Tagged with 'holidays'

What You'll Need:

• 2 paper or plastic plates
• Decorations (stickers, markers, or paint)
• Ribbon
• Hole Punch
• Craft Jingle Bells
• Scissors

• Using your paint or stickers, decorate the outside of your tambourine. Be colorful and creative!
• Next, match the plates up so the bottom part of the plate faces out. Punch 5-6 holes around the plate’s circumference, making sure your bottom and top plates match up.

• Cut the ribbon as long as you’d like. Longer ribbons always seem to add more drama! Then lace the ribbon through the jingle bells.
• Loop your ribbon around the holes punched in the plates, securing it with a double knot.
• Shake away! These small bells make a joyful sound!

What You'll Need:

• Clean Tin Can (be aware of sharp edges!)
• Baloon
• White Duct Tape
• Decorative Tape
• Two #2 Pencils
• Scissors

• First, cut the balloon at the base of the “stem”. You’ll need lots of balloon material to cover the wide opening of the can.
• Stretch the balloon over the tin can. Tape the perimeter.
• Then finish the whole can with the white tape, and add decorative tape if you so choose.

What You'll Need:

• Plastic Easter Eggs
• Plastic Spoons
• Dry Rice
• White Duct Tape
• Decorative Tape
• Scissors

• Fill the plastic eggs with about 2-3 pinches of rice. Filling them too full will not allow for the fullest sound: less is more.
• Close the eggs and stick some tape around them immediately. If these crack open, you’ll have a big mess.

• Next, situate two of the spoons to “cup” the eggs on either side. Wrap the tape around the spoon. Follow the spoons’ handles down with tape, as well as the top of the egg.
• Add some decorative tape or stickers of your liking.
• Shake it up!

This is the time of year to be grateful, not wasteful. Used wrapping paper can tend to pile up during this special season of gift giving. Who amongst us hasn’t looked at a trash bag full of giftwrap and shook their head? There’s got to be a better use for all the paper, right? Below are a few clever ideas to get the kids involved in upcycling used gift wrap.

MYOB: Make Your Own Bunting. A delightful holiday design trend for several years now, bunting can be placed around the house to spruce up your season. Cut up your old wrapping paper in triangles using a template, tape it to a string, and have the kids come up with clever phrases, adding some deck to your halls.

Insist Your Toddler Cut Corners. For the toddler set, a whopping pile of paper and a pair of safety scissors is like heaven on Earth. Getting your preschooler practicing this important fine motor skill with all your leftover gift wrap. The paper is thinner, which might spark some cutting confidence. Pile it all up in a sensory bin and let them have at it!

A Little “Thank You” Goes a Long Way. So many presents, so many people to thank! Utilize the season’s remaining wrapping paper by having your kids fashion the cutest homemade thank you cards. This is a great busy activity in the dog days of winter break (you’ll thank us later).

A Place (setting) for Everything… Upcycle wrapping paper to create festive placemats for your holiday table. Not only will your tablescape showcase some extra holiday cheer, clean up will be a snap!

Winter Break Weaving. Paper weaving is a fun activity suitable for many age levels. Shred your remaining wrapping paper into strips. Using an x-acto knife, cut slits into construction paper. Be sure to do this step over an old magazine or cardboard. Weave the strips in and out of the slits. Use the creation for thank you cards, decoration, placemats, or anything where around the house that could use a little extra holiday style.

Exercise Those Engineering Skills This Winter 

Hooray! The holidays are here! Time for snuggly sweaters, snowy sleigh rides, hot apple cider, and… STEM? Yes! Winter break is a great time to slip in some STEM learning and the Learning Resources Playground Engineering & Design Building Set is a great way to do it!

First, a quick refresher on STEM.

STEM is simply a nationwide push to put more emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and math in schools, to better prepare our kids for careers in these fields in the future. By exploring these subjects at home, in a playful, low-stress way, you’ll ignite your kids’ curiosity, fuel creative thinking, and problem-solving, and inspire confidence that will carry through to school and support what your kids are learning there.

