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This matching game is a fun, hands-on way for preschoolers to learn their alphabet.

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Alphabet Cardboard Box Activities For Kids - Active Littles

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Simple DIY Cardboard box Activities for kids. Color, Alphabet, Number Match using a recycled leftover box craft as a learning activity for preschoolers.

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Six Sound Games to Teach Toddlers How to Talk

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Six Sound Games to Teach Toddlers How to Talk

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Here are some fun ideas to encourage your toddler to vocalize.

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We communicate with our children from a young age - we know their smiles, grimaces and gestures - and at some point, their accompanying babble will turn into recognisable sounds and you believe you can hear words (quite an exciting time!).

At first there will be some nouns, as they point to what they want or what they want to share, then you will begin to hear 2 or 3 utterances joined together, and - hey presto! - their spoken language explodes - and with it they seem to have acquired all the syntax or grammar that underlies our language system.

We spontaneously play games that involve sound with our children.

We sing, we dance, we read, we play animals with animal noises of course, listen to music, and many other games too.

While we do all of this naturally, it is also important to know that these games are vital - not only for learning to talk but for language in the broadest sense.

Language underpins so much of our existence. It helps with:

self-expression

processing emotion

reflecting

predicting

sharing excitement

asking questions

answering questions

describing observations

reading and writing.

And, the more we do of all this, the more our language skills and abilities grow. It's organic, it's dynamic and it is one of the best gifts we can give our children.

So let's have a look at some games we can play with our children to provide a wonderful and rich foundation...

6 sound games to play with toddlers and pre-schoolers...

1. Animal songs - with playing cards and masks

The classic animal song that children from toddlers to older ones really love is Old Macdonald. It has a memorable tune and animal sounds!

And kids love it because it's repetitive - and they can sing it loud! Check out YouTube if you need a reminder or want a video they can sing along with.

To make it more fun, you could have cards with animals on which you can take it in turns to select for the other (you can use bought or hand-drawn cards).

You can then sing and leave out the name of the animal - like this: 'Old Macdonald had a farm... and on that farm he had some... with an oink oink here and an oink oink there' - and then ask your child which animal you were singing about by getting them to point out the correct picture card.

To take it a step further, how about making some animal masks? Little ones could have help putting them on and bigger ones could do it themselves.

With all these variants, your child will be developing so many different skills in addition to simply singing along.
Other animal songs to sing
And don't forget to have the animals ready to do the actions. You'll need a baboon with auburn hair, a monkey and an elephant for the second song here!

2. Rhythm games with pots, pans and shakers

Language has rhythm and rhythm is important for music, for dancing, for cadence in speech, for hearing words accurately, and for reading and spelling.

You don't need to buy anything to play rhythm games. Start simply by filling small containers with items like lentils, beads, dried beans, and items which make soft noises or loud noises.

Initially your child or you can just shake them. You can have 2 the same if you like so they can copy.

As they understand more you can shake the containers as you listen to tunes, or sing or hum your own songs and do the rhythms.

Think of something like Ring A Ring Of Roses, or Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush, and just hum the tune, and shake your container.

It will come quite naturally. If you want to make it more complicated you can begin shaking the container a bit louder on some beats. Just enjoy it!

When you want to graduate from simple containers, you might want to begin making a little kitchen band.

A couple of pan lids, a wooden spoon on a pan, and before you know it you can be playing together or with different parts. You'll have a bit of a head start if you are musical already!

3. Nee-nawh, Beep beep! Siren sounds games

Children love the exciting sounds of fire engines, and police cars - and as soon as you put a toy one of these in your child's hands it's a sure-fire bet they'll be making siren noises!

And there are some really nice toys out there that actually make these noises, too - a great example is the LEGO Duplo Play Out Loud range.

They have a fabulous fire kit with people and accessories - all you have to do is press the little siren on the fire engine.

They have a plane and police car as well - add any other vehicles you want to these and your child can invent her own adventure - making all the choo-choo, whooshing and nee-nawh noises she wants to along the way.

4. Sound Bingo

Bingo's a really fun and simple game that even young children can get the hang of - and you can make a version that's based around sounds.

This game works best with more than 1 child.

Simply buy or make a bingo set with pictures of vehicles, animals or instruments on - then call out a sound and get your child to stamp or tick the thing on their bingo sheet which makes that noise.

The first person to tick off everything on their sheet first wins.

5. The Gruffalo - on repeat

Children love poems and stories that have repetition. They just seem to do it spontaneously.

Two of the best known ones are Michael Rosen's Bear Hunt, and Julia Donaldson's The Gruffalo.

They also love rhyme - and for that you can't beat any of the Dr Seuss books.

That predictability and the ability for them to hear and manipulate rhyme is crucial to reading.

Choose a book from one we've suggested here or find your own. Read it out loud (with as much expression as possible!) and make up some actions as you go.

Get your child to do the actions and join in on the bits that are repeated ("We're going on a bear hunt, we're going to catch a BIG one".... for example).

They'll become firm favourites that will stick in your child's mind for a long time to come.

6. Heads, shoulders, knees and....

There are lots of fun action songs, where all you need is your body. The classic one of course is "Head, shoulders, knees and toes".

As well as getting your child to use the words, it helps her with learning body parts too, and is also great for coordination and repetition.

Don't forget the silent rounds, too, where you don't say each body part in turn - starting with head, then shoulders then knees then toes. And just watch as you all get caught out on those!

Other actions songs to do:

The Wheels On The Bus

If You're Happy And You Know it (clap your hands)

These might sound like simple suggestions - but the reason these songs have been popular for so long is because kids love joining in with them.

The words are simple and the tunes are catchy which means your child will pick them up easily - and you can sing them all day....
Educational Psychologist Naomi Burgess is Pics: Getty a Registered Practitioner with the Health Professions Council and a Chartered Member of the British Psychological Society
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We communicate with our children from a young age - we know their smiles, grimaces and gestures - and at some point, their accompanying babble will turn into recognisable sounds and you believe you can hear words (quite an exciting time!).

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These twelve songs are recommended by GrowingBookbyBook.com to help young children build their early literacy skills.

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Do your kids love to listen to music while playing and working? Are you growing a little weary of the same music selection you are listening to over and over? I've created a new playlist for you to jam along with and learn at the same time!

Music is a great way to build phonological awareness with young children. And, it's a great example of using technology with kids. This playlist is filled with great preschool songs that would also appeal to toddlers and young elementary children.

Here are our favorite kids'songs that build literacy skills.

Full Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

If you click each of the links, you can listen to a snippet of each song on Amazon. And, if you have Amazon Prime you can download most of them for free!

And, I have two whole albums that I have to share. Storytime Singalong Vol 1 and Storytime Singalong Vol 2 by Emily Arrow are FANTASTIC. All the songs are based on children's books. Check out this video of The Dot Song.

Join Amazon Prime Music - The Only Music Streaming Service with Free 2-day Shipping - 30-day Free Trial
Would you love to have some more songs to sing with the kids? Check out our Circle Time Songs and Chants to Build Literacy Skills!

Are you ready for some new songs to build literacy skills? Which one are you most excited to try first? Let me know in the comments below.

*This post first appeared on Growing Book by Book on 3/6/15.

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12+ Favorite Songs to Build Literacy Skills

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Do your kids love to listen to music while playing and working? Are you growing a little weary of the same music selection you are listening to over and over? I've created a new playlist for you to jam along with and learn at the same time!

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What are the benefits of painting? Click here to learn more.

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Painting is Art

When kids begin to explore their talents and specialties, one of the areas some may excel in is painting. Even though painting may not be every child's cup of tea, it sure does have benefits that both you and your child can learn from together.
Painting Benefits
Among the various aspects that painting allows you to cover, some of the greatest benefits integrated with painting are:

Painting can help your children communicate their emotions or feelings. Through the use of different colors, they can express themselves without the use of words.

Painting allows children an educational opportunity that is also fun and exciting.

Painting aids children acquire hand-eye coordination, an important skill in their age. This is developed while they learn to paint the parts that they see; making sure their hand movement is at par with their vision.

Painting aids your child develop mobility skills. Their hand muscles are being used, which allows them a scope to develop both mentally and physically.

Painting helps children acquire skills on how to focus on trivial details, painting on a canvas or a piece of paper requires varied painting skills.

Painting can be a great podium for children to progress and discover their creativity. They learn about various color mixtures and how they go together.

Painting can help children learn sizes, shapes, patterns and designs. These are all critical aspects of their curriculum during pre-school years.

Painting helps children develop their decision-making skills. They need to plan ahead as they choose which color should be used for different parts of the painting.

Painting can play the role of therapy for a child who might be feeling different emotions; whether these feelings are subtle or extreme in nature. In addition to communication, painting can help children feel better about things that they may have bottled up inside.

Perhaps the greatest benefit is the fact that painting provides you and your children a great platform to bond and spend valuable time together.

These are just a few benefits your child can acquire from painting. Painting can be a significant part of your child's overall development and upbringing. Making it a point to take some time out once in a while to paint with your child can prove to be very rewarding in the long run.

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Painting is Art When kids begin to explore their talents and specialties, one of the areas some may excel in is painting. Even though painting may not be every child's cup of tea, it sure does have benefits that both you and your child can learn from together.

