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We love all things Spring at the moment, and one of our favorite things to do is watch the birds in our yard picking the worms right out of the ground. Here is a round-up of three hands-on activities themed around birds and worms, which help work on a huge range of skills, including engineering, fine motor development, and building sensory confidence.
Activity 1: Build a Bird’s Nest
This one is so straightforward but wait until you see your child’s face light up when they are told they can play with sticks! Go on a stick hunt around your yard, and as you do so, encourage your child to look up in the trees and look out for any bird’s nests.
Once you have gathered some good sticks, challenge your child to build a nest. This is a great STEM challenge- can your child build a stable nest robust enough to hold the Learning Resources® Jumbo bird? We spoke about how birds make nests and other materials they may choose to use to strengthen their nest and make it more comfortable. We also talked about why they need nests. This led to so much fun discussion and some great questions from my child.
Activity 2: Worm Pecking
As I mentioned earlier, my preschooler loves watching the birds in our yard as they use their beaks to find and peck out worms from the soil. I recreated that scenario with a fun sensory tray. I used brown crinkle paper and pink pipe cleaners in a tray from Target. I also supplied a set of Primary Science® Jumbo Tweezers™, orange of course, just like a bird’s beak.
Both my four-year-old and seven-year-old thought this activity was pretty fun. They carefully found and pecked at the worms until they had them safely in the tray compartments. Once all of the worms had been found, we counted them and then hid them deep down in the ‘dirt,’ ready to play again. If you have a younger child, I would recommend using the Gator Grabber Tweezers™ instead as they are a little easier for small hands to control, which helps avoid frustration and prolong engagement.
Activity 3: Bubbly Bird Bath
A big shout out to @missamys.classroom, who recently shared an enjoyable pet bath activity that inspired this little pretend bird bath idea. I purchased a plastic birdbath from a local pet store and filled it with water. I added a squirt of dish soap and whisked it up with a fork to give it an extra sensory element. I then put out our Jumbo bird, along with a set of Handy Scoopers™ and a Primary Science Jumbo Eyedropper™. I knew my four-year-old would have loads of fun with this invitation to play, and it didn’t disappoint.
She gave the cutest little gasp when she saw the tiny bathtub all set and ready for the bird. She plopped the bird right in and got scrubbing with her fingers. She then decided to use the Handy Scoopers as a ‘bird dipper’ tool, dunking the bird in and out of the water. She also enjoyed using the dropper as a pretend shower head, carefully cleaning all of the bird’s feathers. The miniature birdbaths are excellent because they have a mirror at the bottom, leading to even more sensory exploration. Such fun but straightforward sensory activity; thanks again, @missamys.classroom, for the great idea!
Do you have any favorite birds and worms activities? We’d love to hear all about them in the comments below. Happy exploring in the warmer weather!
We love all things Spring at the moment, and one of our favorite things to do is watch the birds in our yard picking the worms right out of the ground. Here is a round-up of three hands-on activities themed around birds and worms, which help work on a huge range of skills, including engineering, fine motor development, and building sensory confidence.
Activity 1: Build a Bird’s Nest
This one is so straightforward but wait until you see your child’s face light up when they are told they can play with sticks! Go on a stick hunt around your yard, and as you do so, encourage your child to look up in the trees and look out for any bird’s nests.
Once you have gathered some good sticks, challenge your child to build a nest. This is a great STEM challenge- can your child build a stable nest robust enough to hold the Learning Resources® Jumbo bird? We spoke about how birds make nests and other materials they may choose to use to strengthen their nest and make it more comfortable. We also talked about why they need nests. This led to so much fun discussion and some great questions from my child.
Activity 2: Worm Pecking
As I mentioned earlier, my preschooler loves watching the birds in our yard as they use their beaks to find and peck out worms from the soil. I recreated that scenario with a fun sensory tray. I used brown crinkle paper and pink pipe cleaners in a tray from Target. I also supplied a set of Primary Science® Jumbo Tweezers™, orange of course, just like a bird’s beak.
Both my four-year-old and seven-year-old thought this activity was pretty fun. They carefully found and pecked at the worms until they had them safely in the tray compartments. Once all of the worms had been found, we counted them and then hid them deep down in the ‘dirt,’ ready to play again. If you have a younger child, I would recommend using the Gator Grabber Tweezers™ instead as they are a little easier for small hands to control, which helps avoid frustration and prolong engagement.
