Author: Summer

I am the mother of four busy children. I have two preschoolers and two toddlers (though one is only just a toddler). I have a bachelors in University studies with a minor in English and a cluster of child development. This means I was going for school as an English major but then decided that I really didn't want to be going to school until my oldest was two. My original plan was to go for a minor in child development. My child development classes have helped tremendously with my family life. My oldest child has had some developmental delays, though they still have not diagnosed them. My busy family life and busy life in general make it necessary that I take some time away to spend some time with my children doing something fun. I want to build a relationship with my kids, and this is done one activity at a time.

Kids Need Play

Foam Squish

November 2, 2020October 28, 2020 Summer

Dear Reader,

The travel dough has been a hit with my kiddos when we have to wait in the car for long periods of time, like when we are waiting for grocery pick-up or sister to get out of therapy.

I decided to put a little twist on the travel bags though. All you need is shaving cream, food coloring, a Ziploc bag and tape.

First fill about a third of the bag with shaving cream. Second place a few drops of the food coloring. Next fill the another third of the bag with more shaving cream. Finally seal the bag closed and tape it shut (I put a lot of tape on there knowing shaving cream is not the best thing to have spill out in the car).

The girls loved it, though we did have one mishap. My oldest likes to twist the bags until what is inside squishes out from the pressure. My suggestion to combat this is to make sure to get the bags that are thick and maybe even tape down the sides to strengthen them.

Car Wash

November 2, 2020October 28, 2020 Summer

Dear Reader,

The girls have been begging me to take the van to a car wash for weeks now. I didn’t really think that it needed one, but I decided it would be the perfect thing for them to do themselves.

Did I think that my van would get truly clean? No, not really. I just wanted to let them have some outside fun.

Even the youngest got in on the fun and “scrubbed” the bumper. It was really cute to see my one year old rubbing the bumper with a sponge. I am categorizing this as a Preschooler though because while it was fun to see the toddlers try it is more of a preschooler ability range to clean the car.

Kids Need Play

Pumpkin Paint

October 28, 2020October 28, 2020 Summer

Dear Reader,

This has become a tradition for us every Halloween. We buy small pumpkins and then we paint them.

The girls love painting the pumpkins and we get to display them and they also play with them too.

All you need is a kid friendly paint, something to paint with, and the pumpkins.

We have been doing this since my oldest was a toddler. Much easier than carving with littles.

Kids Need Play

Spiderweb Walk

October 28, 2020October 28, 2020 Summer

Dear Reader,

The idea behind this activity was to get the girls to work on walking on a line as well as letter recognition. As sometimes happens though one of these fell by the wayside as I focused more on letter recognition while trying to fend off their toddler sister.

This is definitely an activity you either need to do during a nap or when your littles are distracted elsewhere. My toddlers thought it looked so fun that they had to either sit on the web or stand in the middle making it hard for sisters.

Start by making the web out of masking tape. Then make letters for your littles to find on the web. We used some cards we had lying around. Place the letters on the web.

Call out letters for your child to find. Have them walk on the tape in a line until they find the letter. Then have them bring the letter back to you.

This will help them work on balancing and letter recognition.

Kids Need Play

Witches Brew

October 26, 2020October 26, 2020 Summer

Dear Readers,

Today I tried to experiment with my rainbow foam recipe. Instead of using water I decided that I wanted to see what would happen if I used Vinegar. Would it foam more if it is already foamy from the soap?

What happened was unexpected, but fun. To make it more Halloween like I decided to theme this sensory play around a Witches brew. The bowls held the potion (the foam) and I had some bone powder (baking soda) and eyeballs (cotton balls).

In a blender mix 1 cup of vinegar with 2 Tablespoons of dish soap and around 5 drops of food coloring. I added more because I thought it wasn’t enough, but as I will explain later start with 5 your first time… I added way too much. This is good for around 4 small cauldrons (the bowls) so if you wanted to do less, or make it more than one batch for other colors you could do that too.

When I mixed all the ingredients together the color just wasn’t showing. The potion was a really pale purple, an almost unnoticeable purple by the time I put 10 drops in. But I gave up.

I don’t know how well you can tell from the photo, but when you add your bone powder (baking soda) it brings out the color. By the time we were done with the potions my girls hands (and shirts) were purple too. Thankfully the purple wasn’t permanent.

I tried to contain the mess a little by using cookie trays or pans. While this worked for the most part, my girls wiped the potion on their shirts. This may not be too much a problem if you don’t use a lot of food coloring, but I would probably provide some protection for their clothes if I were you.

The girls loved it and it was a cool learning experiment for me too. I forgot to mention though that the potion did not fizz until it had settled from a foam into colored vinegar. Oh well, it still turned out pretty cool.

Kids Need Play

Freebie Pumpkin Poke

October 26, 2020March 10, 2022 Summer

Dear Readers,

Today I wanted to practice the pincer grasp with my preschoolers. We started with a pushpin and a printout that my sister made us. I did have a little difficulty because nothing I was using was allowing the give that the pin needed to get through. The cardboard I had was too thin and the table was too hard.