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Here's a nice list of some fun activities to do with your young ones to build their fine motor skills, which will ultimately help their writing skills when they enter school.

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The Importance of Fine Motor Activities in the Early Childhood Years

posted: 05.20.2015 by Jo-Anne Petrie, Manager of Operations

Fine motor skills is the coordination of small muscle movements - usually involving small, precise thumb, finger, hand, and wrist movements. Fine motor activity in the early year's help children refine their pincer grasp (grasping an object with their thumb and pointer finger using their preferred hand) and are a precursor to handwriting. By practicing picking up, manipulating, and exercising the small muscles in the palm of the hand you are actually enabling children to gain control and strength while coloring, drawing, cutting, and forming letters or writing when age appropriate.

Many children who do not have strong small motor skills become more easily frustrated while doing tasks that require writing which can lead to poor self-esteem, anxiety and stress. If left unattended, there is a greater likelihood that the child's written school work will be marked "incorrect" due to its illegibility- ugh!
So, what can you do?

Play games with children like Operation, Lite-Brite, and Trouble (if age appropriate) that reinforce a pincer grasp.

Hide beads or other objects in putty or play dough and have the child pick the "dough" apart using a pincer grasp.

"Chopsticks for Dummies" make picking up and releasing objects fun while building strength for writing - they are also fun to eat with! Try having many fun bits and pieces children can gather (pom-poms, cotton balls, quarter sized rocks, bottle caps, chalk, and pieces of broken crayons).

Have children use short thin writing implements. Golf pencils, broken pieces of chalk, and short, thin short paint brushes to paint with work best because those materials reinforce a pincer grasp.

Allow children to use markers such as Crayola Pip Squeaks; they are short and encourage a proper grasp.

Invite children to help with meal preparations and/or serving. If age appropriate, have children cut vegetables using a plastic knife. The cutting process also encourages the use of bi-lateral skills (using two hands in unison while doing a task).

Kneading dough and rolling/cutting out cookies are also a great strength building and sensory activity.

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The Importance of Fine Motor Activities in the Early Childhood Years - From our Blog

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posted: 05.20.2015 by Jo-Anne Petrie, Manager of Operations Fine motor skills is the coordination of small muscle movements - usually involving small, precise thumb, finger, hand, and wrist movements. Fine motor activity in the early year's help children refine their pincer grasp (grasping an object with their thumb and pointer finger using their preferred hand) and are a precursor to handwriting.

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Here's a great craft that sparks creativity and storytelling skills.

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LIBRARY MAKE:  Story Stones (Early Literacy DIY)

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Preschoolers have fun practicing their letters by brushing away sprinkles.

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Learning Letters for Preschoolers - Letter Writing in Sprinkles - Sensory Writing

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Here are ideas for improving fine motor skills in Pre-K/ Preschool children. Find additional fine motor activities here.

Find more fine motor ideas on the Fine Motor Skills Resource Page

Fine Motor Skills is one of the main areas I sought to improve in my Pre-K classroom this past year (2008-09). I think fine motor is an area which is often overlooked, yet it is so important. Fine motor skills are the foundation children need before they learn handwriting, in order to have proper pencil grasp and control of a writing instrument.

My goals were to increase the fine motor materials available in our classroom environment, and to plan activities and materials that are interesting and fun so that children would be motivated to use them and would choose them during their free choice time. Most of these activities use "found materials" that can be borrowed, donated, or purchased inexpensively, rather than commercially produced and sold in an educational catalog. Below are several of the fine motor skills activities my class did this year. A few of these ideas were borrowed from Montessori (and I've noted those below).

Water Drops with Suction Cups

The little suction cups on the bottom of these bathtub shapes become mini bowls when turned upside down and used in this activity. (These were purchased at the Dollar Tree.) Children use a finger grasp to squeeze one drop of colored water into each little bowl on the dish. [Idea borrowed from Montessori]

Beads with Suction Cups

These are the same bathtub shapes as in the above activity. Children use their thumb and forefinger to grasp each little bead and place it on a bowl on the shape. The beads are pony beads purchased from a craft store. [Idea borrowed from Montessori]

Clothesline

Children use their fine motor muscles to squeeze the clothespins to clip each piece of clothing to the clothesline. I tied a piece of thick string to the handles of a wooden tray to make the clothesline, and used mini clothespins (although the regular sized clothespins can be used as well). The clothes are Barbie doll clothes purchased at a dollar store. As an alternative, you could cut out shapes of shirts and pants from felt.

Clothespins on a Box

Children squeeze the clothespins and clip them to the sides of the box. To make the activity more interesting, I wrote letters on dot stickers and placed the dot stickers around the sides of the boxes. I wrote letters on the clothespins so the children would match the letters on the clothespins to the letters on the boxes. Other skills could be used, e.g. colors, numbers, beginning sounds. This is similar to activities where children clip clothespins to a paper plate or cardstock circle; however, in my experience, those were flimsy and awkward to use, which is why I like the box better. Any sturdy box could be used (shoe box, postal box). The boxes in this picture were stacking gift boxes that held chocolate covered nuts (a Christmas gift), and they worked out perfectly.

Nuts & Bolts

These larger nuts and bolts can be purchased individually at hardware stores. The cost is usually no more than $0.40 to $0.50 each. Children use their fingers, hands, and wrists, coordinating both hands while grasping and twisting the metal nuts onto the bolts.

Sewing/Lacing Cards

These can be purchased or made with poster board and a hole puncher. Use shoe laces or plastic lacing. Tie one end of the lace to one hole of the card. Children lace the string through each hole. These can be made to match different themes or holidays.

Plate Sewing

Tie lengths of yarn to plastic yarn needles, and knot the end. Children "sew" the yarn on a styrofoam plate by pushing the needle in and out through the plate.

Stringing Cut Straws

Cut plastic drinking straws into small pieces, about 1-inch. (Cutting the straws is another great fine motor activity for kids.) Tie yarn to a plastic needle, or use plastic laces, and knot the end. Children string the straws onto the yarn or lace.

Stringing Beads

Children string pony beads onto pipe cleaners.

Bean Gluing

Children draw a simple picture on a piece of construction paper with a pencil. They trace the pencil lines with glue and glue the beans onto the design. Gripping the beans with their fingers is good fine motor practice.

Seeds and Tweezers

Children pick up different types of seeds with tweezers and sort them by type into the cups.

Unifix Cubes or Interlock Cubes

Children push the cubes with their hands to hook them together. Unifix cubes connect on one end and can make a long "train". Interlock Cubes connect on different sides and can make different things, for example the dogs the children were making in the photo.

Mosaic

In advance, cut construction paper into 1-inch long strips. Children "snip" the strips into smaller pieces and glue them onto their paper to make a mosaic. This activity is great for children who are not yet skilled with scissors, but need cutting practice because they can snip the paper with one cut.

Eyedropper Art

Children use eyedroppers to drop liquid watercolor onto a coffee filter or paper towel. (I use Colorations Liquid Watercolor from Discount School Supply.) If liquid watercolor is not available, you can color water with food color. Also see my blog post for adapting this activity for holidays or themes.

Paper Clips

The children in my class are always wanting to use paper clips because they see me use them, so I set up this activity in the fine motor center. I cut squares of colored construction paper and placed them on the tray along with colored paper clips. Children stack the papers (all of the same color) and clip them with the matching colored paper clip. This was challenging for some children to manipulate the paper clip, but they loved doing it, and it gave them an opportunity to use paper clips with permission.

Dot to Dot

I printed out the Geoboard Dot Paper from the Math Their Way website for this activity (I used the size on the second page). I added Pip Squeak markers, which are great for young children because they are short. Children draw lines with the markers to connect the dots on the paper.

Toothpick Punch

To do this activity, cut squares of construction paper (I cut mine 6×6 inches). Draw a numeral, letter, or simple shape with a Sharpie. I placed a stack of these papers in the fine motor center, along with toothpicks and a carpet square. Children place the paper on the carpet square and use the toothpick to punch holes all along the black lines. When they are done, they can hold their paper up to the light and see the light shining through the holes. Kids enjoy it and it's great fine motor practice!

Pinching Sand

Sand art is a great fine motor activity because children can pinch the sand with their fingers to apply it to their art work. Provide a simple outline (or have the children draw one), a small bowl of white glue, a small bowl of colored sand, and a "glue brush". I buy the cheap paintbrushes with stiff bristles that are sold in a package for $1 at dollar stores. These brushes are not a good enough quality for painting, but they make great glue brushes. Children paint the glue on their paper with the brush, pinch some sand with their fingers, and sprinkle it over the glue. Place a pan, tray, or paper plate on the table for children to shake off the excess sand.

Insect Wrapping

Children wrap the plastic insects with pieces of white yarn ("spider webs"). When they are finished wrapping all of the insects, they unwrap them and place the yarn back in the bowl. We do this activity during a study of bugs and spiders.

Birds Eating Worms

Cut pipe cleaners into smaller pieces and shape them to make several "worms". Place the worms on a brown carpet square (this represents the dirt). Children use a clothespin as a bird beak and catch the worms with their beak. As they catch worms, they place them in a basket until all of the worms have been collected.

Marbles and Melon Scoops

Children scoop the marbles with melon scoops and place them in the ice cube tray. This ice cube tray was found at a kitchen discount store. Also posted at Fine Motor in the Sensory Table. See my blog post for a Halloween adaption to this activity.