Activity 3: Bubbly Bird Bath
A big shout out to @missamys.classroom, who recently shared an enjoyable pet bath activity that inspired this little pretend bird bath idea. I purchased a plastic birdbath from a local pet store and filled it with water. I added a squirt of dish soap and whisked it up with a fork to give it an extra sensory element. I then put out our Jumbo bird, along with a set of Handy Scoopers™ and a Primary Science Jumbo Eyedropper™. I knew my four-year-old would have loads of fun with this invitation to play, and it didn’t disappoint.
She gave the cutest little gasp when she saw the tiny bathtub all set and ready for the bird. She plopped the bird right in and got scrubbing with her fingers. She then decided to use the Handy Scoopers as a ‘bird dipper’ tool, dunking the bird in and out of the water. She also enjoyed using the dropper as a pretend shower head, carefully cleaning all of the bird’s feathers. The miniature birdbaths are excellent because they have a mirror at the bottom, leading to even more sensory exploration. Such fun but straightforward sensory activity; thanks again, @missamys.classroom, for the great idea!
Do you have any favorite birds and worms activities? We’d love to hear all about them in the comments below. Happy exploring in the warmer weather!
Looking for an easy, low-prep way to get into the Spring or Easter spirit and develop your baby or toddler’s fine motor skills? Try a tape rescue mission paired with Learning Resources Discovery Eggs!
Picture books about eggs or spring (optional) (examples shared below)
To set this activity up, simply hide various loose parts or small toys inside each Discovery Egg, place them in the muffin tin compartments, and then tape them down in a variety of crisscrossing patterns.
If you celebrate Easter, plastic eggs leftover from your annual hunt will also work in a pinch. Still, we loved these Learning Resources Discovery Eggs because they (a) are sturdier, larger, and can hold more treasures and (b) look more like speckled, realistic bird or dinosaur eggs that have cracked down the middle, so they’ll be fun and appropriate for imaginative play all year round!
For this age group, we found that easily removable washi or painter's tape works best. We want it to be a fun challenge for our toddlers -- not so impossibly difficult that it frustrates them too soon in the rescue mission. We hid small spring-themed loose parts like wooden rabbits and carrots inside the eggs, but any high-interest items that will excite your child will work, as long as it fits inside the egg (which measures about 3½ x 2¾ inches). Other options could include small animal or dinosaur figurines, colorful pompoms, alphabet magnets, taste-safe (and highly motivating!) snacks, seashells, and other small natural objects. Tell your toddler that items are hiding inside each egg, and it’s their job to help them escape!
This simple play invitation takes only minutes to set up. Still, it delivers a wonderful opportunity for your child to work those hand and finger muscles -- important for future tasks like writing, tying shoes, manipulating zippers, and cutting paper. It also taps into their budding development of problem-solving, coordination, patience, and perseverance in a low-pressure way. What’s more, they can count, sort, and describe all of the treasures inside, so there are many ways to adapt this activity to extend their learning and play.
We paired our fine motor rescue mission with seasonal picture books like Egg by Kevin Henkes, which provides a great opportunity for story retelling and reenactment using the Discovery Eggs as props!
Looking to adapt or extend your play and learning even further?
Sensory Play: Place the Discovery Eggs in a sensory bin with a filler like green-dyed rice and/or a nest of shredded paper grass and other fun, loose parts for an open-ended invitation to explore and develop those fine motor skills. Let your toddler use the eggs to scoop, pour, and hide the rice and other items inside.
Memory/Guessing Games: Hide items inside the eggs that have or make different sounds, smells, or weights. Model using your various senses to explore an egg and guess what’s inside. Then, have your toddler do the same! If you have older children, allow them to choose the items inside while you or their siblings guess the contents.
Sorting & Organizing: Hide a variety of similar-but-different items inside the eggs. Ask your child to compare, sort, and organize them in different ways, highlighting different sizes, colors, or other features. Discuss what makes each item similar or different and why they chose to organize them a certain way. Which grouping has the most items? Which has the least?
Gross Motor: Of course, you can’t beat classic hide-and-seek or treasure hunt game! Secretly place the eggs around the home or yard in high and low hiding places for your child(ren) to find and bring back to the ‘nest,’ which can be a box or basket in a central location. Adaptations can include setting a timer to see how quickly they can complete the hunt, using written clues or a visual map to find the egg-treasure, or filling each egg with a note describing a gross-motor activity like “Do five frog leaps” or “Balance on one foot until we count to four” that they must complete before retrieving the next egg!
