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Looking for a low-prep, low-pressure way for your toddler or preschooler to explore holiday items independently but with a STEM twist? Enter this holiday loose parts bucket balance play invitation!
Hanukkah-related loose parts, including small menorah candles, dreidels, and plastic gelt
Setup:
To create an engaging, open-ended invitation to play, we set up the Bucket Balance with various small loose parts arranged in front of it and hidden inside its storage drawer. We chose a Hanukkah theme for this particular setup, but in the future, we might try other themed loose parts, such as:
Christmas: jingle bells, small ornaments, mini candy canes, etc.
Winter: pine cones, acorns, snowflake-shaped beads, Arctic animal figurines, etc.
Nature: small stones, seashells, tree bark, pinecones, etc.
Snacktime: Animal crackers, goldfish, carrot sticks, cereal, etc.
Random: tiny cars, small blocks, wooden beads, -- the sky is the limit! You know your child best -- choose items that will excite and delight!
Play & Learn:
This activity allows young children to freely explore and sort various small parts, including textures, colors, and quantity. Adding in the Bucket Balance invites them to compare these items with new measurement concepts like weight, mass, and volume.
After some free-play, caregivers can lean in and prompt additional curiosity by asking questions about the various loose parts. For instance: How many gelt coins might you need to balance both buckets? Which is heavier, X number of candles or X number of dreidels? Let's count them together and see if our hypothesis is correct!
This is a fun new way to get festive and keep those curious brains active during breaks from preschool! What items would your child enjoy comparing on a Bucket Balance?
About the Author, Sarah Yale: With a background in education, youth development, and restorative justice, Sarah Yale wears many hats, including Mom and Librarian. She endeavors to combine her love of children's books and the great outdoors to plan inclusive, play-based activities that foster curiosity and social-emotional learning. An advocate for literacy development, loose parts, and sensory play, Sarah's activities invite you to lean in, read up, and get messy together! See more of her ideas on Instagram at @staycurious_sadertot.
Looking for a low-prep, low-pressure way for your toddler or preschooler to explore holiday items independently but with a STEM twist? Enter this holiday loose parts bucket balance play invitation!
Hanukkah-related loose parts, including small menorah candles, dreidels, and plastic gelt
Setup:
To create an engaging, open-ended invitation to play, we set up the Bucket Balance with various small loose parts arranged in front of it and hidden inside its storage drawer. We chose a Hanukkah theme for this particular setup, but in the future, we might try other themed loose parts, such as:
Christmas: jingle bells, small ornaments, mini candy canes, etc.
Winter: pine cones, acorns, snowflake-shaped beads, Arctic animal figurines, etc.
Nature: small stones, seashells, tree bark, pinecones, etc.
Snacktime: Animal crackers, goldfish, carrot sticks, cereal, etc.
Random: tiny cars, small blocks, wooden beads, -- the sky is the limit! You know your child best -- choose items that will excite and delight!
Play & Learn:
This activity allows young children to freely explore and sort various small parts, including textures, colors, and quantity. Adding in the Bucket Balance invites them to compare these items with new measurement concepts like weight, mass, and volume.
After some free-play, caregivers can lean in and prompt additional curiosity by asking questions about the various loose parts. For instance: How many gelt coins might you need to balance both buckets? Which is heavier, X number of candles or X number of dreidels? Let's count them together and see if our hypothesis is correct!
This is a fun new way to get festive and keep those curious brains active during breaks from preschool! What items would your child enjoy comparing on a Bucket Balance?
About the Author, Sarah Yale: With a background in education, youth development, and restorative justice, Sarah Yale wears many hats, including Mom and Librarian. She endeavors to combine her love of children's books and the great outdoors to plan inclusive, play-based activities that foster curiosity and social-emotional learning. An advocate for literacy development, loose parts, and sensory play, Sarah's activities invite you to lean in, read up, and get messy together! See more of her ideas on Instagram at @staycurious_sadertot.
From building fine motor skills to introducing colors, shapes and numbers, these hands-on toys help your toddler get ready for life in the great big world. With these gifts your toddlers will be taking big steps in learning by recognizing names, saying words, and following simple directions. These toys help them build even bigger skills!
