Learning Resources

I’m sure by now you have heard about how beneficial “STEM activities” are for children, but many of you may be wondering what that means or entails. STEM activities are anything that promotes curiosity and growth in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and math.

Although those topics may sound pretty advanced for a preschooler or young child, there are many easy ways to incorporate a love for these concepts in the early years! Curiosity, creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking are at the heart of STEM! These are traits that the youngest child can be encouraged to explore.

One fun topic that we’ve been interested in lately is coding! I would have never imagined that my three and 5-year-old would be excited about something that I thought was so complex, but boy was I wrong. Their fascination began when we started playing with various imaginative play toys to teach them coding, our favorite being Botley the Coding Robot. They were instantly intrigued by the reactions that resulted from the commands they typed in!

I loved watching their little minds click as they realized that each command change would create a different outcome. To foster their new love for this concept, I began providing additional screen-free activities to help them become better at following patterns and various steps. Here is a fun, holiday-themed coding activity you can easily create for your little one.

Coding Candy Canes!

Pipe cleaners, pony beads, paper, and markers. Cut each pipe cleaner into three pieces and bend them into a candy cane shape. Next, select the colors or beads that you want to use. I recommend 2-3 colors for younger children, but you could use as many as you wish for an older child. Because the activity was for both of my daughters, I chose only red and green.

Lastly, take your paper and draw various candy canes on it, adding colored “bead dots” with your markers in the patterns or order you want your child to mirror.

Provide your child with pipe cleaner candy canes, beads, and paper. Ask them first to sort the beads into different color piles. Then, instruct them to create candy canes that match the ones on the paper. My girls loved this activity, and we hung the finished candy canes around our playroom as festive décor.

So there you have it: an inexpensive, low-prep, and screen-free way to introduce coding to your child! I hope that you found this informative and that it sheds some light on just how fun and easy STEM activities can be.

This time of year bursts with discovery and wonder, so why not make the most of it? Take a break from the hustle and bustle to enjoy this simple chemistry experiment that features everyone’s favorite scientific ingredients: vinegar and baking soda.

Kids never tire of seeing this classic base and solid reaction. No matter the shape it takes, watching those bubbles grow will always make your little chemist erupt with excitement. Here we make little “evergreens” to demonstrate this scientific standard of chemical reactions.

• Baking soda
• Food coloring
• A splash of water
• Paper plates
• Vinegar
• Glitter
• Eyedropper or pipette
• Bowl, spoon, and tray

First, pour 2 to 2 ½ cups of baking soda into the bowl. Feel free to scale these portions for the number of trees you want to make.

Next, add green food coloring and a splash of water.

Stir the mixture well. Add glitter for added sparkle. The mixture should be crumbly but should be able to pack tightly (similar to kinetic sand). The last thing you want it to be is soupy or clumpy.

Grab a white paper plate, and cut it in half.

Twist the plate into a cone shape. Tape the sides to keep the form.

Then pack the baking soda mixture into the cones. Be sure to pack it tightly—level off the top. 

Make another round of snow-capped trees without food coloring. Add confetti for a special reveal.

Place all the cones on a cookie sheet and keep them in the freezer for at least six hours.

When your chemists are ready, pull your trees from the freezer. Grab a pie plate or dish with sides high enough to contain the liquid but low enough for your kids to see the reaction up close.

Pour the vinegar into a cup and add a little green food coloring. Your trees will be a bit more brilliant green if you add food coloring to the vinegar.

Carefully unwrap your trees from the paper plate cone over the pie plate, so any crumbles are caught.

Create your “forest” on the pie plate. Then using the eyedropper or pipette, drip the vinegar over the trees. The fizzing begin immediately!

The vinegar reveals the hidden snowflakes and glitter.

Once the forest is melted down, grab a spoon and stir it up. It was decided that the mess look liked soup the Grinch would like.

Repeat with other trees – the excitement level remains the same for each melting, fizzy tree! Happy holidays!

Think learning has to take a vacation over the holidays? Think again! With a little twist here and a little tweak there, traditional holiday activities can become fun learning opportunities for your kids. For inspiration, we turned to the Busby family of TLC’s Outdaughtered. Danielle & Adam Busby are dedicated to helping their quintuplet daughters and big sister Blayke learn through play every holi-day!  Danielle tells us how:

There’s no way I will get all five of my little ones to sit quietly while I teach them about the alphabet. So I love dreaming up ways to bring the ABCs to life for them actively. This year we’re decorating our Christmas tree with the letters of the alphabet. The girls love playing with their Alphabet Acorns from Learning Resources. Each is printed with an upper- and lowercase letter of the alphabet and has a toy inside that starts with that letter. I’m going to attach ribbons so the girls can hang them on the branches of our tree. We might even sing “L-M-N-O Tannenbaum” while we decorate!

