Category: Kids Need Play

our joint venture in raising our families through play.

Kids Need Play

Felt Boards from Oriental Trading

Keira

Dear reader;

If this link works, jump on this! —>

I saw these the other day and thought, “what the heck, they’re worth a shot.” I know they’re labeled to use once and then they’re all done and kinda worthless for anything else, but looking at the picture, I couldn’t see why they weren’t super easy to convert over to a reusable activity.

And I was right! with just a little bit of sandpaper, this is one of the happiest tests I’ve ever had with making a craft into something re-useable. Just stick the sticky felt stickers onto the smooth side of a sheet of sandpaper, cut them out (okay, that part was tedious) and hand the to your kids for endless fun!

One of the sheets doesnt have sticky backs, and I just left them alone. I could add sandpaper, but it hasn’t bugged my kids that the big pieces are slightly less clingy than the smaller pieces.

Also, the stands are kinda worthless, but eh, they came with the kit. they’re just not weighted enough to really hold the project up.

They did fight over the pieces quite a bit, so I’m half tempted to buy 2 more sets before they’re all sold out, but I wish they’d just all share because there are 3 boards, so I don’t think I should have to have 9 of them! I’m just crossing my fingers that when they’re not new, sharing becomes a little easier.

My oldest started out with the gingerbread man. The mouth is upside down, so the sandpaper side is showing.
Keira at searchforseven.com
Kids Need Play

Write a Letter to Santa

Keira

Dear Reader;

Holy Cow, this week has creeped up on us! It’s the last week of school before the holidays!

Our preschool teacher sent us home a few papers to write letters to Santa as “homework” this week. She never gives homework (preschoolers shouldn’t have any homework besides reading stories, imo. She does have goals she’d like us to meet in other ways, which is totally cool, because that inspires activities for us), so this wasn’t meant to be graded and turned in, just something fun to do. She sent home enough for everyone to do one!

She told us that we could bring them to an activity she was putting together (more on that next week) and we could mail them to Santa, and that was pretty exciting for our kiddo. Preschool is great for inspiration for activities, and I love it. I am sure eventually I’m going to be more inclined to homeschool my neuro-divergent daughter, but this teacher has been sooo good for her!

What did my toddlers ask for Christmas? one said “Toys! (it was kind of prompted, though, since she looked at us confused.)” and the other one said, “a visit from Grandma!” As you can see, my preschooler wants birthday cake, haha.

Hope your holidays are going well!

Keira at searchforseven.com
Kids Need Play

Decorate gift bags

Keira

Dear Reader,

As I was walking around our local dollar store, I came across these cute little bags. I figured eh, why not! Something that takes zero prep work once we get home is always a bonus! and the fact that it cost me $3 ($1/kid) was a win. so I grabbed them. Apparently they’re trendy, because since doing this project, I’ve seen some at Walmart, too. They’re just canvas bags, not super high quality or anything.

The kit came with markers, so when we got home, I handed each of them a bag and a snack, and they all colored while I put groceries away. I usually have to wrestle all the favorite foods away from little fingers before everything gets opened or crumbled or squished before I can get it all put away. It was kinda nice to have the lack of “help,” for a change.

I don’t really know what we will do with the bags afterwards. Maybe they can use them to wrap gifts in. It’ll all depend on whether they’re determined to carry them around. Honestly, even if I get sick of them around my house or if they rip, I won’t be overly concerned, because I bought them for entertainment value. These 2 love to color, and color everything (even if they’re not supposed to), so although it’s great for the pincer grasp skill (something big sister really struggles with), for them, it’s more about giving them something they enjoy. If your kids are more like said big sis, this is a great activity because it lets her color something that isn’t just a coloring book, so it’s novel. I’ve found that to be pretty helpful for her. She’s more excited to do something if it’s new. Especially something she doesn’t like doing.

Keira at searchforseven.com
  • or buy and go, as the case may be…
Kids Need Play

Go See a Live Nativity

Keira

Dear Reader,

We had a pretty neat opportunity this week! Our community hosted a live nativity. They found sheep and camels and goats and a donkey, got a sound system, and read from Luke 2. Behind the “Stable” that was in the park shelter, there was a whole little “village,” set up! They had a blacksmith, a basket weaver, a wood shop, a bakery (with pastries and hot chocolate) a ropemaker, and a tent with baby lambs and a bunny to pet.

The blacksmith let everyone make a square nail into a ring (we didn’t do that one because by the time we got there, the line was long. The basket weaver told us about a shepherd’s sling and how it was made. Then we talked about the story of David and Goliath. the ropemaker’s building had a twine making machine and we watched them make rope for a minute or two before moving on to pet the tiny little lambs and hold the bunny. At the woodshop, we made little ornaments for our tree. It’s really just a stamp on a circle of wood, but I absolutely love them.

And then it was time for the live nativity to start! We got into place and watched and heard the story of Jesus’ birth. By then my kids were pretty cold, but they still loved when the camels came in. And we were pretty close to the host of angels, so my kids liked that. I love the spirit that the story of Christ’s birth gives to the season.

If your community has a live nativity this season, I highly recommend taking your kiddos to it. Especially the preschool-aged kiddos because that’s when the story really gets real. Preschoolers thrive off of live-action things that they can see and hear and use their senses for.

Keira at searchforseven.com
Kids Need Play

Christmas Tree Handprint

Summer

Dear Readers,

This was a lot harder for me to do than I originally intended. Not because this is a hard activity, but my time management has been in question for a few weeks.

This activity is mostly self explanatory. First trace your child’s hand on a piece of paper the color you want your Christmas tree to be. Then cut it out. Get a second paper to glue your tree to and something for a trunk. Glue the trunk to the paper, then glue the handprint (or prints if you want, I wanted to have a family tree of all the kids). The final step is to let your little artist decorate the tree. This could be done any way you like. You could finger paint, use stickers, use crayons or anything you want. The sky’s the limit.

