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I love it when the leaves start to change color, and it creates so many fun Fall-themed learning opportunities for my three- and seven-year-old. For this activity, we enjoyed a leaf hunt outside, looking for all sorts of shapes and colors of leaves. I then added a few simple tools and ingredients to turn our new leaf collection into an exciting sensory water table.
Water (we also added a few drops of food coloring)
Leaves from a nature walk
Some of my all-time favorite activities start with a nature walk; there’s just something so special about the learning and creativity that comes from the great outdoors! Before we left the playground, we worked together to gather up a fun selection of leaves that had fallen from the trees. As we did so, we spoke about the different colors and shapes we could see. I put my seven-year-old in charge of counting how many leaves we had in our collection.
How to set up the table
Once we got home, the kids refueled with a snack while I quickly set up the water table. I used our IKEA FLISAT Children’s Table with two small TROFAST bins and one large one. I added water and five drops of green food coloring to the large bin placed the leaves in one of the small bins, and then the fine motor and cutting tools in the other small bin. It was terrific how inviting this setup looked, considering its simplicity!
Let's Play
I always try to keep sensory bin setups as open-ended as possible to build my children’s confidence to explore independently. Straight away, my seven-year-old started experimenting to see whether the leaves would float or sink in the water. Together they spent ages using scissors to cut the leaves into different shapes. We had a star, a man, a dinosaur, and even a boat floating on the water. The fine motor skills at work were awesome. This is where having an older sibling helps because it encourages creativity and imagination for the little one!
Both my kids enjoyed exploring the different fine motor tools. Big bro liked using the Squeezy Tweezers™ and Handy Scooper™ to rescue the leaves from the water and then drop them back in. Meanwhile, baby sis was all about making the leaf confetti and sprinkling it into her bowls of green leaf soup!
Adding a magnifying glass to any sensory setup can stimulate more in-depth conversations and observations. The kids were fascinated by the veins running through the leaves and experimented with ripping the leaves to explore them further.
This was such a fun sensory and fine motor setup, and best of all, it appealed to both ages. It pays off to ensure a range of open-ended tools and containers with a sensory table because you never quite know how kids will choose to play with it.
Writer's bio
Lucy Baker is a Mom of two (4 & 8 years old) passionate about creative play and hands-on learning. She firmly believes in providing children with the opportunity to learn through play and being part of their play journey as a parent. See more of her creative play ideas and process art projects on Instagram @findthelittlemind and over on her blog, Find the Little Mind.
I love it when the leaves start to change color, and it creates so many fun Fall-themed learning opportunities for my three- and seven-year-old. For this activity, we enjoyed a leaf hunt outside, looking for all sorts of shapes and colors of leaves. I then added a few simple tools and ingredients to turn our new leaf collection into an exciting sensory water table.
Water (we also added a few drops of food coloring)
Leaves from a nature walk
Some of my all-time favorite activities start with a nature walk; there’s just something so special about the learning and creativity that comes from the great outdoors! Before we left the playground, we worked together to gather up a fun selection of leaves that had fallen from the trees. As we did so, we spoke about the different colors and shapes we could see. I put my seven-year-old in charge of counting how many leaves we had in our collection.
How to set up the table
Once we got home, the kids refueled with a snack while I quickly set up the water table. I used our IKEA FLISAT Children’s Table with two small TROFAST bins and one large one. I added water and five drops of green food coloring to the large bin placed the leaves in one of the small bins, and then the fine motor and cutting tools in the other small bin. It was terrific how inviting this setup looked, considering its simplicity!
Let's Play
I always try to keep sensory bin setups as open-ended as possible to build my children’s confidence to explore independently. Straight away, my seven-year-old started experimenting to see whether the leaves would float or sink in the water. Together they spent ages using scissors to cut the leaves into different shapes. We had a star, a man, a dinosaur, and even a boat floating on the water. The fine motor skills at work were awesome. This is where having an older sibling helps because it encourages creativity and imagination for the little one!
Both my kids enjoyed exploring the different fine motor tools. Big bro liked using the Squeezy Tweezers™ and Handy Scooper™ to rescue the leaves from the water and then drop them back in. Meanwhile, baby sis was all about making the leaf confetti and sprinkling it into her bowls of green leaf soup!
Adding a magnifying glass to any sensory setup can stimulate more in-depth conversations and observations. The kids were fascinated by the veins running through the leaves and experimented with ripping the leaves to explore them further.
This was such a fun sensory and fine motor setup, and best of all, it appealed to both ages. It pays off to ensure a range of open-ended tools and containers with a sensory table because you never quite know how kids will choose to play with it.