Five kids under age three can create chaos in the kitchen! So when I want to do my serious holiday baking, I will set up a station for the girls stocked with the Learning Resources Pretend & Play Bakery Set. I’ll show them how I measure ingredients, count them, and follow steps in a sequence. They can keep busy doing what I do, but with their own safe, unbreakable, kid-size measuring cup, measuring spoon, rolling pin, and more. The treats teach shapes, colors, numbers, and more.

To keep the kids entertained in the car, we like to unplug and encourage their creativity by adding twists to classic holiday songs. Our version of The Twelve Days of Christmas says, “On the first day of Christmas, Ava gave to me... an alligator in an apple tree.” “On the second day of Christmas, Olivia gave me... 2 octopuses….” Everyone is giggling by the fifth day of Christmas, when “Parker gave me five porky pigs,” and the girls make pig noises and snort! It’s a fun and funny way to reinforce numbers and letters and develop their memories as the song builds.

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Trimming the tree with toddlers and preschoolers is as tough as it sounds. So many shiny, pretty things to touch and hold! This year, let your little ones in on the decorating fun, and save your sanity with a little learning tree of their own!

A three- or four-foot tree is plenty big. Put it on a sturdy stand so it’s sure not to tip, and place it in your playroom or other open space. Then turn this time-honored tradition into a fun, family learning activity by decorating the tree with child-safe ornaments made of everyday objects, like the Learning Resources Back in Time Dinosaur Counters.

We turned this colorful set of 72 dinosaurs into props for our holiday-themed lesson by wrapping flexible ornament hooks around each one, then hanging them on the tree. Once they’re hung, there are many ways to learn and play this holiday!

1. Color Learning

With all the dinos hung in the tree, challenge your child to find and remove all the orange ornaments, then all the blue, green, red, yellow, and purple in turn.

2. Counting

Once the dinos are down, take a careful look at each pile. Which one is the biggest? Which one is the smallest? Be sure to use early math vocabulary words like more than and less than. Next, help your child count each pile, saying each number as you move that dinosaur aside.

3. Sorting

When you’re done counting, let your little one jumble up the piles into one giant, rainbow-colored dino dig. Then see if she can sort the piles by attribute. Try sorting first by color, then jumble them up again. Then try sorting by type of dinosaur, then by size. Sorting is an important early math skill, as it helps children begin to identify and group “like” objects.

4. Matching

Next, choose four different dinosaurs. Show them to your child one by one, and see how quickly he can find a matching dinosaur in a pile. Make sure the pairs are identical in both color and type of dinosaur.

5. Letter Learning

Preschoolers can practice their letters with this dino-covered learning tree, too! Place the dinos back in the tree, and then challenge your pint-sized paleontologist to find all the dinosaurs whose color starts with the “O” sound, then the “Yeh” sound, the “Buh” sound, and so on.

6. Fine Motor Skills

When the learning and fun are done, you still have one last chance to slip in some developmental practice! Ask your child to place the ornaments back on the tree, working those fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination.

This isn't your average advent calendar...this is a SMART advent calendar! This calendar will get little ones excited about the upcoming holiday and entertain them with an activity. Learning Resources offers free printables that can be placed into each cup, and we also created a Holiday Crafts and Activities board on our Pinterest.

• 24- foam cups (I used 16oz, but you can use whatever size you'd like) 

• 1- large foam board to hold the calendar (20" x28")  

• 1- a yellow piece of construction paper for the star  

• 4- green pieces of construction paper for the cup date covers  

• 1- a piece of brown construction paper for the base of the tree number covers (I used a brown paper bag)  

• hot glue gun & extra glue sticks  

• Colored markers for numbering and adding "lights."  

• Using a cup as your guide, trace the tree's shape onto the Foam board. 

You will need to have your circles in the following order from the bottom:

3  > 6 > 5 > 4 > 3 > 2 > 1 

Then, glue all the cups onto the foam board using the glue gun. Using an extra cup, trace out 21 green circles for the tree and three brown circles for the base of the tree. Label the green ones 1-21 and the brown ones 22-24- I also used some colored markers to add the look of lights to each of the parts of the tree. Next, choose the activities you want to place in each cup. 

• Make Your Own Puzzle Printable!

• Color by Number Winter Scene Printable

• Jolly Holiday Word Search

• Holiday Sensory Baggies

• DIY Reindeer Food 

Then, I used gift labels, but you can write the activities on paper or print a list (you can use words and make them about the size of address labels) to put into each cup.  