Pouring

Children pour something from one bottle to another. I started out having them pour popcorn seeds. They can later try pouring sand, and then water.

Color Mixing

Children mix primary-colored water to make secondary colors. The bucket in the middle is for dumping the water when finished, or to start over. Also posted on the Sensory Table page.

Knobbed Puzzles

Children exercise the fingers used for a pencil grasp when picking up puzzle pieces that have knobs or pegs.

Legos

A bit obvious, but should not be forgotten.

Play Dough

An old stand-by. Also see my webpage for more play dough activities.

Peg Boards

Another old stand-by.

Additional Fine Motor Posts

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Here are ideas for improving fine motor skills in Pre-K/ Preschool children. Find additional fine motor activities here. Find more fine motor ideas on the

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Mesa County Libraries Downloadable and Streaming Media: Just for Kids

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Mesa County Libraries Downloadable and Streaming Media: Just for Kids

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Find eBooks, eMagazines, and eAudiobooks to download or stream with your library card.

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LibGuides: Downloadable and Streaming Media: Just for Kids

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Download ebooks, audiobooks, video and magazines from your library.

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The SAG-AFTRA Foundation's Daytime Emmy-nominated, Storyline Online, features celebrated actors reading children's books to inspire a love of reading in millions of children worldwide.

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Go on a scavenger hunt. Talk about what you find.

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When the weather is good, preschool scavenger hunts are a great way to get out of the house, get some exercise, and learn with your kids! Here are five ways to hunt, with lots of free printables to get you started!
If your kids are anything like mine, they LOVE Easter egg hunts. Even though Easter is over now, there are still lots of ways to fulfill your little ones' desires to hunt for things. With the weather warming up, spring is the perfect time to move your hunting outside and go on a neighborhood scavenger hunt!

For us, scavenger hunting started last spring when we were finally getting out of the house on walks again. I loved getting outside and moving. The sunshine and the feeling of stretching muscles that had been atrophying over the winter was wonderful...except that after approximately thirty seconds Little Man started complaining and asking when we could be done walking. I knew he was just out of shape from being cooped up all winter, so started brainstorming ways to motivate him to keep moving along on our walks-some kind of distraction to keep his mind off of the exercise he was getting.

Scavenger hunts were the answer.

It was the perfect solution. There are bunches of them you can print from the Internet, and Little Man thought it was the best thing ever to go on Pinterest with me, pick one out to print, and head out on a walk/bike ride with his very own paper and a crayon. He'd ride his tricycle, and I'd remind him of a few things to be looking for (and point some out when I saw them). Then, when we found something "on our list" (as he likes to say), he'd hop off his tricycle and scribble an X over that picture. We'd pick a few more things from the list to watch for, and off we'd go again.

Walks have become so much more fun for both of us since we started doing scavenger hunts, and it's also been a great way to take "mommy school" outside and sneak in some academic learning.

Here are five different types of scavenger hunts you can enjoy with your little ones.

1. Traditional Neighborhood Hunt

These are the ones we do most often. Just print my scavenger hunt here, or use any of the other billions of hunts available on Pinterest, get your walking shoes on, and start looking for things that are in your neighborhood. Little Man likes the grid-style hunts with pictures best (since he can't read yet), and 12-20 items per hunt is about the right number for his attention span.

Click here to download the FREE Neighborhood Scavenger Hunt
And for more fun, here are some of the other hunts we've done and enjoyed:

Scavenger Hunts for Kids from The Bird Feed NYC
Neighborhood Scavenger Hunt from Smarty Pants
Nature and City Scavenger Hunts from No Wooden Spoons
Spring Scavenger Hunt Bingo from Pottawattamie County Conservation
Nature Scavenger Hunt from The Measured Mom
Neighborhood Scavenger Hunts from Running from the Law

2. Rainbow Hunt

Spring is a great time to talk about rainbows and explore colors. Take your kids outside to hunt for all the colors of the rainbow (and a few extras) using this free printable rainbow scavenger hunt I made for my own kiddos.

3. Shape Hunt

This is one I made for Little Man. It's super simple, but I like how it makes kids look at the world around them and analyze what they are seeing. They can't just find, for example, a stop sign. They have to see the stop sign, recognize that it's an octagon, and connect it to the blank octagon on their list. Younger kids can just cross off each shape as they find something that matches it. For older kids, you can have your child fill in the shape by drawing the item they found.

Click here to download the FREE Shape Scavenger Hunt

4. Alphabet Scavenger Hunt

I originally made this scavenger hunt as a way to engage my kids in exploring our local aquarium, but it would work equally well for walking around the neighborhood or even just hunting in your house. Get the free printable here.

5. Counting Scavenger Hunt

Don't just find ONE of everything on your list. See which things you can find the most, and make tally marks next to each item's picture to keep track. For our hunt, I made sure to pick items that wouldn't be TOO frequent (I hope). Otherwise you might not ever actually get any walking done.
Note: This would be a great hunt to do if you're going on a walk or run and you want your child to stay in a stroller. Tally marking frequently keeps them from getting bored.
I made my neighborhood counting scavenger hunt based on an idea I found over at Learn Create Love.

Click here to download the FREE Counting Scavenger Hunt
So, there you go! I hope you have fun getting outside with your little ones and trying these out!
What's your favorite way to play outside with your kids?

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Preschool Scavenger Hunts: 5 Ways to Play - The Many Little Joys

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When the weather is good, preschool scavenger hunts are a great way to get out of the house, get some exercise, and learn with your kids! Here are five ways to hunt, with lots of free printables to get you started! If your kids are anything like mine, they LOVE Easter egg hunts.

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Playing with playdough strengthens hand muscles which improves fine motor skills!

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Everyone seems to have a favorite playdough recipe, and many old favorites have been included here. Some require cooking and some don't; some are meant to be eaten and some are not. Choose the recipe that best suits your needs and the ingredients you have on hand. Store playdough in a covered container or Ziploc bag. If it sweats a little, just add more flour. For sensory variety, use playdough warm or cool as well as at room temperature.

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How to Make Playdough | Homemade Playdough Recipes - FamilyEducation

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Everyone seems to have a favorite playdough recipe, and many old favorites have been included here. Some require cooking and some don't; some are meant to be eaten and some are not. Choose the recipe that best suits your needs and the ingredients you have on hand.

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Songs & Rhymes that Build Readers

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CLEL StoryBlocks - Songs & Rhymes that Build Readers

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Painting is a great way to practice fine motor control, and this method contains the mess!

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Follow us on for more fun ideas for kids!

Watch the video below to see this fun Baby Toddler Painting in a Cardboard Boxin action. Make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more fun videos!

This clever Baby Toddler Painting in a Cardboard Box is a great first painting activity for your little ones!

Want to let your baby or toddler paint without streaking colors all over the walls? Put them in a box!

Let your littles ones explore painting for the first time while minimizing the mess.

All you need is a cardboard box that's tall and wide enough so they don't tip over. Make sure to always supervise painting however!

What is a great first paint for toddlers?

If your toddler is past the mouthing stage and is starting to show interest in painting, these Dot Markers are a great first paint medium!

We love them because of their thick and chunky shapes, easy for little hands to hold.

We also love their bright colors (we have the rainbow pack) although they come in various colors.

We also like that they are washable! This is a MUST when you have toddlers who want to add color to every surface!

If your baby or toddler is too young and/or you don't want them touching paint, using sponges (or their finger) dipped in water is a great alternative too!

What's great about these Dot Markers is that they also provide great fine motor skills practice. My son loved practicing the adding the caps back on and off!

As they get older they are great for learning colors!

You can see that in the video in the post!

If you like this post you might also like:

Disclosure: Some of the links in the post above are "affiliate links." This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, we will receive a small affiliate commission. Regardless, we give our promise that we only recommend products or services we would use personally and believe will add values to our readers.

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Want your toddlers to paint? Put them in a box!

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Watch the video below to see this fun Baby Toddler Painting in a Cardboard Boxin action. Make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more fun videos! This clever Baby Toddler Painting in a Cardboard Box is a great first painting activity for your little ones!

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Check out these printable mats to turn your playdough into a tool for early math learning!

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Five Activities with Just Six Lines of Tape 

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Five Activities with Just Six Lines of Tape 

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We recently did our tape jumping game again.

It is such a blast! The kids get so many giggles out of it.

This time, we expanded on it a little though and had some more fun with the same lines of tape?

First, I used painter's tape and made six lines of tape about a foot apart from each other.

Or try these 2 activities with 'different lines' of tape, which is one of the challenges during the 7 day challenge.

And then we had so much fun!

Download the FREE Active Indoor Week of Activities
A note before starting: I highly recommend the use of painter's tape in many, many activities. However, it can damage hardwood floors. I recommend the use of delicate surface painter's tape (affiliate link), and to also test it in a hidden area before doing in the middle of your floor. If at all possible, do this on carpet (tape sticks to that too!) or tile flooring. Or you can take this outside as well and do it with sidewalk chalk. Same thing!
What can be done with some lines of tape?

1. Jump, of course!

The original way we did it, jumping from the first line and seeing how far they could jump.

We also jumped from line to line or skipping over a line.

2. Jump backward

Same as number 1, just doing backward.