Steggy the Fine Motor Dino
This prehistoric pal is ready for fine motor fun! Kids build the hand strength they need to succeed in school and beyond every time they play with Steggy the Fine Motor Dino. The friendliest fine motor toy for toddlers, this easygoing dinosaur comes with ten pinchable, pullable scales, whose indented surfaces make it easy for kids to build their pincer grasp, hand strength, and other essentials of fine motor skills development. Steggy's scales also come with a 3-in-1 learning surprise— in addition to building fine motor skills, scales also introduce kids to early color matching and number recognition skills thanks to their vibrant designs and 1–10 numbered surfaces. With Steggy the Fine Motor Dino, there are always multiple ways to learn.
Our hedgehog lost his quills, and only your little ones can help him get them back! Spike, the Fine Motor Hedgehog, helps kids build up hand muscles and fine motor skills by replacing the chunky, peg-shaped 'quills' within the holes that dot the smiling hedgehog's back. The learning doesn't end there- Spike's colorful quills also lend themselves well to lessons in counting, sorting, and color identification skills. Kids can arrange the quills by warm or cool colors, work on sequences and patterns by alternating colors, or count up the quills with the help of numbers printed on the hedgehog's back. Once playtime is over, Spike the Fine Motor Hedgehog is a snap to clean up-each piece is made of plastic that can be easily wiped clean, and the quills stow snugly inside the hedgehog's body, which adds simplicity to storage too.
There's more than hay inside these barns— there's farmyard learning fun! Kids learn counting, color, matching, and sorting skills during every imaginative adventure with the farm friends found within the Peekaboo Learning Farm. Each of the set's 5 numbered two-piece barns comes in a different vibrant color, including red, orange, blue, green, and purple. Each barn also pops open to reveal 5 different animal finger puppets— meet the set's friendly cow, pig, duck, and more! Unlike many toys for toddlers, the Peekaboo Learning Farms grows along with your little one— build new fine motor skills during early games of pretend, then move on to early math and color identification! Find the animals during games of hide and seek, make your own memory game, or just let your imagination go! The Peekaboo Learning Farm's two-piece barns also help kids build coordination and other fine motor skills every time they pop them open or snap them shut.
A new twist on the classic game of stacking rings, Smart Snacks Stack 'Em Up Doughnuts teaches your child color recognition and size comparison. Great for helping build your child's fine motor skills, Smart Snacks Stack Em' Up Doughnuts from Learning Resources is a colorful and food-theme take on the classic stacking rings activity. Skills stack up with these Stack ‘em Up Doughnuts! Children place the doughnuts from biggest to smallest and fit the doughnut hole on top. They’re also perfect for inspiring hours of play in their pretend kitchen, store, or restaurant.
Counting sheep isn't just for falling asleep anymore! Discover a wooly and wonderful way to learn new number and color skills with the Snap-n-Learn Counting Sheep. These educational toys include ten friendly two-piece number sheep numbered 1–10 and ready for early math lessons in number recognition, counting, sequencing, and more. Each sheep also features a different color of the rainbow— instead of the usual white or black, these sheep have wool that's red, blue, orange, green, and more! Sized just right for little hands, the number sheep's removable snap-on, snap-off wool doubles as a fine motor skills toy and builds coordination and other essential skills. It also hides a surprise—each sheep also comes numbered with dots beneath their wool, which reinforce number recognition and add barnyard fun to matching games for 2-year-olds. Best of all, the Snap-n-Learn Counting Sheep comes with a reusable plastic storage tub that makes cleanup a snap.
From building fine motor skills to introducing colors, shapes and numbers, these hands-on toys help your toddler get ready for life in the great big world. With these gifts your toddlers will be taking big steps in learning by recognizing names, saying words, and following simple directions. These toys help them build even bigger skills!
