Toy Story Tower

Toy Story Tower!

After seeing the positive response to our activity "Cup Bridges," I've been thinking of other ways to incorporate everyday items everyone probably already has into our play and learning. Introducing Toy Story Tower!

If you know my son at all, you know his love for Toy Story runs deep. One of his very first words was "Buzz" (I'm not kidding). 

I told him to go gather some of his Toy Story figurines (ones that can stand up) for this "challenge". 

YOU NEED:

-cups

-a few pieces of cardstock paper 

-small figures (obviously doesn't have to be Toy Story)

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Create challenges for your child using the 3 items and watch your little one(s) problem solve. 

HERE ARE SOME EXAMPLES:

1. Can you make a 3 story tower?

2. Can you make a tower that holds 5 figures?

3. Can you make a tower using all the supplies I gave you?

4. Can you make a tower that can hold 2 figures on each level?

ETC. 

After the challenges, both my kids spent so much time building things with the cups and the paper. It was so simple and fun!

WHY?

1. Simple activities are so powerful. You don't need a lot to have fun and learn.

2. This activity is a STEM/STEAM activity. It encourages your child to problem solve and it's project based.  I love that these challenges are open-ended and there's more than one "right" answer. 

What characters would your kids like to build with? I'm thinking we will have to do a Frozen one next...

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Toothpick Colors

This was such a simple fine motor sorting activity for my toddler. 

Get a few different colors of play dough, some toothpicks, and beads and you're ready go! 

Place a toothpick (or 2) on each color, and give your child a bowl of beads with colors that match the play dough. Have them put the colored beads on the correct toothpick! 

For my son (5), I also gave him some balls of play dough with toothpicks in them. I encouraged him to create his own patterns and he loved it! After he did AB patterns on his own, I encouraged him to try harder ones (ABC, ABB, etc.) 

This activity kept both my kids engaged and entertained for about 20 minutes. 

Why?

fine motor practice

sorting

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Cardboard Name Puzzle

I created this cardboard name "puzzle" for my 2.5 year old daughter. All you need is a cardboard box, scissors, markers, and velcro dots. (linked below)

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 It took about 5 minutes total and it's a great activity for my daughter to help practice her name and her colors. 

Step 1. Cut out a big piece of cardboard from a box for the bottom.

Step 2. Cut smaller pieces of cardboard for the letters of your child's name. 

Step 3. Color the smaller letter pieces with marker and use a black sharpie to write the letters on top. 

Step 4. Put one side of the velcro stickers on the box in a line.

Step 5. put the other sides of the velcro stickers on the back of each letter. 

Step 6. (OPTIONAL) Write the letters of your child's name really small above the velcro on the big cardboard piece. 

Why? 

I love finding ways to use everyday items to play! Thanks @Recycleandplay for inspiring me!

Name practice!

Color practice!

Check out my highlight stories on instagram under literacy and fine motor to see more of this puzzle!

Cheerio Bracelet

Anyone else feel like all they do is prepare snacks for their kids these days? ✋🏼 ⠀

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Well, here’s your solution! Have your child make cheerio bracelets in the morning that they can wear all day and take a bite off of whenever they get hungry. I’m cracking up at this because I’m mainly kidding about this being their snack but also my kids definitely ate them yesterday. Before I made them a real snack I told them to eat from their bracelets🤣 My kids thought this was the coolest “snack time” idea ever...😜⠀

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💜Have your child lace Cheerios on a pipe cleaner (that you twist into a little knot on one side). After all the Cheerios are on it, twist the ends of the pipe cleaners together to secure on the wrist. ⠀

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I incorporated counting with this activity too. ⠀

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🖤Why? ⠀

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Fine motor practice ⠀

Counting practice

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Foil River

💦Foil River💦⠀
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Another beautiful day means another outdoor activity! ⠀
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This is one we will for sure do again and again. Not only did the kids have a blast, it was an activity that needed teamwork and problem solving! The “river” didn’t work perfectly in the beginning and we worked together to get it working the way we wanted. ⠀
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💜 Find a sloped space outside. Take a roll of foil (not the precut pieces) and roll out your “river”. Bend both sides of the foil up to keep the water from spilling out. We placed a rock on the foil at the start of the river and put a pan at the bottom to capture the water at the end to reuse. Getting the pan to work at the bottom was a challenge, but it was great to see my kids trying different things, throwing out ideas and problem solving until we figured it out! We ended up using a plastic funnel and extra foil to get the water entering the pan at the bottom. Check my highlight stories under “active play” to see it more close up!⠀
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Put a big storage container of water with different cups for pouring (or just use a hose) and some items to put down the river at the start. We mainly did balls (ping pong balls and other plastic toy balls we had around the house). ⠀
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Pour water to send items down the river and have fun! ⠀

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Next time I’m thinking we will make “boats” to send down our river! ⠀
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🖤Why? ⠀
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STEM activity ⠀
Teamwork⠀
Problem solving ⠀

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Pom Pom Dots

🟡Pom Pom Dots🟡⠀

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Pom poms are one of my favorite “toys”. I use them in so many activities with my kids! They love playing with them too so it’s a win win!⠀

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💜This morning I used my  @doadotart markers to make a few dots of each color on a piece of paper. You could also just draw colored dots or use dot stickers if you don’t have the do a dot markers. Put pom poms of the same colors out and let your child place the colored pom poms on the right color. ⠀

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So simple and Brooklyn (2.5) did this a few times and loved it!⠀

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For Austin (5), I had him create his own art with do a dot markers then glue the matching colored pom poms on top of his dots. ⠀

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🖤Why? ⠀

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Fine motor practice ⠀

Color practice ⠀

Sorting practice ⠀

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What’s your favorite way to play with pom poms?!