George has been practicing this at school a lot, so it was fun to bring it into this activity. He can definitely jump on one foot, but not very far (mostly in place).

He asked me to hold his hand while jumping with one foot to help him.

4. How far can you stretch?

Starting with your foot on the first line, see how far you can stretch with your other foot while keeping your first foot in place.

Download the FREE Active Indoor Week of Activities

5. How far can you reach?

Start by standing on the first line and then bending over to touch the next line with your hands. Then walk forward with your hands, seeing how far you can reach.

6. How long are you?

Measure yourself! Lay down and see how long you are.

For older kids, write down their measurements and compare!

For younger kids, just do it and giggle!

Louis is 2 years old and he can jump pretty good, but can't jump far enough from line to line yet. But he gets in there and does everything still haven't a blast!

For all kids, I highly recommend that you, the parent, teacher or caregiver, do it too. That's what will make them get the most giggles when they see you doing it.

I recommend doing this for any of the activities in the 7 day challenge. It really makes a difference!

What else can you do with simple lines of tape?

Download the FREE Active Indoor Week of Activities

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6 Different Activities for 6 Lines of Tape

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Six simple lines of tape can lead to almost endless fun! Try these 5 easy activities using just six lines of tape to build gross motor skills.

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This is a great list of fun games that you can try inside.

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Need some indoor games and recess ideas? Tired of musical chairs? You're in the right place! We all know that kids need to move to burn off excess energy, but it can be tricky when it's too cold, hot, or wet to go outside. Instead of dreading those days, here are more than 30 fun indoor activities and games for kids your students will love. These preschool games, music, and movement activities are perfect for indoors and still keep active preschoolers moving and having fun.

Indoor Recess Preschool Group Games

Many of these indoor recess games also help develop important gross motor and social skills - yes, please! And many of these indoor games for kids can be played outdoors too!

4 Corners: This classic indoor game is simple to teach and easy to play. Forgot how to play? Here's a step-by-step guide to jog your memory. Use pictures of popular storybook characters if your kids aren't ready for numbers.
Color Corners: Or use colors (indoors or out).

Duck Duck Goose - This classic game is a great way to get a little exercise in, but also helps children develop self-regulation skills and pay attention.

Popcorn! Parachute Game- This whole group game is great for students to learn how to work together. It's also a great game for developing important gross motor skills.

Bluebird, Bluebird Through the Window - Watch the video to learn this classic song and movement game. Kids love moving and singing along to this fun game.

Row, Row, Row, Your Boat- Students can be partnered up to sing along to this classic song!

Indoor Preschool For Listening & Self-Regulation

Huckle Buckle Beanstalk- Watch the video to learn how to play this 19th century game that still packs a powerful punch today.

What Time is it Mr. Fox? - The perfect fun game for developing important listening and self-regulation skills.

Red Light, Green Light - Students can work on their executive function skills with this preschool game.

Simon Says - 2 Versions
- Snowman Listening Game
- Bunny Listening Game
Do your kids need a little extra help listening and following directions? Then you need these simple Simon Says movement games in your life!

Freeze Dance: A classic game that's not only fun, but helps kids develop self-regulation skills. Play a favorite song, the kids have to "freeze" when the music is paused. Use a variety of musical styles and tempos to encourage different types of dance and movement. Use your smartphone and a bluetooth speaker so you can pause the music without tipping off the kids. Everybody loves playing freeze dance!

Hot Potato- Your kids will have a blast with this fun, classic game while working on their listening and self-regulation skills.

Chicken Dance- Who doesn't love the chicken dance? Watch the video to learn how to do this super silly and fun dance!

Limbo - An oldie but a goody! Watch the video to learn how to play this classic game.

Please Mr Crocodile- Please, Mr Crocodile is a fabulous game for all different sized groups, from small groups to large groups of kindergarten or preschool kids.

Gross Motor Preschool Games

Zoo Animal Movement Game- Are you looking for a fun, easy game for your thematic unit that builds in following directions, listening, and movement? Roll and Move with the Zoo Animals will give your children multiple opportunities for learning while having fun too!

London Bridge - This one never gets old! Watch the video to learn how to play this classic preschool game.

Farmer in the Dell- This one is fun to sing and easy to teach. Watch the video to learn how to play this classic preschooler game.

Rolling Pin Races- Grab some rolling pins and have fun with these races!

Bowling with Plastic Bottles- Save those plastic bottles for a fun bowling game!

Paper Plate Ring Toss- Recycle some paper plates and make your own ring toss game!

Musical Chairs - This classic game is great for teaching children patience, gets students up and moving, and learning how to deal with frustration (a very important life skill!)

Ring Around the Rosy- Watch the video to refresh your memory of how to play this classic memory game!

Head Shoulders Knees and Toes- Watch the video and remember how easy it is to play this preschool game.

Hokey Pokey- Your preschoolers will have fun with this classic simple song.

Indoor Music, Songs and Dance Activities

Cool Bear Hunt Movement Song- Students will learn work on their social skills and oral language skills as they go on a cool bear hunt.

Dr. Jean's Banana Dance- Preschoolers will love joining in on the movements of this song!

Number Race Game- Your preschoolers will have better retention of their numbers since it pertains to their life.

What's Missing?- Your students will love this game and it's easy to set up. And it's a great one for your toddler at a restaurant as well!

Glow Stick Hide and Seek- Did somebody say glow sticks? Grab some glow sticks and play this super fun version of hide and seek.

XO Hop- If you have a small space, but lots of energy then your preschoolers are sure to love this activity.

Animal Hide and Seek - This is the perfect rainy day activity!

Active Movement Activities for Preschoolers

Jump the Candlestick - Move like Jack in the nursery rhyme or think of other ways to move over or around the candlestick.

Dinosaur Movement Game - Incorporate a favorite interest as preschoolers roll and move like dinosaurs.

Weather Movement Game - Can't go outside? Talk about different kinds of weather in this movement game.

Swatting Game - I guarantee your preschoolers will love swatting letters, colors, numbers, or whatever you choose in this DIY game.

Uno Movement Game - Use cards from a favorite card game to move around the room. Don't have the game? These color and number cards could easily be created or you could adapt any type of number cards to move.

Dumpster Diving Game - No, don't bring a dumpster inside. Fill a large box with recycled materials and a few toys. Kids will love searching for the "hidden" items in the box.

Block Basketball - Easily adaptable for younger or older preschoolers. Use materials on hand to create a fun adaption of basketball for preschoolers.

What are your favorite indoor recess games and activities? Leave a comment below, we'd love to hear from you and expand our list of awesome ideas!

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30 Fun Indoor Games & Activities for Preschoolers

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30 Fun indoor recess games for kids. Preschool games for those rainy or cold days when you can't get outside. Many indoor games can be played outside!

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Tell a story together with puppets!

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Ever have one of those projects you have every intention of doing, but just... don't? This was mine. I've wanted to make sock puppets for months but never got around to it! I finally did, and can't believe it took me so long. They were so easy to put together, and the kids LOVE them.

Unfortunately, my monkeys are too young to work a glue gun, so I had to do most of the work for these. But Soph had input on style choices and colors 🙂

The great thing about these puppets is that you can do whatever you want with them! Let your creativity run wild. For materials, we used:

Other than socks and hot glue, the rest is pretty much up to you - just use whatever you find lying around your house 🙂

For this puppet, I cut out some lips with felt, and glued those on. Then for the hair, I made a loop of yarn (like how you would loop a hose in a circle to put it away), then tied the loop into a knot, which made for a nice bow. The necklace is made from some plastic pearl beads on a pipe cleaner, but I think it would've been even better had I used some stretchy elastic.

This one is pretty simple - the tongue and mustache were cut out of felt, and the hair is made of pipe cleaners. I was able to thread the pipe cleaners through the sock, using the metal ends as a needle. Then I wrapped them around a marker to make them curly!

This one took the longest to make, but was still very easy. The eyes are just googly eyes hot glued onto pom poms. For the hair, I threaded the yarn onto a large needle and sewed it into the top of the sock (just going in and our of the sock once). When I had enough hair, I trimmed it all to the same length, and hot glued the inside of where the hair was, to keep it in place. Finally, I finished it off with some bows tied with ribbon.

This puppet may be simple, but I still love it. The hair is strands of rickrack that I tied into a knot and glued on top. The eyes are buttons, and the glasses are made from wire. Just use a wire that isn't super thin, and bend it into the shape of glasses, and hot glue them on.

See?? I told you they were easy! And my little monkeys absolutely love them. I'm sure we will get many many hours of play out of these things 🙂

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Ever have one of those projects you have every intention of doing, but just... don't? This was mine. I've wanted to make sock puppets for months but never got around to it! I finally did, and can't believe it took me so long. They were so easy to put together, and the kids LOVE them.

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Get a conversation rolling and get the whole family thinking.

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These 12 games get kids speaking, listening and thinking. Great travel or waiting games.

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Develop speaking, listening, thinking and reasoning skills with these twelve fun verbal games to play with preschoolers, kindergarteners and bigger kids.

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Make shape learning fun by jumping between shapes.

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We love active indoor games, especially when the weather is not cooperating to play outside. The kids loved jumping and running inside. Our simple shape hopscotch game is a fun way to work on gross motor skills along side color and shape recognition.