Then I had a brainstorm, why not use a folded blanket? We had a lot of muslin blankets still lying around from the baby stage of the kids, so why not use them?

This activity was definitely too hard for my oldest toddler (she didn’t even really poke any of the dots), but it was a good stretch for my youngest preschooler. If you are looking for a good craft for your preschoolers to do during the Halloween season these are a great option. Just don’t expect them to finish them the first time you try doing something like this.

The first one we did might have been way over the kids heads but my oldest did about a third of the pumpkin before she decided she was done. I will link that one for older kids if you would like to do this with elementary aged kids it will be there for them too.

The second one we did is more preschool friendly, so definitely try that with your preschoolers.

Here is the preschool version:

Click here to download

Here is the elementary aged version:

Click here to download

Have fun, whichever one you choose to do.

probably more 4+

Kids Need Play

Freebie Halloween Hidden Picture

October 14, 2020October 15, 2020 Summer

Dear Reader,

I have seen this idea on the internet for a while and wanted to try it out for myself. With a little help from my sister I was able to set this up.

The Idea is you glue white cut-outs on white paper to hide what it is. I used a glue stick (we all know how well those stay glued, so it was perfect for what I wanted).

Once the glue has dried let your child color the paper. To make this activity a little different I also used cotton balls grasped in clothes pins. I did this partly because I don’t know where my paintbrushes are and partly because it is a different item that forces my children to practice the pincer grasp.

Have your child paint the paper until they are ready to stop, just make sure the glued pictures don’t get unstuck prematurely and your child paint under the picture. When the paper is painted let the paint dry, then peel the pictures off and see the hidden pictures.

Click Here To Download

Kids Need Play

Freebie Halloween Shapes

October 14, 2020October 15, 2020 Summer

Dear Reader,

I decided to try something new. Something that turned out to be really messy. I have never used shaving cream to trace shapes or anything else. It has been suggested so many times that I finally decided to take the plunge. Lessons were learned, and not just by the kids.

So the idea for the activity was for my children to practice making different shapes. My oldest really struggles with most of the shapes so I thought this would be the perfect practice. While this was true it has taken me some trial and error.

First lesson, don’t use too much shaving cream. I put a layer as big as my cookie sheet, which ended up being way too much. Since no one told me how thin to make it, or that I needed to do a thin layer at all, I will tell you. Learn from my mistakes, a thin layer will suffice.

Lesson number two, don’t use hands. I thought I would just let my kids use their hands, since that would make a good sensory option as well. Let them play in the shaving cream after, but use a utensil to draw with otherwise your activity will be derailed very quickly. I don’t know if you know this, but shaving cream sticks to your hands very quickly. Shortly after we began there was shaving cream everywhere else too.

I did try this activity a second time with less shaving cream and it worked so much better. My child was able to actually make the pictures. I still let them play in the shaving cream after, but I was able to get them to practice the shapes.

Click here to Download

Kids Need Play

Spiderweb Watercolor

October 12, 2020October 12, 2020 Summer

Dear Reader,

It was interesting to see the different paint style of my children. Each had their own style, but each had fun painting.

The idea behind this activity was to have my children paint on a white piece of paper to find the spiderweb. The oldest traced the lines she could see of the white crayon. The middle child scribbled painted all over the page, until she saw the older child making spots on her paper so she had to do that too. The Toddler (who was really only participating because I didn’t want to fight her off and just make the activity miserable for everyone) painted, and painted, and painted on one spot until the whole page was so soaked it just tore.

You may notice that in the pictures they are using Q-tips to paint with. Why would I use Q-tips? Well the simple answer was that the girls lost their paintbrushes and these were the closest thing I could find. Q-tips can also help you practice the right grasp technique that you need for writing as well.

This Activity was simple and my girls loved it. I may just have to watch the water a little closer next time because the finished pieces got a little soaked in the end. Oh well, at least they dried out. Little sister decided to crumble hers into an unrecognizable mush after she got it so soaked that there was no saving it though.

Kids Need Play

Spiderweb Rescue

October 12, 2020October 8, 2020 Summer

Dear Reader,

When I made this activity I expected my youngest to be the one to play with it the most and my preschoolers to ignore it completely. Boy was I wrong.

The youngest did enjoy it, but I am glad I had him play with it first instead of have him have to fight his sisters to take part. I think it has something to do with how you have to constantly tell preschoolers not to play with baby toys.

I loved watching my youngest try to problem solve how to get the spiders out of the web. He decided to just tip the basket on its side so he could get them better.

To make this activity you need to create a web. I used yarn and a laundry basket. Place the items you want your child to rescue under the web. For this I cut out some spiders from orange and black paper but you can use spider rings, bug toys, or anything you have lying around.

As I stated earlier my preschoolers loved this game too, so I would suggest doing this with your toddler at a time when the preschoolers are preoccupied.