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Yogurt Paint

We accidentally ordered way too much yogurt the other week with our grocery delivery and I knew there was no way we could finish it all. I started thinking of ways we could use it before it expired and came up with this!⠀

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Now don’t say I didn’t warn you....I’m telling you now that this activity is a MESS!!⠀

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But if I haven’t scared you off yet, my kids had so much fun! The clean up was relatively easy too, so it’s an activity we will definitely do again! ⠀

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💜Scoop some yogurt into different cups. Put just a couple drops of food coloring (I used a plant based one) in each cup and stir until the color mixes throughout the entire cup. ⠀

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Put a big piece of paper outside (definitely outside😉) with the cups of yogurt paint and some paint brushes. Let your kids go wild! ⠀

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This turned into Austin scooping handfuls of yogurt with his hands, eating some, finger painting with some, and some somehow ending up crusted in his hair.🤦🏼‍♀️ Brooklyn didn’t believe me that it was edible. She kept telling me I was wrong and that it was paint. Haha. So at least I only had to clean off one of my kids🤣⠀

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When they finished, I threw the big piece of paper with yogurt away and hosed down the mess! ⠀

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🖤Am I crazy or would you let your kids try this?! 

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Coin Sorting

My son Austin (5) has shown a lot of interest in coins recently so I decided to create some sorting activities for him. I've linked them below and they are FREE :) 

The first is coin sorting cards (seen on the box above). Cut them out, glue or tape onto a box and cut holes. Your child can sort a handful of coins by dropping them into the correct slot in the box. 

The second activities is a coin sorting mat. Print it out, give your child a handful of coins, and let them sort them on the printed mat. 

The third activity is a coin sorting cut and paste printable (pictured below). 

For younger kids, you might want to just start with sorting 2 of the coins (pennies and one other coin). Brooklyn (2.5) was able to sort pennies and quarters by differentiating between the colors and sizes. This way, both my kids were able to participate in the fun!  

GET YOUR FREE COIN SORTING PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES HERE! 

Rating it after you download is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Why?

Beginning knowledge of coins and currency

Fine motor practice

Sorting practice (such an important beginning math skill) 

Rock Spiral

🌀Rock Spiral🌀⠀

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The Bay Area weather has been absolutely beautiful the last few days and I’m loving it! ☀️ ⠀

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We have tons of little rocks and pebbles in our backyard and the kids love collecting them! I figured why not add some fine motor practice in while they play! ⠀

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💜Draw a spiral with chalk. Let your child collect pebbles or rocks and place them on the spiral until it’s complete! This could also be done with letters, numbers, shapes, etc! ⠀

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 I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post. 

🖤Why? ⠀

Fine motor practice ⠀

Loose parts play ⠀

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Do your kids collect rocks? 

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Sticker Rainbow

🌈Sticker Rainbow🌈⠀

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Our out of control sticker drawer had so many half sheets and sheets with only 1 or 2 stickers on them. I took all the stickers out, spread them all over the table with plain paper, and let the kids play and create! When we cleaned up, I consolidated the stickers and that’s pretty much the only productive thing around the house I’ve done all day!🤷🏼‍♀️⠀

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Brooklyn spent a lot of the time putting stickers on herself 😂and Austin made sticker rainbows! ⠀

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Here’s how to make your own...⠀

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💜Draw a rainbow on a piece of paper and let your child find stickers of each color to put on their rainbow! I put one sticker of each color on the rainbow first to start Austin off.⠀

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🖤Why? ⠀

Color practice ⠀

Fine motor practice 

Encourages creativity ⠀

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Outdoor Color Hunt

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💜Color some clothespins with different colors. Place them on a piece of card stock or paper. Have your child go outside and look for things of each color. Have them clip what they find on the paper! ⠀

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Cup Bridges

Cup Bridges

Sometimes the simplest activities are the most powerful! ⠀

💜I put out popsicle sticks, cups, and little animal figurines in hopes that my kids would play nicely for long enough that I could fold some laundry. I gave them no instructions, just the supplies. ⠀

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They played for SO LONG. Like really, really played! I love when I get to see their little minds at work. I mean, look at Brooklyn🤣 She can be hard to please and she was so into it!⠀

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It was such a success that I kept the stuff out for round 2 today! ⠀

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I named this “cup bridges” because the majority of their play was centered around creating bridges for the animals, but just put the supplies out and see what your child does! ⠀

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 I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post. 

🖤Why? ⠀

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Open ended play (so important!)⠀

Encourages creativity ⠀

Fine motor practice ⠀

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FREE Earth Day Word Search

Here's a FREE Earth Day Word Search to print for your kids!

Enjoy and Happy Earth Day tomorrow!

Poke the Dots

⚫️Poke the dots⚫️⠀

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This kept Brooklyn (2.5) entertained and quietly playing for 15 minutes this morning while Austin went on Zoom with his preschool class. After that I let her watch “learning songs” on Netflix because #balance😉. Anyone else finding it hard at times managing a toddler and a kid with school?! ⠀

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💜I used a piece of foam that came in a package from last week. Styrofoam, foam board, or anything else like that would work great! ⠀

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With a sharpie I drew some dots on the foam. I did them in the shape of the letter “B”. ⠀

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Take out some toothpicks and let your child “poke the dots”. ⠀

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🖤Why?⠀

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Fine motor practice ⠀

Letter practice ⠀

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