I love this simple Indoor Shape Toss Game from Learn Play Imagine. Instead of tape for our shapes, we used colored paper. The kids had so much fun jumping, twirling and hopping through the shape maze!

Shape Hopscotch Game:

I cut 6 different easily recognizable paper shapes ~ Orange stars, yellow circles, red squares, green ovals, purple squares, and blue triangles.

Tape the colored shapes to the floor with painters tape.

The object of our simple game was move and learn while having lots of fun. Mission accomplished. The kids had no idea that they were working on important skills like color and shape recognition.

I encouraged the kids jump, wiggle, twirl and hop through the shapes. Here are a few of the kids favorite ways to make it though the shape maze:

Hop from one side to the other only touching one color/shape.

Have one kids call out colors or shapes that the other kid raced to find.

Jump across the shapes following directions like..."jump 2 shapes to the right"

This simple indoor activity was a great way to get the kids moving and learning.

For more indoor games for kids, check out our:
Finger Knitted Jump Rope Cup stacking Balloon Racing Elastic Band Launchers

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We love active indoor games, especially when the weather is not cooperating to play outside. The kids loved jumping and running inside. Our simple shape hopscotch game is a fun way to work on gross motor skills along side color and shape recognition. I love this simple Indoor Shape Toss Game from Learn Play Imagine.

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Puppets are great for story telling and early literacy.

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Hands up if you have a Star Wars fan in your home? We do and he has been waiting for the day to share his love with our kids! I mean, that really is one of the joys of parenting isn't it- sharing those passions and joys that were so super cool during your own childhood with your kids? And Dad 101's love of Star Wars is so much cooler than my excitement at recently find Jem and the Holograms on one of our pay TV channels 😉 Anyway, in our home, apparently the time for the sharing is now, largely due to the greatly anticipated upcoming release of the seventh installment in the series, Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

To celebrate the release, we've teamed with Duracell, an official partner of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, to power some fabulously fun Star Wars inspired play in your home. Puppets are one of my absolute favourite toys for encouraging literacy development in children. Playing with puppets is not only about speaking and listening, it's also about developing story telling skills such as planning, sequencing and comprehension. There are also a whole host of creative, imaginative and social benefits of puppet play. And puppet play is not just for little kids. Oh no, hand over a set of these fab printable Star Wars shadow puppets, and school aged children will have a great time creating stories and scenarios together. All you need is a torch to power your shadow puppet play, no fancy theatre set up required!

How to Make Your Own Star Wars Shadow Puppets
You will need:

Scissors

Utility knife

Wooden chopsticks, bamboo skewers or straws

Tape

A torch (powered with long lasting Duracell Ultra AA batteries, of course!)

1. Print out the Star Wars shadow play puppets (see printable instructions above).

2. Cut around each puppet and carefully cut out each white area with the utility knife - you'll definitely need adult help for this step.

3. Laminate and then cut around each laminated puppet.

4. Tape each puppet to a bamboo skewer or straw.

Then your puppets are ready for play! Set up your torch so that it is projecting at the wall and hold each puppet between the light source and the wall. Have fun creating new adventures with these classic Star Wars characters - and just try to keep Dad away from the fun!
To make;
Christie Burnett is a teacher, presenter, writer and the mother of two. She created Childhood 101 as a place for teachers and parents to access engaging, high quality learning ideas.

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Star Wars Activity Ideas: Shadow Puppets Printable

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Hands up if you have a Star Wars fan in your home? We do and he has been waiting for the day to share his love with our kids! I mean, that really is one of the joys of parenting isn't it- sharing those passions and joys that were so super cool during your own childhood with your kids?

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A great resource with online books for all ages.

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Juegos educativos y didácticos para niños

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500+ juegos educativos GRATIS para niños 3-10 años ✅ Juegos infantiles e interactivos en matemáticas, lenguaje, inglés, lógica y arte. ¡Jugar y aprender! 😀

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Learn colors in Spanish by singing with 123 Andrés!

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Los Colores - Bilingual song for kids - Learn colors in Spanish

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How to Create Family Jingles with Your Kids

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How to Create Family Jingles with Your Kids

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Write a song as a family to remember important things like addresses, or just make something silly!

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Want to create some unique family memories that don't cost a dime?

Need a way to help your kids remember important information?

Create a family jingle. It's fun your family will never forget, and is a great way to improve memory in minds young and old.

In this article, I'll show you how to create simple, fun and entertaining songs with your kids to make your own family songs.

Why Create Original Family Music?

Is there music from your childhood that bring back special memories, emotions and experiences? Would you like to give your children similar feelings when they look back on their youth?

Creating songs together-whether they're used as art or as information-will give your family something unique to them, something truly memorable and special.
Music Makes Information Stick
As a kid, I used to take afternoon breaks from the heat and watch reruns of The Andy Griffith Show on WGN-TV (a Chicago station) with my dad.

Almost without fail, during the commercial breaks an ad for a carpet company would air. I was a little kid in Alabama with no need for flooring that could only be delivered in the Chicago area, but my young mind memorized the telephone number of the Empire Carpet Company.

Why?

This song has been stuck in my head for years!

I can still hear the jingle playing in my head thirty years later! And I bet you've got a similar story.

What I didn't know then is that the marketing and advertising folks behind Empire Carpet were using music as a mnemonic device. (The "m" is silent.) A mnemonic device is a fancy term for a memory tool that allows us to remember pieces of information by putting that information into an easy-to-recall sequence.

This same type of mnemonic device is utilized when we all learn the classic alphabet song. It's much easier to memorize 26 consecutive letters of the alphabet when we can just sing a song.

The Alphabet song is a mnemonic device.

Using mnemonics increases learning of all kinds. They're a great way to help your little ones remember everything from household information to schoolwork to family experiences.

A few years ago, we moved into a new house. My wife taught our two kids our address with a simple song that repeats the address over and over again.

Here's the song we used to teach our kids their address.

By the time our kids were 2 and 3, they had memorized their address. The learning was not based on dry, boring memorization; it was based on a fun song. We still sing it all the time, and it's been 4 years!

Is there something you'd like your kids to remember? Use a jingle to help them memorize it!
Music Makes Moments More Memorable
Think of some of the most memorable scenes in movies or TV. They are often tied to music that enhances your memory.

Every time you hear " Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gees, you think of John Travolta's character strutting down the street in the opening scene of Saturday Night Fever.

What about the above-mentioned Andy Griffith Show? The show's whistling theme song is as much a part of the show as the characters.

Music creates emotion that enhances moments, and also makes life more entertaining.

You can create songs with your kids that will become the soundtrack to your family's life and experiences. I'll show you how.

You Will Need:

A topic or subject for the songs

Simple lyrics

Creative music to accompany the lyrics

Paper and pen or computer to document the song

Musical instruments (optional)

Music recording device and/or video recorder (these are also optional, but you'll thank yourself in the future when your kids are grown and you can still watch or listen to their young selves)

Preparation Time:

0-5 minutes. The only real preparation needed is just waiting for inspiration to strike or coming up with information that you want them to remember.

Activity Time:

5-10 minutes. Thinking of the lyrics and music can take just a few minutes, but it's also fun to let the kids color lyric sheets, make audio/video recordings or anything else that makes the experience more memorable.

Location:

Anywhere: in the car, in the house as you're tucking the kiddos into bed, on the beach watching the waves lap onto the shore, etc.

#1: Think of a Subject

You can literally write a song about anything. That's what is so fun and adventurous about original family songs.

Think of important information that your kids need to know. No matter what the subject is, it could probably be conveyed more easily by putting it to music.

Do you find yourself constantly reminding your kids of their responsibilities? Make a song out of them and replace nagging with a fun, singing reminder that they'll actually listen to.

My family recently wrote a song about our kids' nighttime routine that we call the "Clean Routine." Now bedtime goes a lot more smoothly for all of us.

Another source of song ideas is your kids themselves. Write something about their lives into a song.

To make it fun, ask them to imagine themselves in a movie. If their daily lives were set to music, what they would want their character's soundtrack to be?

Here are a few other examples of the varied topics that you can write about:

Create a singing invitation for your child's birthday party

A gift for a grandparent

Vacation summary

Remembering important information

Can you think of others?

#2: Write the Lyrics and Make Them Rhyme

The next step is to put your ideas into words and make them rhyme.

Keep it simple and get the kids' input for your lyrics.

Our family's "Clean Routine" lyrics are listed below. You'll also see some sample lyrics for the four song subjects suggested above.

The Clean Routine:

Get into the water and wash our hair
Clean our whole body from here to there
Step out, put our PJs on and brush our teeth
Then get into bed because we're oh so clean

Child's Birthday Party, Singing Invitation:

Joshua is turning four
He has toys but he wants more
So come and play and eat some cake
At Josh's party Saturday

A Gift for a Grandparent:

We love grandpa, he's got grey hair
He says wisdom put that grey hair there
But we all know the truth and we think it's sweet
He gets a new grey hair for each kiss on the cheek

Vacation Summary:

We woke up and we climbed a mountain
Then we swam in a stream like we were fish
We threw some coins into a fountain
And everyone all got their wish!

Remembering Important Information:

867-5309... no wait, that song's already taken!

555-0211
That's the cellphone for my mom
555-0212
That's dad's cell, he's got one too

Now go write some lyrics! It will be fun for all of you.