Writer's bio
Lucy Baker is a Mom of two (4 & 8 years old) passionate about creative play and hands-on learning. She firmly believes in providing children with the opportunity to learn through play and being part of their play journey as a parent. See more of her creative play ideas and process art projects on Instagram @findthelittlemind and over on her blog, Find the Little Mind.
Get ready for out-of-this-world science adventures with the Beaker Creatures, the mysterious aliens that combine the thrill of collectibles with real-world STEM learning!
Get ready for out-of-this-world science adventures with the Beaker Creatures, the mysterious aliens that combine the thrill of collectibles with real-world STEM learning!
Halloween is nearly upon us! This fun and spooky holiday are one of the most entertaining nights for kids each year: creative costumes, running around outside after dark with friends, and…trick-or-treating for candy! I have so many childhood memories of Halloween excitement, so I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of sadness when we discovered my two daughters had a dairy allergy a few years back. I didn’t want them to miss out on all the fun or feel left out while going door-to-door with their friends. Luckily, there are still some dairy-free candy options, but most Halloween treats tend to be chocolate. And dairy isn’t the only allergy out there - nuts, gluten, and soy also affect thousands of kids around you.
What is the Teal Pumpkin Project?
Thankfully, awareness of this issue has gained traction and popularity over the past few years! Have you ever heard of the Teal Pumpkin Project? It’s a fantastic initiative that focuses on the inclusion of children with special diets who trick-or-treat.
The concept is simple, and everyone is encouraged to participate:
Collect non-food treat options
Place a teal pumpkin on your porch to show people that you have available non-food treats.
We found our teal pumpkin and non-food treats in the dollar section of local stores. Some great ideas for treats are Learning Resources Counters, stickers, temporary tattoos, pencils, bookmarks, necklaces, glow sticks/bracelets/wands, bouncy balls, notepads, stencils, bubbles, noisemakers, or playing cards. Many families choose to give out non-food treats AND traditional Halloween candy, and they just have two separate treat bowls.
I can’t tell you how happy I am that awareness is being raised for children with food allergies! Even if my girls were not allergic to dairy I would still encourage participation in this wonderful project. We are constantly striving to teach our daughters about inclusion and the importance of making everyone feel special and cared about. The Teal Pumpkin Project is an easy way that families can do just that within their local communities everywhere!
Halloween is nearly upon us! This fun and spooky holiday are one of the most entertaining nights for kids each year: creative costumes, running around outside after dark with friends, and…trick-or-treating for candy! I have so many childhood memories of Halloween excitement, so I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of sadness when we discovered my two daughters had a dairy allergy a few years back. I didn’t want them to miss out on all the fun or feel left out while going door-to-door with their friends. Luckily, there are still some dairy-free candy options, but most Halloween treats tend to be chocolate. And dairy isn’t the only allergy out there - nuts, gluten, and soy also affect thousands of kids around you.
What is the Teal Pumpkin Project?
Thankfully, awareness of this issue has gained traction and popularity over the past few years! Have you ever heard of the Teal Pumpkin Project? It’s a fantastic initiative that focuses on the inclusion of children with special diets who trick-or-treat.
The concept is simple, and everyone is encouraged to participate:
Collect non-food treat options
Place a teal pumpkin on your porch to show people that you have available non-food treats.
We found our teal pumpkin and non-food treats in the dollar section of local stores. Some great ideas for treats are Learning Resources Counters, stickers, temporary tattoos, pencils, bookmarks, necklaces, glow sticks/bracelets/wands, bouncy balls, notepads, stencils, bubbles, noisemakers, or playing cards. Many families choose to give out non-food treats AND traditional Halloween candy, and they just have two separate treat bowls.
I can’t tell you how happy I am that awareness is being raised for children with food allergies! Even if my girls were not allergic to dairy I would still encourage participation in this wonderful project. We are constantly striving to teach our daughters about inclusion and the importance of making everyone feel special and cared about. The Teal Pumpkin Project is an easy way that families can do just that within their local communities everywhere!
Young learners love to explore the wonders and surprises of science! Bring the spirit of October to life with this fun and engaging science experiment: Exploding Pumpkins! Kids of all ages will love to “dig deep” and watch the chemical reaction unfold before their eyes. But don’t blink, because you might miss it!
This experiment requires a few simple ingredients. You will probably already have a home. It’s easy to set up and clean up, which makes it mom and teacher approved!
You’ll want to gather the supplies below before getting started.
First, add food coloring to the vinegar. Here I added about 10 drops, but you can adjust it as you see fit to obtain the desired color. Give it a mix and place it off to the side for now.