Once each cup has an activity, you will begin to place the numbers on top of the cups. I started from the base, with the last cup being number 24, then I counted backward to the top.

Once completed, we used yellow construction paper to cut out a star and place it at the top.

• All Kinds of Learning Fun: Kids learn counting, colors, matching, imagination, fine motor skills, and more with the help of these fun, friendly polar pals in this educational toy set!
• Five Fun Polar Animals: Each of the friendly polar animals doubles as a finger puppet that’s ready for all kinds of imaginative adventures!
• Grows With Your Kids: These polar animals and their toddler activities grow with your kids from toddler skills and beyond—build new fine motor skills during early pretend games, then move on using the set as an early math and color teaching toy!

• All Kinds of Learning Fun: Kids learn counting, colors, matching, imagination, fine motor skills, and more with the help of the fun, friendly birds in this educational toy set!
• Five Birds, Five Different Expressions: Each of the friendly birdy finger puppets sports a different facial expression, which helps kids identify and talk about feelings and other social-emotional learning (SEL) skills!
• Grows With Your Kids: These birds and their toddler activities grow with your kids—build new fine motor skills during pretend games, then move on using the set as an early math and color teaching toy!

• Learn Numbers and Colors with Spike and Friends: Counting and colors come easy with the help of Spike the Fine Motor Hedgehog and his fun Fine Motor Friends in this board book adventure’s toddler activities!
• Learning’s Fine with Pictures and Rhymes!: As kids follow this exclusive full-color board book’s fun illustrations and playful rhymes, they’ll learn new skills from this number and color teaching toy!
• Fine Motor Fun: This educational toy set has 5 Fine Motor Friend figures ready to help kids explore their imaginations and build fine motor skills!

• All Kinds of Learning Fun: Kids learn counting, colors, matching, imagination, fine motor skills, and more with the help of the fun, friendly birds in this educational toy set!
• Five Birds, Five Different Expressions: Each of the friendly birdy finger puppets sports a different facial expression, which helps kids identify and talk about feelings and other social-emotional learning (SEL) skills!
• Grows With Your Kids: These birds and their toddler activities grow with your kids—build new fine motor skills during pretend games, then move on using the set as an early math and color teaching toy!

• Snail-tastic Skills: Kids build brand-new shape, color, and number skills when they mix and match this educational toy set’s 10 colorful snails!
• Three Ways to Match: Sort and match these two-piece snails by shape and number, or use them as color-teaching toys!
• Ages and Stages: Specially designed with little ones in mind, this educational toy set helps kids as young as 18 months build essential fine motor skills!

• ONLY ON AMAZON! This fun learning toy is EXCLUSIVE to Amazon, where you'll also find many more of our award-winning learning toys!
• Brew up mugs of pretend cocoa, tea, or coffee with these fun toy kitchen accessories!
• Realistic play food pieces include cocoa, kettle, cookies, and more!
• Build social and imaginative skills with every pretend cup!

Benefits of using fine motor tools:

Handy Scoopers: These unique tools are a handy way to build the muscles needed for scissor cutting! Tools feature translucent scoops and easy-to-grip handles for developing fine motor skills. Holes in the scoops allow for catch-and-release fun during water play.

Build up little hand muscles: Helps develop eye-hand coordination by grabbing small manipulatives or snacks with the Handy Scoopers.

Sensory Integration: Use the Handy Scoopers in a sandbox or water table to discover how the different substances sift through the holes of the Handy Scoopers.

Gator Grabber Tweezers: Sized for little hands and great for developing the pincer grasp! Working on fine motor skills is fun when children get to use an Alligator to grip objects.

Fine Motor: As students pick up objects with the tweezers, they are working on motor planning and eye-hand coordination (visual-motor integration) and refining the manual skills needed for writing, drawing, and daily living.

Sensory Integration: Students who are hypersensitive to textures can participate in tactile play using tweezers to hold and move objects.

Self-Help: Incorporate puppet-like conversations to enhance communication and social interactions. Gator (tweezers) can speak to or try to gobble up the other person, increasing direct contact with another

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At every moment right now, everywhere on the globe, billions of people are making their holiday preparations and plans, keeping the traditions of their culture alive. During this season of merrymaking, let’s take look at holiday customs celebrated on each of Earth’s continents – with special assistance from our Puzzle Globe and Buddy Builders!

Joyeux Noël, France!

More than 66 million people live in France, a country located on the continent of Europe. On Christmas Eve, children put their shoes out near the fireplace in the hopes that Père Noël (Santa Claus) will fill the shoes with gifts. It is no surprise with all the delicious French food that most of the holiday is centered around the Christmas Eve meal, or “Le Réveillon”. Sometimes the Christmas Eve dinner will go late into the night – maybe past midnight! Those who prep for such grand meals spend lots of time at the holiday markets – open-air shopping experiences for food pop up in major cities across France during holiday time.