#3: Think of a Fun Tune

The next step in creating a family song is to marry the lyrics with a tune. You can either make up your own melody or add your new lyrics to a song you already know.

Note: This could be combined with step two if your rhyming scheme was based on a preexisting song.

In this video, you can see the clean routine set to music.

Certain songs like these have familiar tunes that your kids already know:

It's easy to replace the original lyrics with your family's original words and set your song to a well-known tune.

But the most fun is to encourage your children's own musical creativity. To do this, give your kids the lyrics and have them sing the song back to you with their idea of what the tune should be. You'll be amazed at what they come up with!

#4: Repeat Often

This is where the memories really begin! Sing your unique songs over and over. The more you sing them, the more they become part of your family.

Imagine every time a kid or parent remembers a song and starts to sing it, and the whole family erupts into singing and smiles. Good memories are being made! That's what happens when we sing the "Clean Routine." And your family will make good memories with your own family jingle.

Some Final Thoughts ...

Original family songs are keepsakes that can be a memorable and meaningful part of your family's legacy. Songs allow your family to remember specific information that may otherwise prove challenging to recall. They also bring a family closer together by bonding kids and parents to the creation and the continued singing of the songs.

What do you think? Tell me about the songs you've created with your family. What other topics would make great family songs? Please share your thoughts, songs and pictures in the comments below.

Tags: chris murphy, family activity, family project, family song, family soundtrack, indoor activity, kids, kids activity, kids project, mnemonic device

About the Author, Chris Murphy

Chris Murphy is blogger and podcaster at ShovelCloud.com helping people to dream on purpose. He is husband to Teri and father to James and Livie; living in Franklin TN. Other posts by Chris Murphy "

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How to Create Family Jingles With Your Kids

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Want to create some unique family memories that don't cost a dime? Need a way to help your kids remember important information? Create a family jingle. It's fun your family will never forget, and is a great way to improve memory in minds young and old.

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A great way to engaged your kid's visual system and more!

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Under the umbrella sensory play aims at visual system and as such, this rainbow activity is perfect for babies and toddlers. When should you engage your child in this activity? Under the umbrella sensory play would be perfect before nap time in the afternoon, or you can even lay down with them and take a nap together! You deserve a little break!

How We Came Up with Under the Umbrella Activity?

When I think of an item beginning with the letter U the word umbrella immediately comes to my mind. However, how do you turn an umbrella into a sensory experience? Simple - have lots of Under the Umbrella Sensory Play fun.

How to Set Up Under the Umbrella Sensory Play?

We have a wonderful large rainbow golf umbrella that we have used for several years. It is perfect for brightening up a rainy day or keeping us in the shade during the summer. We discovered it was also perfect to use as an indoor canopy whilst it was wet and miserable outside.

I set about decorating our rainbow umbrella. I wanted to use items that could easily be removed so we could still use our umbrella. I also needed to be able to close the umbrella when we were not playing with it. Finally, the items had to be found around the house - there was no way I was leaving the warmth of our house today!

I used velcro cable ties to make several coloured chains. I attached these to the spokes of the umbrella so that they would hang down. I then used coloured ribbon to attach recycled CDs to the umbrella.

The CDs catch what little sunlight we had available and make small rainbows around the room as they would spin slowly. As a last minute thought I added some polystyrene stars that had been painted in neon paint.

How to Use Under the Umbrella Activity with Babies and Toddlers?

Our Umbrella Sensory Play canopy only took a few minutes to put together. I brought it into the living room, opened it up and my son's immediate reaction was "wow". The rainbow umbrella instantly brightened up our living room. We placed a variety of pillows and blankets under the umbrella and both laid down. We made ourselves comfortable for the rest of the afternoon.

We spent ages laying underneath the umbrella, talking about the different colours we could see and counting the velcro cable chains. My son discovered that if he gently pushed the recycled CDs they would spin. Our umbrella blocked out the rest of the world and gave us quality time together.

How to Change Up Under the Umbrella Set-Up from Rainbow?

I love how easily our umbrella could be adapted. Over the coming weeks, I envisage adding cellophane, foil and bubble wrap to our umbrella sensory experience. You can also use black umbrella with white and gray attachments for babies as they react better to contrast colors.

Books to Read Under the Umbrella

After your baby or toddler is done exploring hangings from rainbow umbrella, you can extand together time through story telling session. And, hopefully, it will make them sleepy and they will take a nap under the umbrella! Here are few of our favorite books about rainbows to add to your home library!

What Makes a Rainbow?

Your baby and toddler will love the cute story of the bunny asking his friends what makes a rainbow, whils teaching your child colors as you read. A rainbow of ribbons magically appear when you open the pages of this innovative book! Toddlers will love listening to the charming story and seeing a different colored ribbon with the turn of each page. The last page is sure to delight with all the colors of the rainbow. What a fun way to learn colors!

Source: US - Amazon.com | Worldwide (free delivery) - BookDepository.com

My Color Is Rainbow

Little White Arch is on his journey as he wonders what his color could be. Along the way he meets many colorful characters who help him realize the answer. A playful story about kindness, acceptance, and openness that celebrates how we are not defined by one, but many wonderful characteristics.

Source: US - Amazon.com

How the Crayons Saved the Rainbow

Story: Determined to save the rainbows and fix the Sun and Clouds' friendship, the crayons draw rainbows all over town. Their attempts go unnoticed. Soon they realize that they're going to have to do something big to get the attention of the former friends. So, the crayons create the biggest rainbow they can and hope it's enough to bring color back to the world.

Source: US - Amazon.com | Canada - Amazon.ca | UK - Amazon.co.uk | Worldwide (free delivery) - BookDepository.com

The Rainbow Fish

The message behind The Rainbow Fish book is all about not being selfish, giving of ourselves, putting others first, and being a friend. It's likable and easy to comprehend book. Bonus is that the pages are glittery and it's perfect choice for little ones who like sparkly things!

Source: US - Amazon.com | Canada - Amazon.ca | UK - Amazon.co.uk | Worldwide (free delivery) - BookDepository.com

Next Play Idea You Should Try with Your Baby or Toddler

If you would like to extend the umbrella theme, we prepared a week full of activities with an umbrella as we covered letter U in our Tot school. You can also invite your toddlers to continue playing with a rainbow and choose one of rainbow sensory play ideas we collected.

This post may contain affiliate links and we will earn a small provision if you make a purchase through them. Read full disclosure.

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Under the umbrella sensory play aims at visual system and as such, this rainbow activity is perfect for babies and toddlers. When should you engage your child in this activity? Under the umbrella sensory play would be perfect before nap time in the afternoon, or you can even lay down with them and take a nap together!

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An easy, portable way to practice letter and reading while moving.

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When you are on on the go, sometimes your children are not so cooperative. Whether you are on a road trip or just running errands around town your children probably are not too happy about it and let you know. Allie did a great post about learning on the go in which her son checked off letters as he found them. But giving my three small children each a pencil and pad isn't something that would make a trip easier on me. At home sure, but not out by myself.

This fun activity keeps hands and minds busy. Plus it helps keeps Mommy sane, always a plus. 😉 The simpleness of this activity makes it easily adjustable for all ages and levels.

All you will need for this is a paper plate, marker, and scissors.

Write letters around the edge of the plate.

Then cut in between each letter.

You can make one for upper case letters, lower case letters, shapes, sight words, and colors. The possibilities are endless. You could also turn it into a fun math activity by doing numbers or equations.

Give your child a plate and when you are out on the town or at a park (pretty much wherever) they simply fold down the letter as they spot it in their surroundings.

We had a five year old boy with us learning his phonics, so when he saw something I would ask the sound of it. We would match the sound the letter makes to the letter, then he would fold it over. He was so excited.

This is definitely one of those activities that children can do on their own or you can do with them. Like I said the possibilities are endless, so have fun!

What will you put on your plate?

Kim is a contributing writer for No Time For Flash Cards, a mom to a toddler, a preschooler, and a foster parent, too. She juggles her day by trying out fun activities and crafts with the kids. After all, she is just a big kid herself. See what she has been up to over at Mom Tried It.

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Letters On The Go - No Time For Flash Cards

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by Kim When you are on on the go, sometimes your children are not so cooperative. Whether you are on a road trip or just running errands around town your children probably are not too happy about it and let you know. Allie did a great post about learning on the go in which ...

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Encourage Conversation While Playing with Telephones

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Encourage Conversation While Playing with Telephones

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Kids love to pretend to talk on the telephone. This is a great way to encourage language skills.

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Role play with telephones is a great way to build communication skills!

In my classroom, even the quietest children have something to say when you hand them a telephone. This may look like just a bunch of old phones to you, but it is actually one of the best ways to get kids talking, role playing, and using their imagination all at the same time...

I have been collecting phones off and on throughout the school year. I started out the school year with only four phones but quickly discovered that everyone loves to talk on the telephone in my classroom so I have been adding to the collection when I happen to find a phone that someone is getting rid of...

Making Phones Accessible

There are days when my classroom looks like a preschool telethon. I keep all the phones in a basket on one of our shelves and about once or twice a month, the children like to drag them out and play telephone...