Next, carve the top portion of your pumpkin off. Before removing the seeds, this would be the perfect opportunity to pause and have your little learners use their senses to smell and touch the pumpkin pulp, strands and seeds. After, use a spoon to carve out the gooey middle. Be sure to scrape the strands off the edges. You can even bake the seeds as a tasty after science treat!
Assemble the pumpkin, eye droppers, and vinegar on a tray.
This will prevent excess spillage on any unwanted surfaces. Sprinkle some baking soda into the bottom of the pumpkin. About ¼ cup of baking soda will be plenty for a small pumpkin. If you plan to use a larger pumpkin, consider using ½ cup to 1 cup of baking soda instead.
Have the littles make a prediction for what they think will happen once you add the two ingredients together. Use the eye droppers to transfer a few drops of the vinegar into the pumpkin. After, take some time to observe the chemical reaction. What do they hear, see, smell, etc is happening. Does it happen right away or after some time? They can record it in a “science notebook” and draw what they see and notice.
After using the eye droppers, make a “splash” with a large chemical reaction! Pour the remaining vinegar into the pumpkin and watch the results unfold! It will be tremendous fun. Consider filming their reaction so you can rewatch it again and again!
Don’t be afraid to pour the vinegar into the pumpkin quickly for best results. Also, consider choosing a food coloring color with enough of a contrast to the color of your pumpkin and tray.
The foam from the chemical reaction won’t last long so soak up all of the excitement while you can! This is the perfect way to ignite a love of learning and passion for science in your little learners. The Exploding Pumpkins experiment can even be adapted to fit other thematic seasons and holidays. You can even opt to use a plastic pumpkin, cauldron, etc.
Young learners love to explore the wonders and surprises of science! Bring the spirit of October to life with this fun and engaging science experiment: Exploding Pumpkins! Kids of all ages will love to “dig deep” and watch the chemical reaction unfold before their eyes. But don’t blink, because you might miss it!
This experiment requires a few simple ingredients. You will probably already have a home. It’s easy to set up and clean up, which makes it mom and teacher approved!
You’ll want to gather the supplies below before getting started.
First, add food coloring to the vinegar. Here I added about 10 drops, but you can adjust it as you see fit to obtain the desired color. Give it a mix and place it off to the side for now.
Next, carve the top portion of your pumpkin off. Before removing the seeds, this would be the perfect opportunity to pause and have your little learners use their senses to smell and touch the pumpkin pulp, strands and seeds. After, use a spoon to carve out the gooey middle. Be sure to scrape the strands off the edges. You can even bake the seeds as a tasty after science treat!
Assemble the pumpkin, eye droppers, and vinegar on a tray.
This will prevent excess spillage on any unwanted surfaces. Sprinkle some baking soda into the bottom of the pumpkin. About ¼ cup of baking soda will be plenty for a small pumpkin. If you plan to use a larger pumpkin, consider using ½ cup to 1 cup of baking soda instead.
Have the littles make a prediction for what they think will happen once you add the two ingredients together. Use the eye droppers to transfer a few drops of the vinegar into the pumpkin. After, take some time to observe the chemical reaction. What do they hear, see, smell, etc is happening. Does it happen right away or after some time? They can record it in a “science notebook” and draw what they see and notice.
After using the eye droppers, make a “splash” with a large chemical reaction! Pour the remaining vinegar into the pumpkin and watch the results unfold! It will be tremendous fun. Consider filming their reaction so you can rewatch it again and again!
Don’t be afraid to pour the vinegar into the pumpkin quickly for best results. Also, consider choosing a food coloring color with enough of a contrast to the color of your pumpkin and tray.
The foam from the chemical reaction won’t last long so soak up all of the excitement while you can! This is the perfect way to ignite a love of learning and passion for science in your little learners. The Exploding Pumpkins experiment can even be adapted to fit other thematic seasons and holidays. You can even opt to use a plastic pumpkin, cauldron, etc.
I love the start of the new school year when apples, acorns, and Fall leaves fill our days of play and learning. Sensory bins are a great way to let preschoolers explore these themes while developing essential skills. In this blog series, I will share three fun and simple sensory bases for apple-themed bins, which are perfect for use in the classroom or at home. These blogs include one of our favorite Learning Resources® products this time of year, the Attribute Apples™! The set includes 27 apples sorted by five attributes, size, color, and physical features (stem, leaf, and worm). Perfect for adding a healthy splash of play and learning to a sensory bin! The second sensory bin in this series uses one of the best sensory bases of all… water!