Looking for an easy, low-prep way to get into the Spring or Easter spirit and develop your baby or toddler’s fine motor skills? Try a tape rescue mission paired with Learning Resources Discovery Eggs!
Picture books about eggs or spring (optional) (examples shared below)
To set this activity up, simply hide various loose parts or small toys inside each Discovery Egg, place them in the muffin tin compartments, and then tape them down in a variety of crisscrossing patterns.
If you celebrate Easter, plastic eggs leftover from your annual hunt will also work in a pinch. Still, we loved these Learning Resources Discovery Eggs because they (a) are sturdier, larger, and can hold more treasures and (b) look more like speckled, realistic bird or dinosaur eggs that have cracked down the middle, so they’ll be fun and appropriate for imaginative play all year round!
For this age group, we found that easily removable washi or painter's tape works best. We want it to be a fun challenge for our toddlers -- not so impossibly difficult that it frustrates them too soon in the rescue mission. We hid small spring-themed loose parts like wooden rabbits and carrots inside the eggs, but any high-interest items that will excite your child will work, as long as it fits inside the egg (which measures about 3½ x 2¾ inches). Other options could include small animal or dinosaur figurines, colorful pompoms, alphabet magnets, taste-safe (and highly motivating!) snacks, seashells, and other small natural objects. Tell your toddler that items are hiding inside each egg, and it’s their job to help them escape!
This simple play invitation takes only minutes to set up. Still, it delivers a wonderful opportunity for your child to work those hand and finger muscles -- important for future tasks like writing, tying shoes, manipulating zippers, and cutting paper. It also taps into their budding development of problem-solving, coordination, patience, and perseverance in a low-pressure way. What’s more, they can count, sort, and describe all of the treasures inside, so there are many ways to adapt this activity to extend their learning and play.
We paired our fine motor rescue mission with seasonal picture books like Egg by Kevin Henkes, which provides a great opportunity for story retelling and reenactment using the Discovery Eggs as props!
Looking to adapt or extend your play and learning even further?
Sensory Play: Place the Discovery Eggs in a sensory bin with a filler like green-dyed rice and/or a nest of shredded paper grass and other fun, loose parts for an open-ended invitation to explore and develop those fine motor skills. Let your toddler use the eggs to scoop, pour, and hide the rice and other items inside.
Memory/Guessing Games: Hide items inside the eggs that have or make different sounds, smells, or weights. Model using your various senses to explore an egg and guess what’s inside. Then, have your toddler do the same! If you have older children, allow them to choose the items inside while you or their siblings guess the contents.
Sorting & Organizing: Hide a variety of similar-but-different items inside the eggs. Ask your child to compare, sort, and organize them in different ways, highlighting different sizes, colors, or other features. Discuss what makes each item similar or different and why they chose to organize them a certain way. Which grouping has the most items? Which has the least?
Gross Motor: Of course, you can’t beat classic hide-and-seek or treasure hunt game! Secretly place the eggs around the home or yard in high and low hiding places for your child(ren) to find and bring back to the ‘nest,’ which can be a box or basket in a central location. Adaptations can include setting a timer to see how quickly they can complete the hunt, using written clues or a visual map to find the egg-treasure, or filling each egg with a note describing a gross-motor activity like “Do five frog leaps” or “Balance on one foot until we count to four” that they must complete before retrieving the next egg!
Messy play can be a tricky type of play for several reasons. First of all, not all kids like messy play, and that’s ok. My youngest has always been getting messy and just throwing herself into whatever activity is put in front of her, but my eldest was a completely different story. It’s only natural to worry and think that children should naturally love getting messy without a care in the world, but the truth is not all kids do. The same can be said for parents. Some parents are entirely relaxed about play getting a little chaotic and don’t mind the clear up after; others just don’t enjoy the experience. There is no right or wrong here; there is simply opportunity. Opportunity to play, opportunity to learn, and opportunity to grow. However, those things will only happen if both child and parent feel comfortable and confident. I wanted to share an example of how you can set up a ‘messy play’ activity, but in a way that allows you as a parent, and your child as an individual, to decide how messy the situation gets.
