Motor Skills

Are your kids obsessed with any surprise toy (or even more baffling, watching other children unwrap surprise toys on YouTube)?!?! It’s a magical mystery to us adults, but boy, oh boy, surprise toys are such a fascinating concept for today's children. So well done to Learning Resources® for embracing that sense of surprise in some of their new products. We have a few of their ‘Sorting Surprise’ range, but the hot new favorite in our home is this fun Picnic Baskets set.

What’s Included?

In the set, you get ten colorful picnic baskets, and each basket has a vibrant food surprise inside. The baskets are also clearly numbered 1-10, which adds a sneaky and useful numeracy element to the product. I’ll come back to this little gem, but a cute mini butterfly is also included in the box.

Surprise!

My preschooler couldn’t wait to open up each little basket. As she did so, I asked her to tell me the color of the basket and what number was written on it. It’s always a good idea to try and engage your child in these types of conversations as they explore. It can add new vocabulary and reinforce what they already know, which helps to build their confidence. Of course, she couldn’t wait to tell me what she found inside each basket. I tried to ask a few prompt questions to expand her vocabulary again. We spoke about colors, shades, sizes, and even flavors.

Once my daughter took all of the surprises out of the picnic baskets, she had lots of fun matching them again. Opening and closing the baskets and manipulating the small pieces of food were great for her fine motor skills. It’s so funny how mini food items are so entertaining!

Extending the Play

What I wasn’t expecting was how long my daughter played with these items and how she played so creatively with them. Whoever thought of including a small butterfly in this set is a genius! This little butterfly inspired an hour of pretend picnic play. My preschooler wanted the butterfly to taste test every single item, carefully opening the baskets and letting her new ‘pet’ have a nibble or slurp. The butterfly rated the items from favorite to least favorite and would fly around the picnic to get energy boosts for her wings. Avocados are just what butterflies need to go ‘super-duper fast.’

We have been enjoying the baskets as an addition to our toy room, but I also can’t wait to start pairing them up with some sensory and small world play. I want to expand on my little one’s love of the butterfly by using some green crinkle paper, a napkin, and baskets to set up a little butterfly’s picnic. Alternatively, we could add the baskets to a sensory base like rice or water beads. Using a magnifying glass to seek and match the food items to their baskets would be fun. So many play possibilities!

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.

Learning Resources® has just released a new Amazon Exclusive, and it sure is a fun one. The Bug Finder Adventure Set is the sweetest combination of hands-on tools for any little who is crazy about critters. We decided to use it for three engaging bug-themed sensory invitations, all of which appealed to my four-year-old and eight-year-old.

Catch a Critter Dirt Tray

This tray is a great way to have some sensory fun and work on those important fine motor skills.

What you need:

• Learning Resources Bug Finder Adventure Set (available on Amazon)
• Play tray (this one is from Target)
• Play dirt, or you could always use real dirt!
• In the Garden Critter Counters™

The Set-Up

Simply spread out the play dirt over an area of the tray. Add a fun selection of the critter counter, and put out the Primary Science® Jumbo Tweezers™, Handy Scoopers™, bug jar, magnifying glass, and scavenger hunt checklist.

Exploring the Tray

This tray is an excellent combination of working on fine motor skills by using the tweezers and scoopers, as well as encouraging plenty of scientific investigative skills. My eight-year-old had fun ‘catching’ the bugs from the dirt and then carefully studying them under the Jumbo Magnifying Glass. He liked to try and name each type of bug before placing it in the bug jar where he could study it further.

As the play continued, there were lots of discussions about how many legs each of the bugs had, and also where you would most likely find the different types of bugs. We planned a scavenger hunt for a warmer day and looked forward to using the Nature Walk Scavenger Hunt checklist included in the set. My four-year-old also enjoyed exploring this tray later in the day. She chose to add play dirt to the bug jar to make little bug houses for her critters! The Handy Scoopers works great as both a dirt transfer tool and a bug-catching tool!

Grassy Insect Investigation Tray

Sometimes the most fun can be had simply by studying bugs up close! This investigation tray was super easy to set up but really captured by children’s imaginations and sense of scientific inquiry.