Shubh Deepavali, India!

Located within the continent of Asia, India is home 1.32 billion people. Diwali is a colorful, light-filled feast for the eyes, celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs, and Buddhists, both in India and around the world. Typically falling between mid-October and mid-November, Diwali is the triumph of good over evil or light over darkness. It is the time of year to wear new clothes, visit friends and family, and share food, gifts, and sweets, all held over the span of five days. Homes are colorfully decorated and candles are lit to celebrate the light. And what better way to bring in the light than fireworks! Amazing pyrotechnic shows captivate Indian cities during the nights of Diwali.

Happy Hanukkah, United States!

The United States, situated in the middle of the continent of North America, blends lots of cultures and traditions. Millions of Jewish people in the U.S. celebrate Hanukkah, or “Festival of Lights”.  Reciting prayers, lighting a menorah with candlelight, and eating lots of traditional food stretch for eight nights during Hanukkah. Kids play games with a dreidel, a spinning top marked with letters in Hebrew. They also exchange gifts and sing songs. Traditional food for Jewish families are latkes, a type of yummy potato pancakes topped with applesauce or sour cream.

Nkwagaliza Sekukkulu, Uganda!

In Uganda, an inland country within the continent of Africa, Christmas is referred to as Sekukkulu. Held over December 24 and 25, this holiday is about food and family. Many food traditions are centered around chicken, which is often wrapped in banana leaves to steam it, giving it a special flavor this time of year. There is far less emphasis on giving gifts during Sekukkulu, rather an emphasis on sharing food and time with family and friends. However, new clothes, especially for children, are important part when stepping out to church on this holiday.

Feliz Navidad, Venezuela!

Christmas time in the country of Venezuela, located on the continent of South America, is a very joyous and religious time, lasting nearly a month! Like many families across the world, Venezuelans’ big celebration is on the night of Christmas Eve, where all go to church to celebrate the birth of Jesus. The center of many household decorations this time surprisingly not a Christmas tree, rather a pesebre, or nativity scene depicting the manger in Bethlehem. And in Venezuela on Christmas morning, most roads are closed off for the holiday. Many take to foot to head to church, being awoken by bells or firecrackers to signify the start of the celebration.

Merry Christmas, Australia!

Australia, both a continent and country, is located in Earth’s southern hemisphere. Grab the sunscreen because it is actually summertime in Australia during the holidays! Since Australians love to be outside, Christmas Day is typically spent at the beach, swimming or sailing. When Australians head out to sing their traditional “Carols by Candlelight”, they often change the traditional lyrics about snow and cold to fit their climate. The Aussies also celebrate Boxing Day on December 26, a day to recoup from the holiday, and to shop major sales from local retailers.

Happy New Year, Antarctica!

Antarctica, otherwise known as the South Pole (the literal polar opposite of where Santa hangs his hat), is the southern most point in the entire world. It also is the locale of the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, home to nearly 200 scientific researchers. To ring in each New Year, the scientists go out in the tundra and physically adjust the marker for the Geographic South Pole, to pinpoint the Earth’s axis of rotation. Because the South Pole itself sits onto of a sheet of ice, it moves about 30 feet every year. All the world’s flags involved in the South Pole Station surround it. What a way to ring in the New Year

Welcome to Monday Funday with Miss Alissa from @heartmindedmama ✨

Miss Alissa is an early childhood educator and mom of two! Over the next few weeks, Miss Alissa will be sharing skill-building activities for you to do at home or in your classroom.

We are starting it off with three out-of-this-world activities for Space Week, which starts October 4th.

This collection of space activities for preschoolers will keep them actively engaged while building essential life skills. Thoughtfully designed with little ones, these STEM toys for kids help learners as young as 3 build early science and fine motor skills!

Solar System Puzzle Globe - Space is the place for preschool learning fun! Kids build hands-on science skills as they solve the out-of-this-world 3-D puzzle found on the Solar System Puzzle Globe, a hands-on STEM toy for kids from Learning Resources. Inspired by our award-winning Puzzle Globe, this fun rotating puzzle adds some space décor to the puzzle play action—kids position eight easy-grip planet puzzle pieces that also introduce the names and appearances of our solar system neighbors. In addition to building early fine motor and critical thinking skills, this STEM toy for kids is also ready for imaginative adventures thanks to its fun, friendly astronaut and spaceship pieces—as kids explore the cosmos with their new friends, there’s no telling what they’ll discover!

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