Food coloring (optional - if it makes you nervous about too much mess and stress, try it without coloring the first time round)
Glitter (as above, only use it if you feel comfortable with it)
Plastic Easter eggs
Muffin tin
Plastic bowls
Spoons and stirring sticks
Tray or container to help contain the mess
Have a towel on hand just in case
Let’s Get Set Up
The way you set up activities has a significant impact on how your child chooses to engage with the materials. I always try to make a setup that naturally creates a sense of intrigue for my child. For this reason, I put all of the materials on our large mat and chose not to squirt out any of the shaving creams yet. Allowing time for my four-year-old to touch all of the materials and talk about what she’d like to make with them immediately gives her a sense of ownership over her play and learning. She is deciding how to enjoy the play rather than following my idea of what the play should look like. Honestly, kids often have way better ideas anyway!
How Shall We Play?
Once my preschooler had looked at all the materials, and we’d talked about their names, she told me that she wanted to squirt out the shaving cream and make it colorful. Here’s the main reason I waited to open the shaving cream… for her, getting to squirt the can by herself was super exciting and instantly made her more engaged and hands-on. Then she added the color drops and mixed it in all by herself. She still hadn’t touched the shaving cream, and I was in no rush to make her test it out.
The Importance of Tools
I am always very intentional about supplying tools with a messy play setup. When my son was a preschooler, he would avoid touching sensory materials too much, so I was always sure to provide tools. This helped him get comfortable with the feel of the materials first, and then he would eventually be more hands-on with them. The decision was his, and that was important to me. I always feel that forcing a child into messy play doesn’t do anyone any favors and can deter future involvement.
What’s Next?
After making the colored shaving cream, she started an experiment using fine motor tools to transfer the shaving cream into the plastic eggs and the water. She called her creations ‘sparkly egg cupcakes’ and took great pleasure in adding glitter to each one as the sprinkles. If the word glitter makes you shudder, don’t panic. I always say to fellow parents that if you aren’t comfortable with the material, don’t use it. Instead of glitter, use pom-poms or beads. They will be just as much fun!
Getting Messier…
You can see from the photos that as the play progressed, things got messier and messier. As I mentioned earlier, though, this was all based on my preschooler’s play decisions, not my pressured directions. She is always at her most creative when the play is open-ended and hands-on. She made another batch of colored shaving cream, washing her tools with the Twisty Dropper™ and scooping away with the Handy Scoopers™. Shaving cream and water is a great sensory base combination because if your child is a little hesitant of the shaving cream on their skin, they can wash it straight off in the water. Have a towel ready to dry off, and then the play can resume there and then.
Follow the Child’s Lead
My final tip is always to follow your child’s lead when it comes to playing length. I know how frustrating it can be when you set something up, and after 5 or 10 minutes, your child announces they are ‘all done’ and trots off to the toy room. Please don’t view this as a failure. It’s a win, a small win maybe, but still a win. They showed enough interest to engage, and I bet that they will likely engage for longer next time. Try to reflect on what they did for those 5 or 10 minutes and focus on your setup next time.
I hope you have found some of these tips helpful. Try to remember that messy play can be an acquired taste for parents and children alike. You can use the way you set things up to help support your child’s needs in a way that will encourage them to engage within their comfort level, and that will also keep the activity within your mess tolerance level. Happy playing!
Messy play can be a tricky type of play for several reasons. First of all, not all kids like messy play, and that’s ok. My youngest has always been getting messy and just throwing herself into whatever activity is put in front of her, but my eldest was a completely different story. It’s only natural to worry and think that children should naturally love getting messy without a care in the world, but the truth is not all kids do. The same can be said for parents. Some parents are entirely relaxed about play getting a little chaotic and don’t mind the clear up after; others just don’t enjoy the experience. There is no right or wrong here; there is simply opportunity. Opportunity to play, opportunity to learn, and opportunity to grow. However, those things will only happen if both child and parent feel comfortable and confident. I wanted to share an example of how you can set up a ‘messy play’ activity, but in a way that allows you as a parent, and your child as an individual, to decide how messy the situation gets.