What you need:

• Learning Resources Bug Finder Adventure Set (available on Amazon)
• Play tray (this one is the SMULA tray from IKEA)
• Jumbo Insects, also from Learning Resources
• Green crinkle paper (or you can use real grass or fake Easter grass)

The Set-Up

I spread out a selection of green crinkle paper, using different shades of green for added texture and sensory interest. I then spread out some of our Jumbo Insects and placed the tweezers and magnifying glass from the Adventure Set onto the tray. Super easy and pretty mess-free too!

Exploring the Tray

This tray was all about studying those insects and how different they were from each other. Both my four-year-old and eight-year-old played with this simultaneously, and I loved the conversations they were having together. My youngest would comment on certain aspects of an insect, and my eldest would offer facts and comments to help explain why the insect was made like that.

As they explored, they were using the tweezers to carefully turn over the insects. My four-year-old found it fascinating how they had different numbers of legs and sized wings. My eight-year-old loved looking up-close at their eyes. Next time we explore this set up I plan to put out some notebooks and markers to encourage my children to draw and make notes as they study the different insects. Observation and analysis are key scientific skills that this activity will help develop.

Count & Catch Bug Bin

Sensory bins lend themselves so well to subtle but enriching numeracy play and learning. For this bug-themed sensory activity, the combination of rice, critter counters, a bug jar, fine motor tools, and dice makes for a great bug-catching game.

What you need:

• Learning Resources Bug Finder Adventure Set (available on Amazon)
• Play bin (this one is a wash bin from Dollar Tree)
• Rice dyed green with food coloring
• In the Garden Critter Counters™

The Set-Up

I filled one of our sensory bins with green-dyed rice and then spread out 20 critter counters. I also added the tweezers and handy scoopers and placed the bug jar to the side of the bin. The final item needed was dice and then we were ready to play and learn.

Exploring the Bin

As soon as my preschooler saw the dice she knew that she would be playing a fun game. You could adapt the game to suit the ability level of your child. For us we simply took it in turns rolling the dice and counting that many critters into the bug jar. We aimed to work as a team to fill the jar with critters as quickly as we could. Transferring the critters with the tweezers was a great fine motor workout.

After a few rounds of playing our counting game, my daughter simply enjoyed using the Handy Scoopers to play with the critters and rice. She filled the bug jar and turned it into a ‘grassy bug hotel.’ This period of time was well spent creatively enjoying open-ended sensory play!

We hope you’ve been inspired to team up the Bug Finder Adventure Set with some hands-on and engaging sensory play. We have so many more great ideas to explore, maybe next time the Spring weather will be arriving and we will find some real bugs!

Writer’s Bio

Lucy Baker is a Mom of two (4 & 8 years old) who is passionate about creative play and hands-on learning. She firmly believes in providing children with the opportunity to learn through play, as well as 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.

Looking for egg-cellent non-candy Easter egg fillers? Pretty soon, the Easter Bunny will be hopping down the bunny trail to the excitement of toddlers everywhere. So, get those baskets and plastic eggs ready because it’s Easter egg hunt time.

Whether the egg hunt is in the backyard, park, or at school, little kids love finding hidden eggs. Easter egg fillers for toddlers don’t always have to be candy. There are alternatives to sweet treats that make great surprises for your kids. We have tons of different themed counters available for every little learner!

We’ve talked about essential milestones for three-, four-, and five-year-olds, but the growth doesn’t stop there! Big kids are tackling some important tasks and becoming more independent with every passing day. From academic achievements to physical growth and development, the middle childhood years of six and seven can be exciting. Remembering that every child learns and grows at their own pace, read on to learn what your big kid might be doing over the next 12-24 months!