Steggy the Fine Motor Dino
This prehistoric pal is ready for fine motor fun! Kids build the hand strength they need to succeed in school and beyond every time they play with Steggy the Fine Motor Dino. The friendliest fine motor toy for toddlers, this easygoing dinosaur comes with ten pinchable, pullable scales, whose indented surfaces make it easy for kids to build their pincer grasp, hand strength, and other essentials of fine motor skills development. Steggy's scales also come with a 3-in-1 learning surprise— in addition to building fine motor skills, scales also introduce kids to early color matching and number recognition skills thanks to their vibrant designs and 1–10 numbered surfaces. With Steggy the Fine Motor Dino, there are always multiple ways to learn.
Our hedgehog lost his quills, and only your little ones can help him get them back! Spike, the Fine Motor Hedgehog, helps kids build up hand muscles and fine motor skills by replacing the chunky, peg-shaped 'quills' within the holes that dot the smiling hedgehog's back. The learning doesn't end there- Spike's colorful quills also lend themselves well to lessons in counting, sorting, and color identification skills. Kids can arrange the quills by warm or cool colors, work on sequences and patterns by alternating colors, or count up the quills with the help of numbers printed on the hedgehog's back. Once playtime is over, Spike the Fine Motor Hedgehog is a snap to clean up-each piece is made of plastic that can be easily wiped clean, and the quills stow snugly inside the hedgehog's body, which adds simplicity to storage too.
There's more than hay inside these barns— there's farmyard learning fun! Kids learn counting, color, matching, and sorting skills during every imaginative adventure with the farm friends found within the Peekaboo Learning Farm. Each of the set's 5 numbered two-piece barns comes in a different vibrant color, including red, orange, blue, green, and purple. Each barn also pops open to reveal 5 different animal finger puppets— meet the set's friendly cow, pig, duck, and more! Unlike many toys for toddlers, the Peekaboo Learning Farms grows along with your little one— build new fine motor skills during early games of pretend, then move on to early math and color identification! Find the animals during games of hide and seek, make your own memory game, or just let your imagination go! The Peekaboo Learning Farm's two-piece barns also help kids build coordination and other fine motor skills every time they pop them open or snap them shut.
A new twist on the classic game of stacking rings, Smart Snacks Stack 'Em Up Doughnuts teaches your child color recognition and size comparison. Great for helping build your child's fine motor skills, Smart Snacks Stack Em' Up Doughnuts from Learning Resources is a colorful and food-theme take on the classic stacking rings activity. Skills stack up with these Stack ‘em Up Doughnuts! Children place the doughnuts from biggest to smallest and fit the doughnut hole on top. They’re also perfect for inspiring hours of play in their pretend kitchen, store, or restaurant.
Counting sheep isn't just for falling asleep anymore! Discover a wooly and wonderful way to learn new number and color skills with the Snap-n-Learn Counting Sheep. These educational toys include ten friendly two-piece number sheep numbered 1–10 and ready for early math lessons in number recognition, counting, sequencing, and more. Each sheep also features a different color of the rainbow— instead of the usual white or black, these sheep have wool that's red, blue, orange, green, and more! Sized just right for little hands, the number sheep's removable snap-on, snap-off wool doubles as a fine motor skills toy and builds coordination and other essential skills. It also hides a surprise—each sheep also comes numbered with dots beneath their wool, which reinforce number recognition and add barnyard fun to matching games for 2-year-olds. Best of all, the Snap-n-Learn Counting Sheep comes with a reusable plastic storage tub that makes cleanup a snap.
As they learn the basics of reading, writing, and math, your kids can use these toys to build new skills for kindergarten and beyond! When you give your kids toys from Learning Resources, you're giving them skills that last long after the holidays end!
Counting Surprise Party™
Unbox new counting and color skills in every surprise present! You never know what might be inside the presents of Counting Surprise Party from Learning Resources. Little ones will find a fun surprise toy within each colorful numbered box - from a little blue robot to a high-flying plane to a friendly teddy bear, and there are ten manipulative-style gifts in all that kids can wrap and rewrap and again. In addition to building new fine motor skills with every unboxing, they'll also build new skills in color and number recognition, whether they're sorting their toys by the colors on the boxes, counting up their stack of presents, or matching the dots on the present lids with the numerals printed on the boxes' fronts.