Food coloring (optional - if it makes you nervous about too much mess and stress, try it without coloring the first time round)
Glitter (as above, only use it if you feel comfortable with it)
Plastic Easter eggs
Muffin tin
Plastic bowls
Spoons and stirring sticks
Tray or container to help contain the mess
Have a towel on hand just in case
Let’s Get Set Up
The way you set up activities has a significant impact on how your child chooses to engage with the materials. I always try to make a setup that naturally creates a sense of intrigue for my child. For this reason, I put all of the materials on our large mat and chose not to squirt out any of the shaving creams yet. Allowing time for my four-year-old to touch all of the materials and talk about what she’d like to make with them immediately gives her a sense of ownership over her play and learning. She is deciding how to enjoy the play rather than following my idea of what the play should look like. Honestly, kids often have way better ideas anyway!
How Shall We Play?
Once my preschooler had looked at all the materials, and we’d talked about their names, she told me that she wanted to squirt out the shaving cream and make it colorful. Here’s the main reason I waited to open the shaving cream… for her, getting to squirt the can by herself was super exciting and instantly made her more engaged and hands-on. Then she added the color drops and mixed it in all by herself. She still hadn’t touched the shaving cream, and I was in no rush to make her test it out.
The Importance of Tools
I am always very intentional about supplying tools with a messy play setup. When my son was a preschooler, he would avoid touching sensory materials too much, so I was always sure to provide tools. This helped him get comfortable with the feel of the materials first, and then he would eventually be more hands-on with them. The decision was his, and that was important to me. I always feel that forcing a child into messy play doesn’t do anyone any favors and can deter future involvement.
What’s Next?
After making the colored shaving cream, she started an experiment using fine motor tools to transfer the shaving cream into the plastic eggs and the water. She called her creations ‘sparkly egg cupcakes’ and took great pleasure in adding glitter to each one as the sprinkles. If the word glitter makes you shudder, don’t panic. I always say to fellow parents that if you aren’t comfortable with the material, don’t use it. Instead of glitter, use pom-poms or beads. They will be just as much fun!
Getting Messier…
You can see from the photos that as the play progressed, things got messier and messier. As I mentioned earlier, though, this was all based on my preschooler’s play decisions, not my pressured directions. She is always at her most creative when the play is open-ended and hands-on. She made another batch of colored shaving cream, washing her tools with the Twisty Dropper™ and scooping away with the Handy Scoopers™. Shaving cream and water is a great sensory base combination because if your child is a little hesitant of the shaving cream on their skin, they can wash it straight off in the water. Have a towel ready to dry off, and then the play can resume there and then.
Follow the Child’s Lead
My final tip is always to follow your child’s lead when it comes to playing length. I know how frustrating it can be when you set something up, and after 5 or 10 minutes, your child announces they are ‘all done’ and trots off to the toy room. Please don’t view this as a failure. It’s a win, a small win maybe, but still a win. They showed enough interest to engage, and I bet that they will likely engage for longer next time. Try to reflect on what they did for those 5 or 10 minutes and focus on your setup next time.
I hope you have found some of these tips helpful. Try to remember that messy play can be an acquired taste for parents and children alike. You can use the way you set things up to help support your child’s needs in a way that will encourage them to engage within their comfort level, and that will also keep the activity within your mess tolerance level. Happy playing!
It is easy to associate Learning Resources® products with preschool-aged children, but there are so many great options for Elementary-aged children. In this blog, I’m sharing my favorite finds for this age group, all of which are under $15 and ideal for encouraging learning through play.
A Game or Two for Some Family Fun
I love that my son is old enough now to really engage with board games and card games. It’s fun to explore different Math and Literacy skills through playing games together as a family. For that reason, I include two recommendations. The first is a card game called Snap It Up!® Phonics & Reading Game. The game is described as being fast and crazy, so I know my son will have fun with it. You basically have to pick and pass cards as quick as you can to spell words, great for reading and spelling skills and lots of fun!
I thought a new board game would be a nice addition and this money-based one, Buy It Right™ Shopping Game, looks like a great option because he has been learning all about money at school. I also love that it can be played at three difficulty levels, so we can choose a version for my 4-year-old to join in with or keep it more challenging just for my 2nd grader. It’s a fun way to teach children about the importance of money by allowing them to set prices, buy and sell items and make problem-solving decisions to move across the game board. So much learning happening, all whilst enjoying a fun game.