So, what are you waiting for?

Pour a cup of cocoa, call the kids to the table, and get ready to build your own polar playground!

Open the box, and you’ll find lots of packaged parts and pieces, as well as a set of double-sided instruction cards and a little workbook. Start by unpacking all the pieces in groups and checking out the different playground equipment you and your kids can engineer! You’ll find posts, platforms, gears, connectors, and more – everything you’ll need to design your own simple machines!

Next, choose a card and review the pieces you’ll need to build that structure. Work together to gather them and set them aside. Then follow the photos on the cards to assemble the structure, piece by piece. Once it’s finished, test it out by placing one of the included figures inside.

Now, flip the card to find a building challenge related to that structure. This is a great time to introduce the engineering design process – you know, ask, imagine, plan, create, and improve. Let your little one take the lead on solving the problems on the back of each card – you’ll be impressed with their creative solutions!

Take your time building the different playground pieces. Talk about the process and share some of the science behind the fun. Gravity draws the figure down the inclined slide. Momentum keeps the merry-go-round spinning. You get the idea.

When you’re done with building fun, it’s time to get creative with some playground pretend play! Your kids will love walking the included figures through the playground and helping them try out each piece of equipment.

Building sets like the Playground Engineering & Design Building Set are a great way to engineer some serious STEM skills and to spend a snowy afternoon together.

In fact, there are lots of playful ways to help your kids love learning and develop the skills they need for success. Work a holiday-themed puzzle, dissolve a candy cane, freeze and melt colored ice cubes… There are always ways to learn where you play – especially during the holidays!

The kids’ table is THE place to be this holiday. Allow time for the adults to enjoy seconds at the big table by breaking out some STEM fun with the kids. Mini marshmallow and gumdrop structures are this holiday’s time enhancer–and it couldn’t be easier!

Simple setup + simple materials = BIG scientific impact

You will need:

• Lots of toothpicks
• Gumdrops
• Mini marshmallows

Without realizing it, your kids (and kid guests) will begin to think like engineers who are facing a two-part challenge:

What to make?

How to improve on what you’ve already made?

Begin by challenging kids to create simple structures, like shapes. Try octagons, triangles, ladders, etc. Will these serve as building blocks to something more three-dimensional?

Without the children realizing it, building these gumdrops and marshmallow shapes is a unique way to practice fine motor skills. Dexterity, grasp, and coordination are necessary to construct up, up, up – no matter the age!

Next, watch kids as they critically examine how to improve upon what they’ve already created. What step is needed to take it (literally) to the next level?

What about the structural composition of the connectors? As the kids begin to build, are the marshmallows easier to stab with the toothpick? Which seems to keep your three-dimensional shapes in place better?

As they build, remind children that failure is definitely an option, here. That your shape may shift and your tower may topple! The attempt to rebuild by lessons from their first misstep is just as important of a takeaway.

Lastly–and most delightful to watch as parents–might be the natural drive for table collaboration. “If we attach our structures together, it will be even bigger and better and more interesting!

The possibilities are endless (and so are the fun and laughs!). 

Season’s Greetings from Learning Resources!

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. 

Plus, don't forget these free Printable Activities to go with Steggy!

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.

Plus, don't forget these free Printable Activities to go with Spike!

Peekaboo Learning Farm

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. 

Snap-n-Learn™ Counting Sheep

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.

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. 

Plus, don't forget these free Printable Activities to go with!

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!

Rock 'n' Gem Surprise™

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. 

Plus, don't forget these free Holiday Printable Activities to go with!

Botley® 2.0 the Coding Robot Activity Set

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! 

Plus, don't forget these free Printable Activities to go with Botley 2.0!

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!

Jumbo Zoo Animals

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.

Sort-'Em-Up Pups™ Activity Set

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!