Solve brain-teasing puzzle challenges that test your knowledge of shapes, critical thinking, fine motor skills, and more! Four colors and patterns also boost recognition skills. Includes 24 shapes and double-sided challenge cards. Designed with solo play in mind, these puzzles are a great way to build essential logic and critical thinking skills!
Crack open a colorful gem surprise! Little ones get a no-mess introduction to sorting, matching, and counting with the play geodes and gems of Rock 'n' Gem Surprise from Learning Resources. Using the included play hammer and chisel, kids can crack open each reusable play geode and discover the translucent plastic gemstones inside. Gems double as manipulatives and come in eight different colors and four different shapes - you might find a red heart, a purple triangle, a green diamond, or more fun combinations. In addition to helping kids learn early sorting, matching, and counting skills, Rock 'n' Gem Surprise also introduces kids to early STEM and geology concepts without the messy clean-up associated with real rocks and geodes.
Build new elementary math skills one MathLink Cube at a time! Whether in the classroom or homeschool, students explore addition and subtraction, multiplication and division, geometry, and more with the fun math challenges found within the MathLink Cubes Elementary Math Activity Set from Learning Resources. Our most advanced counting cube activity set yet, this elementary educational toy pairs the popular hands-on math manipulatives with a fun set of challenges that grow with students' skills.
Botley 2.0 helps kids as young as 5 learn to code through 100% screen-free play. Botley 2.0 knows multiple ways to code right out of the box— code him to move in six directions, play music, and even put on a light show! Discover Botley 2.0’s 16 fun interactions— transform him into a train, police car, ghost, and more! You can even test your memory with the lights and sounds of a game of Botley Says!
As they learn the basics of reading, writing, and math, your kids can use these toys to build new skills for kindergarten and beyond! When you give your kids toys from Learning Resources, you're giving them skills that last long after the holidays end!
Counting Surprise Party™
Unbox new counting and color skills in every surprise present! You never know what might be inside the presents of Counting Surprise Party from Learning Resources. Little ones will find a fun surprise toy within each colorful numbered box - from a little blue robot to a high-flying plane to a friendly teddy bear, and there are ten manipulative-style gifts in all that kids can wrap and rewrap and again. In addition to building new fine motor skills with every unboxing, they'll also build new skills in color and number recognition, whether they're sorting their toys by the colors on the boxes, counting up their stack of presents, or matching the dots on the present lids with the numerals printed on the boxes' fronts.
Solve brain-teasing puzzle challenges that test your knowledge of shapes, critical thinking, fine motor skills, and more! Four colors and patterns also boost recognition skills. Includes 24 shapes and double-sided challenge cards. Designed with solo play in mind, these puzzles are a great way to build essential logic and critical thinking skills!
Crack open a colorful gem surprise! Little ones get a no-mess introduction to sorting, matching, and counting with the play geodes and gems of Rock 'n' Gem Surprise from Learning Resources. Using the included play hammer and chisel, kids can crack open each reusable play geode and discover the translucent plastic gemstones inside. Gems double as manipulatives and come in eight different colors and four different shapes - you might find a red heart, a purple triangle, a green diamond, or more fun combinations. In addition to helping kids learn early sorting, matching, and counting skills, Rock 'n' Gem Surprise also introduces kids to early STEM and geology concepts without the messy clean-up associated with real rocks and geodes.
Build new elementary math skills one MathLink Cube at a time! Whether in the classroom or homeschool, students explore addition and subtraction, multiplication and division, geometry, and more with the fun math challenges found within the MathLink Cubes Elementary Math Activity Set from Learning Resources. Our most advanced counting cube activity set yet, this elementary educational toy pairs the popular hands-on math manipulatives with a fun set of challenges that grow with students' skills.
Botley 2.0 helps kids as young as 5 learn to code through 100% screen-free play. Botley 2.0 knows multiple ways to code right out of the box— code him to move in six directions, play music, and even put on a light show! Discover Botley 2.0’s 16 fun interactions— transform him into a train, police car, ghost, and more! You can even test your memory with the lights and sounds of a game of Botley Says!
Our toys help kids build amazing preschool skills, whether they're exploring the wonder of words, learning new colors, or solving puzzling problems! These gifts will grow with your children and help you discover new learning fun every time you give a gift!