Promoting Communication

As I listen to my students talk on the phone, I can hear a lot of their parents doing the talking. The children often even stand or use body language like mom or dad or they use language that sounds like mom or dad. I bet mom and dad have no idea how much their children are listening to and watching them as they talk on the phone...

But the best part of playing with the telephones is that everyone is talking. They are communicating. Sometimes, they are communicating with each other through some sort of role play...

Expanding the Imagination

And other times they are only having a conversation with their imaginations. I hear the children talking like secretaries, moms, dads, teachers, doctors, and other people or occupations that are familiar or interesting to the children as they talk on the telephones...

We also have a few cell phones (no batteries included) available for play. I will find the children having conversations in just about every corner of the classroom (even under the tables)...

Most of the time, I just observe as a child goes walking by me with a cell phone or cordless phone in hand while talking up a storm. I rarely notice what is being said, but what I do notice is that the children are quite intense and focused on their imagined conversations. I do not interrupt them in the process. Besides, my mom taught me that it was rude to interrupt someone when they are on the phone...

Skill Development

The use of telephones promotes all types of learning as well as growth and development. As the children play, they often use paper and pencils to jot down a few notes or they will dial a certain number many times until they can get someone to answer the phone. In other words, we have a little vocabulary, communication, dramatic play, pre-writing skills, number recognition, and fine motor skills all in action at the same time....

Using Realistic Tools

I am still on the look out for unique or old fashioned phones to add to my collection but I don't want to discount the modern day phones because the modern phones and cell phones are what the children see the people in their world using. I want to be sure that I am doing my best to promote play with tools that are realistic in the children's daily lives...

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Promoting communication skills in preschool

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Role play with telephones is a great way to build communication skills! In my classroom, even the quietest children have something to say when you hand them a telephone.

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Sing and follow along with this video as you and your child learn fingerplays and songs together.

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Action Songs, Fingerplays and More - LittleStoryBug

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A very fun way for babies to play!

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Call me a selfish Mom but sometimes I like to do some pretty wild and crazy things. Like blow my hair dry. Or do my make-up. Or (gasp) clean the toilets.

Problem is, I have a semi-mobile baby who wants nothing to do with hanging out and letting Mom put in some dry shampoo.

A little trick to help a mom out...

Then I remembered a trick another Mom told me about years ago and it's changed everything about getting ready.

Say Hello to a Dry Bath.

One of the easiest, fastest, and "why didn't I think of that?" baby activities out there.

When I need to do something nuts like get ready in the morning, I plop my baby into the bath tub with a few of his nearest and dearest toy friends.

Now he's contained, his friends are at arm's reach, and I'm within eye sight - which I have to be. Always. For both supervision and separation anxiety reasons.

Yes, it's kind of a porcelain cage.

Ok ok, so this is kind of like a porcelain baby cage - well you know what? I'm fine with it. He loves it, I love it, and all is right in Momland.

Here's what you do need to know about a dry bath

Even in a dry bath, you have to supervise closely just in case today is the day they learn to turn the faucet on or finally figure out how to escape the tub.

This activity does, sadly, have a limited shelf life in between the stages of "baby can sit up and play with toys" to "baby can turn on the water".

But even still, in that limited window where babies are just barely mobile - this activity comes in handy every single time.

I'm not lying when I say I've been "sitting" on this activity for years. A seasoned Mom friend of mine told me about doing this with her son - long before I was even pregnant with my first.

But some ideas are just too good and they stick with you always.

Dry bath is a favorite!

At least while he's still young enough to play, Dry Bath is an almost once a day activity for my baby. It's quick, easy, and effective - my blow dryer loves it! The perfect quick baby activity for a busy mom trying to get ready in peace.

Will you try this quick baby activity?

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Dry Bath: Quick Baby Activity - Busy Toddler

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Call me a selfish Mom but sometimes I like to do some pretty wild and crazy things. Like blow my hair dry. Or do my make-up. Or (gasp) clean the toilets. Problem is, I have a semi-mobile baby who wants nothing to do with hanging out and letting Mom put in some dry shampoo.

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At-Home Activity Guide from Zero to Three

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At-Home Activity Guide from Zero to Three

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Great suggestions to keep your youngest ones learning and having fun!

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As more families face social distancing, self-quarantine, and school and work closings as a result of COVID-19, it's possible to feel stressed-not only about health issues, but also with the reality of suddenly being at home for many days with energetic little ones. By planning early for this possibility and having some activities and experiences ready, you can feel less stressed and more prepared!

Start with a Toy Rotation

If you have a variety of toys, try a toy rotation. Pick a few toys to leave out for your child to play with and put the rest away out of sight. After a week or so, switch out the toys they've been using for the ones stored away, and boom, it feels like they have new toys!

We know their toys will only entertain for so long...and then boredom can set in. Boredom for infants and toddlers may not look the same as it does for us. Signs your little one is bored:

Fussing or whining

Struggling to focus or engage in play

Becoming more aggressive

Parent-Child Play Ideas

As you look for activities to do with your child, consider offering different types of play to meet their needs and keep the fun going. Independent play (when children play by themselves with you nearby) is also an important type of play-and parents shouldn't feel guilty about giving their babies and toddlers a chance to play on their own.

Here are some different ideas for play that you can try with your young child:

Outside time: Getting outside will probably be refreshing and a great change of scenery for all of you. Though to maintain social distancing, playdates are a no-go. Avoid touching playground equipment. Instead, run, roll down hills, jump like kangaroos, or lie back and look at the clouds. Wash hands thoroughly after returning home from any outdoor play.

For infants:

Bring their stroller outside for a walk or a story.

Lay a blanket on the grass for tummy time.

Enjoy bubbles, listen to music and sing together, talk about what you see outside.

Park the stroller or hold your baby so they can watch an older sibling or other children play.

For toddlers:

Play 'I spy' (keep it simple, "I spy something blue", "I spy something that moves").

Collect rocks or leaves, then sort them by size, color, and shape.

Kick, roll, or toss a ball back and forth.

Dig in the dirt (don't forget buckets, bowls, measuring cups, spoons, gardening tools, whatever you have!).

Play with sidewalk chalk: draw pictures, trace one another's outline, and more.

Paint with water. Fill a cup with water and give your child a brush to "paint" the sidewalk, door, etc.

Blow bubbles.

Play "I'm going to catch you."

Pretend to be the different animals you might see in your neighborhood: Birds, squirrels, rabbits, deer, etc.

Most play that happens inside the house can also happen outside, so if the weather allows, bring some blocks outside, read together outdoors, color, or paint a cardboard box in the yard.

Physical Play: Little ones need to move and work their bodies...and voices. They will need opportunities to be loud, run, climb, and jump. This may happen outside or inside. Here are some ideas:

Turn on some music and have a dance party.

Put couch cushions on the floor and crawl, walk, or jump from one to the next (don't touch the floor, it's hot lava!).

Use a bedsheet as a parachute (open it wide and raise it up above your heads, then bring it down to the floor). For infants, raise and lower a light blanket over them while playing peek-a-boo.

Build a fort with sheets, blankets, couch cushions, pillows, chairs, and more. You can even "camp-out" indoors!

Create an obstacle course using furniture, pillows, and toys.

Quiet Play: Children (and you) will also need some quiet time each day. This is great for relaxing, recharging, and maybe even allowing you to get some work done.

Read together or independently (toddlers can flip through books and talk about what they see in the illustrations)

Coloring

Puzzles

Block building

Sorting objects

Pretend play with stuffed animals, dolls, trains, cars, or kitchen items for "playing house"

Stickers on paper - you can draw large shapes, letters, or numbers on paper and your child can line the shape with stickers

Tape on paper - you can cut short pieces of masking tape and your child can stick it to a piece of paper (sounds boring, but little ones love it).

Remember that one of the most favorite types of play for children is helping you with "real" work. Think about whether your toddler can help with meal preparation, setting the table, sorting or putting away laundry, cleaning up (for example, putting shoes in the closet) or putting new toilet paper rolls in a basket in the bathroom. These tasks may take a bit longer with our toddlers, but it's fun for them and also teaches the value of cooperation.

Thinking About Your Daily Routine

Try to keep daily routines as stable as possible during this break. As much as possible, try to stick to daily routines, with wake-up times, meals, naps, and bedtimes as usual. Children thrive on predictability, and it's good for their caregivers, too. (It's much easier to deal with a long day with little ones if it's divided into smaller, more manageable pieces.)

For a deeper dive into activities to do at home with your infants and toddlers to promote their development, and keep them (and you) from feeling trapped in the house, check out A Year of Play and Play With Me!.
Looking for more information? Visit zerotothree.org/coronavirus for our latest resources and updates for families.
This article was featured in Baby Steps, a ZERO TO THREE newsletter for parents and caregivers. Each issue offers science-based information on a topic of interest to parents and caregivers of young children-from sleep to challenging behaviors, and everything in between. Become a subscriber:

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As more families face social distancing, self-quarantine, and school and work closings as a result of COVID-19, it's possible to feel stressed-not only about health issues, but also with the reality of suddenly being at home for many days with energetic little ones.

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Make a simple DIY tugging lid for baby playtime.

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Author: Susie

Create a Tugging Lid that's perfect for your baby.

A long while back, I found this amazing idea on Pinterest for a "Tugging Box" from Laughing Kids Learn. It was one of those rare pins that you actually immediately go do. There was no "pin now, read later" on this one. I got up from my viewing of Project Runway and immediately started making one for Sam.

