was time for a plan C. After a couple of good loud screams and plenty of tears, I packed up the beads and returned to the kitchen with the original piece of string. I thought we could try macaroni. Rosebud was excited about this, but the first thing she did was put a piece of raw macaroni in her mouth. I immediately picked everything up and tried to explain why we don't eat uncooked macaroni. We tried again and of course, the macaroni I have is too small to get the string through. There were more tears until she realized that she wanted to eat lunch.

A toddler wearing beads and putting a necklace on her bear.What did I learn?

1. Have the appropriate materials on hand.

2. Remember how young she actually is.

3. Plan better for rainy days.

4. It's not a failure, it's practice. She was introduced to a new activity and we'll both do better next time.

5. The answer to today's question, is not to bead.
For Practice:

For jewelry making:



0 comments
Activities, Education, Parenting

Five Benefits of Playing in the Sand

I think I can officially say spring has finally come here in the northeast and I’m so excited that we’ve been able to spend plenty of time outside. Just last week, I bought some new sand for Rosebud and refilled the sand box. I threw in some buckets, shovels and molds. It keeps her busy for a while. When I was a kid, I spent hours in the sand box so it’s no surprise that she likes it as well. There are so many reasons to encourage kids to play with sand. Here are five of them.

5 Benefits of playing in the sand pin

1. It helps with fine motor skills.

Scooping, pouring, sifting and sculpting the sand helps build strength and is practice for skills they will need later. Not to mention scooping, pouring and measuring can be connected with math concepts.

2. They can be creative.


Sand can go with almost any theme. You can use it for a beach theme with shells, toy fish and rocks. You can use it for an animal theme with logs, toy animals and other natural items. Sand goes with cars and trucks, in an outside kitchen and even in art. Yesterday, Rosebud was pretending to serve ice cream one minute, building a sand castle the next and then decided to look for rocks and other treasures.

3. It’s a sensory experience.

One of the things I hear a lot when people talk about going to the beach is their feet on the sand. It’s part of being connected with nature. I think that urge for kids is even stronger. I work with a lot of kids with special needs. I’m not a big fan of that term, but I’ll use it here to keep things simple. Many of these children find playing in the sand calming. Some children that cannot stay put for even two minutes will stay at the sand tray or sit in the sand box for 20 minutes plus. They are able to immerse themselves into the activity because it is open ended. There are no expectations for what is right or wrong. They can experiment as they wish.

4. It’s scientific.

Sand can be experimented with. It doesn’t always remain in the same state. Rosebud discovered that her sand in the sand box is dry because we keep it covered at night. The sand is fine. It slips through your hands and you can’t sculpt with it. However, we also have this wagon that is full of last years sand that was very wet. It has dried out quite a bit, but it is still wet enough to sculpt with. Rosebud and I were having fun seeing what we could make. We filled buckets and discovered that the sand could be dumped out and keep it’s shape. We could build sand castles that would stay together. We didn’t need a mold. This sand was heavier and stickier. Experimenting and investigating the results is what our little scientists do every day.

5 Benefits of Playing in the Sand pin

5. It’s fun.

Playing in the dirt is fun. Being in nature is fun. Making a huge mess is fun and the best part is most of it stays outside so I don’t have to clean it up. Watching Rosebud enjoy herself was the most fun for me. I think making a mess and seeing what she can do with the sand is the most fun for her. Why not see what happens when we fling sand outside of the sand box? Why not fill the wheelbarrow and dump it in other parts of the yard? Never mind that I just refilled it. Why not try dumping the water bottle in the sand box and see what happens? I drew the line at flinging the sand and dumping the water, but the important thing is spending quality time together. That’s the best thing about our outside time. We are not distracted by the normal things that distract us inside. Do your kids like playing in the sand? Let me know in the comments.

1 Comment
Education

Too Many Rules

Yesterday there was a situation at work that made me wonder if we are putting too many rules on kids play. Is all this nitpicking necessary? Shouldn’t we be focusing on the big picture?

We were out on the playground and I was watching three children who were playing under a dome shaped climber. One of them was pretending that the bars were doors and kept going in and out of the different doors. Meanwhile the other two were playing with a bucket of sand. They were pretending the dome was a store which they go in and out of and were making things for each other. I observed the children taking turns sharing a spoon to stir with, talking to each other about their play and generally getting along and enjoying each others company. Lately I don’t see that many positive social interactions in our classrooms so I was enjoying it. They were sharing, being kind to one another and certainly not harming anyone else.

Generally we insist that they keep sand and all the sand toys in the sand box, but it was only a small bucket of sand and they were playing so nicely that I didn’t want to ruin the moment. Suddenly one of my coworkers came over and got very irritated that they had brought some sand under the climber. She told them to get back in the sand box and demanded to know who had brought the sand over. I told her that they had been playing there nicely for a long time, but didn’t know what else to say to her. She seemed irritated with me for letting them do that, but I feel that positive social interactions and their imaginative play is more important than the fact that there is a little bit of sand outside the sand box. One of the dilemmasis how much and when do you let them experiment and how much do we have to box them in?

At the same time, I understand where she is coming from. The sand box doesn’t get filled often so I understand her wanting to keep the sand in there. I also understand being consistent with rules and maybe if I had noticed when they had originally brought the sand over, I might have said something before they got started. When I found them, they had this set up already. I like my coworker. We get along and she’s a good teacher. She’s strict, but she cares about the kids.