Oodles of Aliens™ Sorting Saucer
Grab the Tri-Grip Tongs, pop the dice, and help these aliens sort out their spaceship in a sorting game of cosmic proportions! In addition to sorting, this game builds three additional skills at once—strengthen your counting, color recognition, and fine motor skills every time you play! Includes 30 alien creature counters, as well as an activity guide with fun sorting games!
Whip up batches of fun with our new Bake it! When the kitchen is just too tempting to resist, provide a colorful and fun collection of baking tools designed to encourage safe role-play. Little bakers will flip for this modern set featuring bakeware with rounded parts and easy-grip handles along with delicious, soft-molded cupcakes, and the cookies are the perfect recipe for toddler play! Work on imaginative play, fine motor, hand-eye coordination, early vocabulary/language, and social skills!
Realistically detailed animals designed for little hands and big imaginations! Figures invite imaginative play and are perfect for vocabulary development. The activity guide includes facts about each animal and early science discussion starters. These animals are perfect for a winter sensory bin or for bringing the zoo into your home!
Reach in and feel all the textures! Help the fuzzy dog find all the bones he hid in his doghouse. All bones are textured and made of rubber or cloth and feature smooth, silky, scratchy, bumpy, ridged, and more textures. Grasping, exploring, and manipulating the different textured bones leads students to further develop their ability to use their fingers and hands purposefully and improve manual dexterity.
Build early sorting and critical thinking skills as your sort and match these puppy pals! Explore six ways to sort: group puppies by size, color, spots, and more. Pieces store inside the dog house for easy clean-up. In addition to sorting and matching, the Sort-'Em-Up Pups come with a big colorful dog house and fenced-in pens that are ready for all kinds of open-ended imaginative play!
Our toys help kids build amazing preschool skills, whether they're exploring the wonder of words, learning new colors, or solving puzzling problems! These gifts will grow with your children and help you discover new learning fun every time you give a gift!
Oodles of Aliens™ Sorting Saucer
Grab the Tri-Grip Tongs, pop the dice, and help these aliens sort out their spaceship in a sorting game of cosmic proportions! In addition to sorting, this game builds three additional skills at once—strengthen your counting, color recognition, and fine motor skills every time you play! Includes 30 alien creature counters, as well as an activity guide with fun sorting games!
Whip up batches of fun with our new Bake it! When the kitchen is just too tempting to resist, provide a colorful and fun collection of baking tools designed to encourage safe role-play. Little bakers will flip for this modern set featuring bakeware with rounded parts and easy-grip handles along with delicious, soft-molded cupcakes, and the cookies are the perfect recipe for toddler play! Work on imaginative play, fine motor, hand-eye coordination, early vocabulary/language, and social skills!
Realistically detailed animals designed for little hands and big imaginations! Figures invite imaginative play and are perfect for vocabulary development. The activity guide includes facts about each animal and early science discussion starters. These animals are perfect for a winter sensory bin or for bringing the zoo into your home!
Reach in and feel all the textures! Help the fuzzy dog find all the bones he hid in his doghouse. All bones are textured and made of rubber or cloth and feature smooth, silky, scratchy, bumpy, ridged, and more textures. Grasping, exploring, and manipulating the different textured bones leads students to further develop their ability to use their fingers and hands purposefully and improve manual dexterity.
Build early sorting and critical thinking skills as your sort and match these puppy pals! Explore six ways to sort: group puppies by size, color, spots, and more. Pieces store inside the dog house for easy clean-up. In addition to sorting and matching, the Sort-'Em-Up Pups come with a big colorful dog house and fenced-in pens that are ready for all kinds of open-ended imaginative play!
Do your kids love setting up pretend ‘tea parties’ with their dolls and stuffed animals? My four-year-old will happily sit playing with a setup like that for over an hour, so we are always on the lookout for fun ways to put a seasonal twist on the tea parties. That’s why we were delighted when Learning Resources® released two festive kitchen set products: Hot Cocoa Time! and Santa’s Cookies.
What’s Included?