It was snap. I followed all the directions from the original post and easy peasy, we had our very own Tugging Box. My toddler loves this. I love this. It was a win for all parties involved.

Except for Baby Sister. Once Baby Kate learned to sit up, the Tugging Box was all she wanted to get after. But at 6 months old, it was just too big and too complicated for her little baby hands. PLUS, she kept trying to eat the cardboard box. C'mon Baby Kate - don't be that kid.

So, I went to our Tupperware drawer and found one of (approximately) 10,000 lids that has no matching bottom and set out to make a Tugging Lid for dear sweet Baby Kate.

It was just as much a snap to make as the Tugging Box had been - maybe even snappier? I mean, easier.

I poked holes through the lid with scissors, added various ribbons of different textures and lengths, knotted the ends so they wouldn't slip through - and off she went.

She is obsessed with pulling at the ribbons, chewing on them, chewing on the lid - it's a little sensory party for her to experience. Best part is, tugging lid gives Baby Kate something to do.

Tugging Lid has been a massive hit for us and two months since making it, we still love it just as much as Day 1. So much so that we even made a second Tugging Lid for car rides and restaurants - something for her to chew on other than the high chair (ick).

Thanks to Laughing Kids Learn for the original idea - Baby Kate just loves it!

Have you ever made a tugging lid or tugging box?

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Tugging Lid for Baby Playtime - Busy Toddler

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Author: Susie A long while back, I found this amazing idea on Pinterest for a "Tugging Box" from Laughing Kids Learn . It was one of those rare pins that you actually immediately go do. There was no "pin now, read later" on this one.

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Ten Fun and Educational Games for Toddlers

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Ten Fun and Educational Games for Toddlers

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Here's a good list of ten games to enjoy with your toddler.

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Fun educational games to play with toddlers - Today’s Parent

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The right game can boost your toddler’s cognitive, physical and emotional skills. Here are some easy games to play with toddlers to get you started.

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Fun educational games to help your kid to start talking.

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Of all your baby's important milestones, her first words may be the one you're waiting for most impatiently. But try as you might, it's just not possible to "teach" a child to talk before she's ready. What you can do is encourage her burgeoning language skills through play, says Marian Marcario, a New Jersey based speech-language pathologist.

Peek-a-boo is one of many activities that do much more than entertain your baby, Marcario says. Games that involve eye contact, turn-taking, pointing and other gestures also help babies master crucial developmental building blocks so they can start learning how to communicate on their own. Here are six fun ways to promote your baby's language development at home. You don't need fancy toys or gear - just a few simple and inexpensive "tools," like bubbles, cotton balls and a baby-safe mirror, are all it takes to help unleash your baby's inner chatterbox.

Game 1: Body Language

Think of this activity as a lesson in lip-reading and labeling.

Age: 4 to 12 months

Equipment: An unbreakable mirror

Benefits: Focuses baby's attention on how the lips and tongue move to form words.

How to Play

Sit down with your baby in your lap and hold the mirror in front of both of you (or sit in front of a full-length mirror). Point to your eyes, ears, nose and mouth, telling your baby the name of each part. Then take his hand and help him touch the different parts of his own face, clearly naming each one as you go. Soon, he'll be able to identify them when you say the names, and eventually speak them himself. For an extra giggle, amuse your baby by making monkey noises in front of the mirror and see if he'll do the same.

Game 2: Get Bubbly

Babies can't help but be attracted to the shimmering movement of a bevy of bubbles. They also love to see them pop.

Age: 6 to 18 months

Equipment: Soap bubbles - store-bought or homemade

Benefits: Encourages baby to practice some of the earliest consonant sounds - P, B and M - and to breathe more deeply.

How to Play

As you blow the bubbles, talk about what's happening by repeating the words "up," "pop," "bubbles" and "more" in short phrases. ("Bubbles go up, up, up! Let's pop them. Pop, pop! Look - bubbles! Do you want more bubbles? Yes! More bubbles!") This game also encourages your baby to point to the bubbles and reach up to touch them. That helps open up her rib cage and in turn encourages deeper breathing and increased vocalization.

Game 3: Get on the Bus

Turn "The Wheels on the Bus" and "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider" into language games.

Age: 6 to 24 months

Equipment: Just you - and the lyrics if you don't know them, or a recording to sing along to.

Benefits: Songs paired with simple hand movements help children learn the natural cadence and rhythm of language as well as how to imitate gestures.

How to Play

Show your baby how to perform the song's gestures by sitting in front of her and taking her hands in yours as you move them along to the words. She won't sing back at first, but the important thing is that she's watching your mouth move. Later, leave off a word of the song and let her to chime in with what she's learned.

Game 4: Phone a Friend

The power of make-believe fuels language development.

Age: 6 to 24 months

Equipment: A play telephone or any object that even vaguely resembles a phone

Benefits: Having a pretend conversation might feel silly to you, but it's the perfect chance for your baby to practice turn-taking-an essential conversational skill.

How to Play

Pick up the "telephone" and greet the caller with an animated "Hello!" Continue the conversation, offering your child the phone ("Here, it's for you-say hi to Grandma!"). If he hands it back to you, say "Oh, it's for Mama? A call for Mama?" to help your baby start to identify you by name.

Game 5: The Right Puff

A simple game translates into crucial skill development.

Age: 16 - 18 months

Equipment: Cotton balls or colorful pom-poms. (Remember never to leave a child unsupervised whenith these small objects are within reach.)

Benefits: Coordinating lips and lungs to blow air is a vital skill for making sounds - and it can be tricky for a baby at first. This game is a fun way to practice.

How to Play

Place the cotton balls or pompoms on a table or the floor and show your baby how they move when you blow on them. Seeing them dance away will captivate him, and he'll want to try and do it himself. You can use your fingers to help push his lips into a rounded position.

Game 6: Hide and Seek

Looking forward to the day you hear your baby say, "Yo, Mama"?

Age: 16 to 18 months

Equipment: A favorite stuffed toy

Benefits: In time, a game like this will help your baby learn how to call someone's name to get his or her attention. Plus, repetition of words promotes imitation and labeling, and uncovering a toy introduces the concept of object permanence (that people and things still exist even when they can't be seen, heard or touched).

How to Play

Hide the toy and go on a hunt for it. Call out as if you expect the toy to respond: "Bear! Where are you, bear?" Keep the phrase simple and use the same words every time so that your baby will find it easy to imitate you.

More Simple Steps to Language

Give your baby a chance to "talk" while you play together, advises Marcario. By pausing to let her answer (even if she doesn't have any words yet), you're letting her know that your turn is over and it's her turn to make some noise.

Be sure to reward every your baby's vocalizations that your baby makes, says Marcario, even if they're way off target, Marcario says.. "If you're trying to get him to say 'book' and he says 'buh,' praise him and repeat the target word. 'Book! You said book! Here's the book!' You want to build his confidence and teach him that an adult will give him what he wants if he uses language."

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Of all your baby's important milestones, her first words may be the one you're waiting for most impatiently. What you can do is encourage her burgeoning language skills through play. Try these 6 helpful games to get your baby talking.

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This summer, add this marshmallow constellation activity to your thematic units on space!

Want a fun way to learn about the stars you can see in North America during the summer? Start by doing this summer skies marshmallow constellations STEM activity before going on any camping adventures this summer!

One of our favorite summer activities is to go out to the country where my in-laws live, turn off all the lights, and gaze at the stars.

Monkey loves learning about astronomy and she always is asking the names of the stars we see in the sky. I always have a hard time identifying constellations, so this project was for the both of us!

This activity is one of our favorite technology activities for kids!

You'll also want to check out the ultimate list of summer STEM activities and the ultimate list of summer science experiments.

Summer Skies Marshmallow Constellations
This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.
Supplies

Marshmallows

Food coloring (optional)

Toothpicks

Constellation guide (we used this one)

Black paper

Zip lock bags

Place some marshmallows into the zip lock bag and add a few drops of food coloring. We used yellow and green. You could also use blue (we were out), but red does not look right.

We tried it, and it just ended up looking like our poor marshmallows had gotten into an unfortunate and dangerous brawl. Close the bag and shake to distribute the color.

Step 2

Print your constellation guide and choose the summer skies marshmallow constellations that you want to make.

We chose aquila, cygnus, libra, and capricornus. Bo (age 3) just had fun sticking toothpicks into marshmallows and didn't follow a real constellation.

Break your toothpicks to the necessary size and use a marshmallow for each star in the constellation.

Step 3

Photograph your efforts on black paper just for fun. We saved ours to show to dad later, but we did end up eating a few of our constellations.

Memorize the name and shape of each constellation so that next time you are star-gazing in the summer, you can impress your friends with your star knowledge.

Just tell them you learned it by making summer skies marshmallow constellations!

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This summer, add this marshmallow constellation activity to your thematic units on space! Want a fun way to learn about the stars you can see in North America during the summer? Start by doing this summer skies marshmallow constellations STEM activity before going on any camping adventures this summer!

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Lyrics from Classic Songs by Kidsongs.com

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Lyrics from Classic Songs by Kidsongs.com

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Here's a plentiful supply of lyrics to classic kids' songs.