Something for Outside
I love nothing more than seeing my 7-year-old enjoying nature and the warmer Spring weather. I chose a few fun items to add to his Easter basket, which would encourage play and learning outside. The first was a pair of the Primary Science® Binoculars. Just today, he excitedly pointed out a bright red bird perched on a tree in our backyard. Binoculars would have been perfect for him to get a closer look and possibly even lead to some fun drawing and painting projects. I like these particular binoculars because they look a little more ‘grown up’ but still have the high level of durability and comfort that kids need. I also wanted to add in a magnifying glass and decided that I really liked the idea of how small and portable the Dual Lens Magnifiers are. This is a pack of ten small plastic magnifiers, perfect for keeping in pockets when playing in the yard or going on nature hunts.
Let’s Get Building
Gifting toys that encourage STEM skills is always a good idea in my book. We have some great Learning Resources building toys. My 7 year old particularly likes Gears! Gears! Gears!® because they provide a little more engineering challenge than regular building bricks. In his Easter basket, I include the CycleGears™ set as I know he’ll love having some wheels to create vehicles with.
Another great addition for my 7-year-old will be the STEM Explorers™ Geomakers™ set. We don’t have any building materials like this, and I look forward to him exploring 2-D and 3-D shape building and completing some of the challenge cards. It’s always fun when the child is old enough to read and undertake the challenge cards independently; it gives them such a sense of ownership and achievement.
Never Too Old for Role Play
It can be easy to assume that older kids won’t enjoy the opportunity to pretend play, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. I spotted this Stethoscope on their website and loved that it is a real-life working stethoscope! How fun to set up a doctor’s office, but this time around, you can actually listen to the heartbeats of your patients. I’m looking forward to it offering a nice numeracy link and record heart rates and learn about time and counting together.
What do you like to include in your Elementary-aged child’s Easter basket? We’d love to know what your favorite items are, as well as which Learning Resources products have been a hit with your kids in the past.
It is easy to associate Learning Resources® products with preschool-aged children, but there are so many great options for Elementary-aged children. In this blog, I’m sharing my favorite finds for this age group, all of which are under $15 and ideal for encouraging learning through play.
A Game or Two for Some Family Fun
I love that my son is old enough now to really engage with board games and card games. It’s fun to explore different Math and Literacy skills through playing games together as a family. For that reason, I include two recommendations. The first is a card game called Snap It Up!® Phonics & Reading Game. The game is described as being fast and crazy, so I know my son will have fun with it. You basically have to pick and pass cards as quick as you can to spell words, great for reading and spelling skills and lots of fun!
I thought a new board game would be a nice addition and this money-based one, Buy It Right™ Shopping Game, looks like a great option because he has been learning all about money at school. I also love that it can be played at three difficulty levels, so we can choose a version for my 4-year-old to join in with or keep it more challenging just for my 2nd grader. It’s a fun way to teach children about the importance of money by allowing them to set prices, buy and sell items and make problem-solving decisions to move across the game board. So much learning happening, all whilst enjoying a fun game.
Something for Outside
I love nothing more than seeing my 7-year-old enjoying nature and the warmer Spring weather. I chose a few fun items to add to his Easter basket, which would encourage play and learning outside. The first was a pair of the Primary Science® Binoculars. Just today, he excitedly pointed out a bright red bird perched on a tree in our backyard. Binoculars would have been perfect for him to get a closer look and possibly even lead to some fun drawing and painting projects. I like these particular binoculars because they look a little more ‘grown up’ but still have the high level of durability and comfort that kids need. I also wanted to add in a magnifying glass and decided that I really liked the idea of how small and portable the Dual Lens Magnifiers are. This is a pack of ten small plastic magnifiers, perfect for keeping in pockets when playing in the yard or going on nature hunts.
Let’s Get Building
Gifting toys that encourage STEM skills is always a good idea in my book. We have some great Learning Resources building toys. My 7 year old particularly likes Gears! Gears! Gears!® because they provide a little more engineering challenge than regular building bricks. In his Easter basket, I include the CycleGears™ set as I know he’ll love having some wheels to create vehicles with.
Another great addition for my 7-year-old will be the STEM Explorers™ Geomakers™ set. We don’t have any building materials like this, and I look forward to him exploring 2-D and 3-D shape building and completing some of the challenge cards. It’s always fun when the child is old enough to read and undertake the challenge cards independently; it gives them such a sense of ownership and achievement.