Container (here, you can see us using a small dish bin from Dollar Tree, but under-bed storage containers work great for bigger groups)
Water
Fine motor tools (we loved using the Twisty Dropper™ and Gator Grabber Tweezers™ with this bin, both come in the Helping Hands Fine Motor Tool Set™)
A few small bowls and dishcloths for drying
The Set-up Just add some water to the bin, throw in the apples, put out the tools, bowls, and dishcloth, and you are good to go!
Serious Scrubbing!
Any sensory bin involving water always leads to some form of scrubbing for my four-year-old. She studied the different apples and decided that she needed to give the worms inside them an extra good scrub!
I love how the apples have so many different attributes that can be sorted. This led to lots of hands-on analysis and discussions as the scrubbing was happening with her hands and fingers. The Twisty Dropper was used lots to make little ‘apple showers.’
Soup Anyone?
I left this set-up very open-ended and instead of directing my preschooler towards using the materials in a certain way, I just let her choose how to use them. I was not surprised when she said she wanted to start making me some apple soup. She asked me what size bowl I’d like and what type of apples I’d like in my bowl of soup. My little one gave me recommendations and was sure to tell me to avoid the worm soup!
Her little hands were constantly working hard, which was great for her fine motor development. We also added plenty of early numeracy language, such as numbers and sizes. It was very sweet watching her so carefully transferring the water into my soup bowl and being sure to find all the yellow apples to make it extra sweet and yummy.
After she had served a few bowls of soup, we started to talk about how much each bowl should cost, which was another numeracy link. Then we gave all the apples a final scrub and dry, before closing the soup kitchen. I love how versatile and durable the Attribute Apples are! Next time, we will add a drop of green food coloring and some dish soap bubbles to the water.
Writer's bio
Lucy Baker is a Mom of two (4 & 8 years old) passionate about creative play and hands-on learning. She firmly believes in providing children with the opportunity to learn through play and being part of their play journey as a parent. See more of her creative play ideas and process art projects on Instagram @findthelittlemind, and over on her blog, Find the Little Mind.
I love the start of the new school year when apples, acorns, and Fall leaves fill our days of play and learning. Sensory bins are a great way to let preschoolers explore these themes while developing essential skills. In this blog series, I will share three fun and simple sensory bases for apple-themed bins, which are perfect for use in the classroom or at home. These blogs include one of our favorite Learning Resources® products this time of year, the Attribute Apples™! The set includes 27 apples sorted by five attributes, size, color, and physical features (stem, leaf, and worm). Perfect for adding a healthy splash of play and learning to a sensory bin! The second sensory bin in this series uses one of the best sensory bases of all… water!
Container (here, you can see us using a small dish bin from Dollar Tree, but under-bed storage containers work great for bigger groups)
Water
Fine motor tools (we loved using the Twisty Dropper™ and Gator Grabber Tweezers™ with this bin, both come in the Helping Hands Fine Motor Tool Set™)
A few small bowls and dishcloths for drying
The Set-up Just add some water to the bin, throw in the apples, put out the tools, bowls, and dishcloth, and you are good to go!
Serious Scrubbing!
Any sensory bin involving water always leads to some form of scrubbing for my four-year-old. She studied the different apples and decided that she needed to give the worms inside them an extra good scrub!
I love how the apples have so many different attributes that can be sorted. This led to lots of hands-on analysis and discussions as the scrubbing was happening with her hands and fingers. The Twisty Dropper was used lots to make little ‘apple showers.’
Soup Anyone?
I left this set-up very open-ended and instead of directing my preschooler towards using the materials in a certain way, I just let her choose how to use them. I was not surprised when she said she wanted to start making me some apple soup. She asked me what size bowl I’d like and what type of apples I’d like in my bowl of soup. My little one gave me recommendations and was sure to tell me to avoid the worm soup!
Her little hands were constantly working hard, which was great for her fine motor development. We also added plenty of early numeracy language, such as numbers and sizes. It was very sweet watching her so carefully transferring the water into my soup bowl and being sure to find all the yellow apples to make it extra sweet and yummy.
After she had served a few bowls of soup, we started to talk about how much each bowl should cost, which was another numeracy link. Then we gave all the apples a final scrub and dry, before closing the soup kitchen. I love how versatile and durable the Attribute Apples are! Next time, we will add a drop of green food coloring and some dish soap bubbles to the water.
Writer's bio
Lucy Baker is a Mom of two (4 & 8 years old) passionate about creative play and hands-on learning. She firmly believes in providing children with the opportunity to learn through play and being part of their play journey as a parent. See more of her creative play ideas and process art projects on Instagram @findthelittlemind, and over on her blog, Find the Little Mind.
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