Social-Emotional Skills

Sixes and sevens are building their confidence and, in turn, becoming even more independent from their family members and caregivers. You can encourage their independence by assigning age-appropriate responsibilities and applauding their efforts to master things on their own, no matter the outcome. Over the next two years, your big kid is also likely:

• Becoming more compassionate, able not just to recognize emotions but to empathize, as well
• Making authentic connections, enabling them to make and keep good friends
• Cooperating with others while performing a task, playing a game, or working with a sports team
• Understanding fairness and rewards that are based on better or worse performance or effort

Language Skills

Speaking in complete sentences, your big kid can express themselves clearly, share thoughts and opinions verbally, and may even start to express themselves clearly in written form. They’ll also be working on:

• Building their vocabularies – to the tune of five to 10 new words a day
• Their sense of humor! Advanced language skills bring a better understanding of jokes and puns
• Proper punctuation in letters and other written communications (although not in texts!)
• Taking turns speaking – learning not to interrupt can’t come soon enough

Cognitive Skills

First graders are working on addition and subtraction, writing and spelling, shapes and measurement, etc. Practicing at home will help, especially with:

• Reading! Reading skills are blooming, so be sure to have plenty of books and magazines on hand
• Telling time days, learning the days of the week, and the months of the year
• Skip counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s and working with math manipulatives
• Counting coins and adding their sums

Physical Skills

Your six- or seven-year-old is getting a better feel for the things they enjoy and maybe pursuing hobbies and showing an interest in different sports. At this age, your child may be mastering:

• Passing and catching a ball by throwing or kicking
• Dancing to the rhythm and beat of their favorite music
• Riding a two-wheeled bike, which requires balance, coordination, and confidence
• Drawing, painting, and writing more clearly (a sign of solid fine motor skills)

Your support makes a world of difference in your child’s development, so keep reading, talking, playing educational games, counting change at the store, asking their opinion, and telling them how capable they are.

Although stress toys seem to have taken off during quarantine, their roots predate the pandemic, running back to 2017 and the launch of the unforgettable (and oft-banned by schools) fidget spinner. Since then, we’ve seen all kinds of toys promising to reduce stress, anxiety, and nervous energy in kids, ranging from fidget spinners and stress balls to cubes with pressable buttons, chewable necklaces, and pop button boards. But what are fidget toys? Do they fulfill their promises? And are they healthy for kids? Here’s what we know.

Let’s start with the basics. What is a fidget toy? Fidget toys are handheld manipulatives designed to engage the fingers in… fidgeting. They come in all shapes, sizes, and colors, including balls, cubes, spinners, flat boards, twisty tubes, etc. An outlet for excess energy, fidget toys promise everything from increasing focus and active listening abilities to reducing stress and anxiety and calming the nerves.

So, do they work? Research indicates that giving your hands something to do (aka providing an outlet for extra energy – whether nervous or otherwise) frees the mind from finding an outlet for that energy (like toe-tapping, knee jiggling, hair twirling, finger chewing, etc.). This freed-up mind can then focus more clearly on the task at hand. This is particularly true for ADHD, sensory difficulties, or autism-related disorders, but anyone feeling anxious, restless, impatient, or nervous may benefit from an energy outlet like a fidget toy. Focusing on a fidget toy can also relieve overstimulating or overwhelming environments by distracting your brain and refocusing stressful feelings into fidgety actions.

The fidget toy trend has hit hard, and some kids who may not be experiencing any signs of stress, anxiety, or over-stimulation have jumped on board. For these kids, fidget toys may BE a distraction. The toys may be diverting their healthy focus to a repetitive action and distracting them from the task at hand versus serving to distract the mind from stressful thoughts and feelings. This doesn’t mean they’re bad – they may soothe stress or allow these kids’ minds to refocus – or maybe they’re just fun! But it does mean that parents should pay close attention to when and where these kids are using fidget toys and how long they engage with them. As with anything else, moderation is key for these kids, so make sure a variety of engaging toys are available. Wondering how many toys to keep out at once? Visit our blog to find out.

Grab your Sort-'Em-Up Pups™ Activity Set and get ready for some fun! Can you sort all the bones by color to their corresponding houses?

Print the Activity!

Work on your counting and scissor skills with this activity! What color flower comes next in the pattern? Cut out the flowers and put it in the correct box!

Print the activity!

Count up the amount of Easter items in the box and circle the correct answer!

Get ready for Easter with the Coding Critters! Use all your favorite colors to create a spring-themed masterpiece!