We complain that kids don’t engage in imaginative play, but we seem to squash it without meaning to. We often have to interrupt play that could become more complex because of keeping to a daily schedule. We wish there were more healthy positive social interactions between the kids, but we have a tendency to interrupt those as well. As rules and regulations for childcare increase, that gets past down to the children. We no longer have the freedom and neither do they. Sometimes we have to curb their art because we’re afraid we will run out of paper. the paint is almost gone so we can’t do that project we had planned. Assessments are around the corner so we have to find out if the child can pick out any letters or make an AB pattern. So much of today’s childcare industry is filled with budgets, rules and regulations. Whatever happened to what we were in this field for, the kids? Sitting down and actually playing and talking with the kids. I am glad I grew up when I did because I have fond memories of playing outside, being creative and laughing with my friends. I often wonder, what will our children say they remember from their childhoods?

2 Comments
Activities, Parenting

Ducks in a Row Sensory Tub

Ducks in a Row Sensory Tub pin

I put this one together several weeks ago. It's very simple, but it was a big hit because of the water. You can put anything in water and kids will enjoy it.

What’s in the tub?

Small rubber duckies,

Mini rubber duckies,

Small cups and scoops,

Water and that’s it.

We scooped, poured, compared the sizes and colors of the ducks, squeezed them to get all the water out and of course there was some splashing to. I put towels down on either the kitchen or bathroom floor so I don’t have a huge mess to clean up.

There are many more sensory bin ideas I’ll be posting in the upcoming months. Happy playing.

0 comments
Activities, Parenting, Preschool, Sensory Play, Toddlers

Peeps and Pompoms Sensory Tub

Peeps and Pompoms Sensory Tub pinI know Easter has passed, but why not keep playing with eggs and peeps? Rosebud loves all the textures in this sensory tub.

What’s in the tub?

Plush peeps,

Plastic Easter eggs,

Regular and sparkly pompoms,

Small cups,

Mini shovel and spoons.

Peeps and Pompoms pinRosebud made up her own activity. She found a basket and loves to transfer the pompoms from the tub to the basket. She does this over and over again. It’s good fine motor practice. It’s a really simple activity, but she loves it.

2 Comments
Parenting

Baby’s Bath Time Sensory Tub

As I’ve mentioned before, Rosebud loves to play in the water. Even when she was a newborn, she enjoyed baths. So, I know that if I can’t think of anything else and won’t mind a bit of clean up, I can entertain her with water. This time, I decided to go with a bubble bath theme.

She got excited when I filled the tub with water, added a couple drops of dish liquid and watched the bubbles form. She laughed when I couldn’t get the baby doll to stay in one spot for the picture and she was impatient to start playing.

Here’s what I put in the tub

Baby doll,

Wash cloth,

Bottles of different shapes, (They are from a toy diaper bag set she has.)

A scoop,

A funnel,

And a ball, just because…

She played with this tub for almost an hour. We did lots of scooping and pouring, counting how many scoops would fill each bottle and briefly washing baby. She was much more interested in what could be done with the water. The interest in the doll didn’t come until the end when I realized she was filled with water. I had to take her apart to get the water out. First, I had to take the head off and had trouble putting it back on. Rosebud thought this was funny. there was still a ton of water left in the body so I had to remove one of the legs. I struggled to get it back on and Rosebud thought this was great. We finally got the poor baby back together. I learned I won’t be using that particular doll for bath time adventures ever again. Luckily, I have another one that will be easier to clean.

0 comments
Activities, Parenting

Sparkly Lemon Play-dough

I am a big fan of play-dough. There are so many things you can do with it and so many ways to make it. I’ve used it for a sensory play activity, to teach numbers and shapes, to build fine motor skills and for pretend play. Also, I love to make homemade versions of things whenever possible. In the case of play-dough, it is cheeper to make your own, it lasts longer and you get a whole lot more of it.

I decided to make lemon scented play-dough. Something fresh and bright for spring. Here in the northeast, we have the feeling that spring will never come this year.

Rosebud was excited when I brought out the container of new play-dough that I had made the night before. As soon as I opened it, she said that it smelled good. She immediately got to work squishing, pounding and making holes in the play-dough. She used the play-dough cutters to cut pieces and the rolling pins to flatten it. I sat with her and first I made things to see if she could guess what they were. I made hearts, squares, circles and stars. She loves when I make balls, but then she is tempted to throw them. Fortunately, she usually squishes them before she gets the chance. Rosebud loves cooking in her pretend kitchen and loves to help me cook on occasion. She gets very excited about food, so she was thrilled when I started making play-dough ice cream cones. She guessed it correctly right away and then asked for more ice cream cones. We had fun playing with play-dough for about 45 minutes and towards the end, I was thinking about how great it is to just be in the moment. You’re in the present creating something with your hands and enjoying the company. It’s important to be open to moments like these. They will recharge you.

Here is the recipe I used.

2 cups flour,

1 cup salt,

2 table spoons cream of tarter,

2 table spoons vegetable oil,

1&1/2 cups boiling water,

A couple drops lemon extract,

Glitter to make it sparkly,

A couple drops of glycerin to add shine,

Food coloring if desired.

How to make it:

1. Mix together dry ingredients.

2. Stir in oil.

3. Add water and stir until the lumps are gone and it comes together.

4. Kneed. Add food coloring, scent, glitter and or glycerin at this stage.

Store in an air tight container. All of my batches of play-dough have stayed good for a couple months at least.

2 Comments