Never Too Old for Role Play
It can be easy to assume that older kids won’t enjoy the opportunity to pretend play, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. I spotted this Stethoscope on their website and loved that it is a real-life working stethoscope! How fun to set up a doctor’s office, but this time around, you can actually listen to the heartbeats of your patients. I’m looking forward to it offering a nice numeracy link and record heart rates and learn about time and counting together.
What do you like to include in your Elementary-aged child’s Easter basket? We’d love to know what your favorite items are, as well as which Learning Resources products have been a hit with your kids in the past.
Water-based sensory bins are always a hit with my preschooler. I love that by adding a few fun sensory ingredients, my 4-year-old is motivated to extend her play in new and creative ways. For this particular bin, she enjoyed a fruity tea theme, focusing on fine motor development and using descriptive language to express what her senses were experiencing.
Half fill your bin with water and put out all of your equipment and tools. I always like to let my little one put everything in the bin herself; hence I leave it all out at the start. I feel that this way, she has more ownership of her play and learning, and it avoids her play being guided by me or the predetermined setup.
Let’s Explore
After giving the water a good stir and splash, my daughter went straight for the tea bag and couldn’t wait to get it in the water. As soon as she put it in the water and gave it a big squeeze, she could see some color come out of the teabag, and she excitedly described it to me. She then experimented using the Handy Scoopers™, watching as the colored water slowly dripped through the holes in the scooper. As she did this, she also started to notice a lovely orange smell.
Next up, she decided to add the orange slices using the Gator Grabbers™; she thought it was pretty cool that they were even colored orange. She started by adding them to the bin, and we observed that they floated on the water. She then decided to mush the slices up with her fingers, watching as pieces of orange broke away into the water. As she squished the orange, the color of the water also began to turn more orange. All this squeezing and squishing was a great workout for her hands.
Let’s Make Tea
Once she had her delicious smelling mixture in her bin, she added the mini orange fruit counters and gave it all a good stir. Then she decided to serve up cups of orange tea in the small white cups I had provided. She used both the Twisty Dropper™ and the spoon, carefully filling the cups with the tea mixture and then adding a mini orange for ‘extra flavor.’
As she made the tea, we spoke about what the tea looked like, how it smelt, and how she thought it might taste. Talking about sensory bins is such a great way to help your child develop their scientific vocabulary without them even realizing it. You can use words like observe and predict to encourage their basic experimental skills. After she had made tea for her nearest and dearest, she chose a price and role-played each of her customers coming to collect their tea. It is always fun to see little imaginations at work like this.
Water-based sensory bins are always a hit with my preschooler. I love that by adding a few fun sensory ingredients, my 4-year-old is motivated to extend her play in new and creative ways. For this particular bin, she enjoyed a fruity tea theme, focusing on fine motor development and using descriptive language to express what her senses were experiencing.
Half fill your bin with water and put out all of your equipment and tools. I always like to let my little one put everything in the bin herself; hence I leave it all out at the start. I feel that this way, she has more ownership of her play and learning, and it avoids her play being guided by me or the predetermined setup.
Let’s Explore
After giving the water a good stir and splash, my daughter went straight for the tea bag and couldn’t wait to get it in the water. As soon as she put it in the water and gave it a big squeeze, she could see some color come out of the teabag, and she excitedly described it to me. She then experimented using the Handy Scoopers™, watching as the colored water slowly dripped through the holes in the scooper. As she did this, she also started to notice a lovely orange smell.
Next up, she decided to add the orange slices using the Gator Grabbers™; she thought it was pretty cool that they were even colored orange. She started by adding them to the bin, and we observed that they floated on the water. She then decided to mush the slices up with her fingers, watching as pieces of orange broke away into the water. As she squished the orange, the color of the water also began to turn more orange. All this squeezing and squishing was a great workout for her hands.
Let’s Make Tea
Once she had her delicious smelling mixture in her bin, she added the mini orange fruit counters and gave it all a good stir. Then she decided to serve up cups of orange tea in the small white cups I had provided. She used both the Twisty Dropper™ and the spoon, carefully filling the cups with the tea mixture and then adding a mini orange for ‘extra flavor.’
As she made the tea, we spoke about what the tea looked like, how it smelt, and how she thought it might taste. Talking about sensory bins is such a great way to help your child develop their scientific vocabulary without them even realizing it. You can use words like observe and predict to encourage their basic experimental skills. After she had made tea for her nearest and dearest, she chose a price and role-played each of her customers coming to collect their tea. It is always fun to see little imaginations at work like this.
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