Each set comes with a fun range of pieces to ensure that the play remains open-ended. The Santa’s Cookies 12-piece set includes a cookie sheet complete with rolled-out dough, pre-cut cookies, a neat suction-style cookie cutter, rolling pin and spatula, plate, glass of milk, and cute dry-erase note to Santa.
The Hot Cocoa set includes a big brewing pot, two cups, plates and spoons, a hot cocoa pot, cookies, and marshmallows. All items are sturdy and easy to clean, which is always a bonus when it comes to toys for kids!
Combining the Fun for a Festive Cookies & Cocoa Party
My preschooler had been playing with both sets separately, but I knew she would love to set up her festive party for her dolls and unicorns using the sets together.
We spread out a pretend snow tablecloth, and she got to work propping up her little friends in the chairs. She was chatting to them the whole time about where they were going to sit and how much fun they would have.
Once everyone was seated, she got to work taking their orders. I loved listening to her asking her ‘friends’ what they wanted, and then she would make up an order for them. This was a great way for her to develop her vocabulary and work on some simple numeracy.
She would count how many scoops of cocoa powder to add, how many marshmallows, or how many of each type of cookie. If your child is older, they could always write down the orders on the dry-erase Santa’s note board.
My preschooler was also able to develop descriptive shape-based language. I would ask her to find a shape with x number of sides or a curved edge. She was so careful and sure to give her unicorns and her doll exactly what they ordered!
The tools which come with the sets are perfect for helping children to develop their fine motor skills. My daughter was careful to scoop, roll and serve, making sure not to ‘spill’ anything on our ‘fancy’ tablecloth!
After all of her friends had their orders, they sat enjoying their festive party together. We put on some fun seasonal music, and it was a special moment of quality time. It’s always so magical when the child can lead the play and direct the conversation. It’s amazing how much confidence they gain from the opportunity to let their imaginations drive the activity!
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.
Do your kids love setting up pretend ‘tea parties’ with their dolls and stuffed animals? My four-year-old will happily sit playing with a setup like that for over an hour, so we are always on the lookout for fun ways to put a seasonal twist on the tea parties. That’s why we were delighted when Learning Resources® released two festive kitchen set products: Hot Cocoa Time! and Santa’s Cookies.
What’s Included?
Each set comes with a fun range of pieces to ensure that the play remains open-ended. The Santa’s Cookies 12-piece set includes a cookie sheet complete with rolled-out dough, pre-cut cookies, a neat suction-style cookie cutter, rolling pin and spatula, plate, glass of milk, and cute dry-erase note to Santa.
The Hot Cocoa set includes a big brewing pot, two cups, plates and spoons, a hot cocoa pot, cookies, and marshmallows. All items are sturdy and easy to clean, which is always a bonus when it comes to toys for kids!
Combining the Fun for a Festive Cookies & Cocoa Party
My preschooler had been playing with both sets separately, but I knew she would love to set up her festive party for her dolls and unicorns using the sets together.
We spread out a pretend snow tablecloth, and she got to work propping up her little friends in the chairs. She was chatting to them the whole time about where they were going to sit and how much fun they would have.
Once everyone was seated, she got to work taking their orders. I loved listening to her asking her ‘friends’ what they wanted, and then she would make up an order for them. This was a great way for her to develop her vocabulary and work on some simple numeracy.
She would count how many scoops of cocoa powder to add, how many marshmallows, or how many of each type of cookie. If your child is older, they could always write down the orders on the dry-erase Santa’s note board.
My preschooler was also able to develop descriptive shape-based language. I would ask her to find a shape with x number of sides or a curved edge. She was so careful and sure to give her unicorns and her doll exactly what they ordered!
The tools which come with the sets are perfect for helping children to develop their fine motor skills. My daughter was careful to scoop, roll and serve, making sure not to ‘spill’ anything on our ‘fancy’ tablecloth!
After all of her friends had their orders, they sat enjoying their festive party together. We put on some fun seasonal music, and it was a special moment of quality time. It’s always so magical when the child can lead the play and direct the conversation. It’s amazing how much confidence they gain from the opportunity to let their imaginations drive the activity!
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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