I decided I wanted to have my youngest finger paint the baubles on, but he doesn’t like having his fingers dirty apparently so it ended up being my second oldest doing it.

One caution I have is that if you decide to finger paint you will want to use washable paint or cover everything. My second oldest got both her shirt and the table painted, but I have washable paint for that reason.

In all this wasn’t a very engaging activity for my children. It was more a project for me. It is great if you want to make a keepsake or a gift.

  • only involved because of the story. could be free play
Kids Need Play

Bubble Wrap

Keira

Dear Reader,

Kids love bubble wrap! My preschooler belted out her first belly laugh as a baby when her cousins popped all the bubbles in front of her. Her fascination with the popping plastic has never ceased from that day. But as babies and toddlers, the idea of plastic means having to spend time watching them so they don’t put the plastic in their mouths. Especially one of my twins! She loves eating plastic. I have to keep a close eye on her. I spend so much time getting things out of her mouth. And time around the holidays is pretty sparse. I was having one of those, “nothing is getting done,” days and decided I needed to just regroup, and so did my kids. Everyone was just cranky. So I decided while I was sitting, there was no harm in letting them have a good time and playing with the bubble wrap that came in the package we got this morning. My toddlers loved it!

They focused on each bubble, lined up their fingers and pinched! It was fun watching the focus! It’s crazy that something we don’t focus on too much requires so much focus. Plus, not only is it good for the hand-eye coordination, it’s also great for the pincer grasp.

When their hands get tired, they went back to stomping on it (something they already knew how to do. It’s definitely the easier way to pop bubble wrap) and I still superficially pat myself on the back because now they’re working on balance. Take your victories where you can! Especially on those spinning-tires days.

Kids Need Play

Ornament Decorating

Summer

Dear Readers,

A simple activity you can do with your littles is decorating ornaments.

This is a great activity for the holidays. It works on the pincer grasp and your kiddos will love to see their ornaments hanging on the tree.

My older kids also made their own ornaments so it is a great activity to include your elementary aged kids as well.

This activity can take as much or little time as you want or need it to, as long as you have things to add to the ornament. You can also go as simple or elaborate as you want.

This year we just used jewel stickers and a bell, but you could use a bunch of different things. You can even make one from scratch with popsicle sticks. If you do something with cutting it will work on your childs scissor grasp skills. Whatever fine motor skill your child needs to work on you can add into the activity.

Have fun!

Kids Need Play

Gingerbread House

Summer

Dear Readers,

This last weekend we built gingerbread houses. The girls really enjoyed it, mostly because they got to eat a lot of candy.

This is a tradition that my mother-in-law does every year. It was great to see how the kids did. The younger kids didn’t do so well, but the older ones did a lot better.

This was an exercise in having patience. Putting the sides together you need to wait until the icing dries. Then you need to wait until the roof dries. If you don’t then you will end up with a pile of gingerbread.

Decorating the house is the most fun though. Once they are put together you can let their imagination run wild. My oldest decided to put nests on the roof, and a candy cane was stuck to the side.

It was fun, but took a lot of time. It may take less time next year, though. With the kids getting older they will need less help.

Kids Need Play

Hole Punch Corn Cob

Keira

Dear Reader,

Hope your Thanksgiving was a good one! Ours was definitely busy. It is nice to spend time with family, though. Before we headed off to all our festivities, we needed some preschool-level distraction! So I pulled out the construction paper and printed off a corn template (free download by clicking here). while I was using it to cut out the cob and husk, I handed my preschooler some orange, white and brown paint and an orange and red(ish?) sheet of construction paper and let her paint.

while it was drying, I had her help me glue the pieces onto our main page. First the cob and then the husks. You could wait for the husks if you wanted to, since all the corn kernels are supposed to be inside the husk, but a)it was a good distraction while paint dried, and b) my little artist is an all-or-nothing type and would want to put a lot of “kernels” down where they’d be hidden. this made it easier to glue before as opposed to after.

After the paint was completely dried, I handed her my hole punch and told her to make me some confetti. This step was pretty hard for my preschooler, but she is working on her grip strength, so it was good exercise for her. She would do a couple on her own, and then I’d put my hand on hers and apply the pressure needed to keep going. Then it was onto working on our pincer grasp!

Once you have enough “kernels” punched out, cover your corn cob portion in glue stick or glitter glue. You could use liquid school glue but it makes the construction paper get a little wrinkly, so proceed with caution. the pro to school glue vs glue stick is that the modern idea of a glue stick is kinda weaksauce and a huge disappointment with how quick it dries. (seriously, Elmers. You fail. You don’t care. But you are not as good as you used to be). Then have your kiddo sprinkle the confetti onto the cob. Get a good coating and then press it down with your palms so that it’ll stick when you lift up the page to let anything that didn’t get glued down slide off.

As you can see, I lifted up the flaps a little so all the kernels ended up under the green husks. I didn’t do that for the title picture, if you want to compare. I also let her make it her own with a pen. She doesn’t like drawing or coloring at all, so any chance she’ll take to use a pen or pencil or crayon or anything is a score. It’s another way to strengthen her struggling pincer grasp.

Anyway, she had fun and it kept her busy instead of asking me if it was time to go yet or eat yet or any of the million other questions.

Keira at searchforseven.com
Kids Need Play

Gravity Slide

Summer

Dear Reader,

Younger toddlers love to play the pick up game. This activity takes advantage of that.

The gravity slide is just a slide for toys. This can be made with any toy and long item to make a slide. I used the lid to a big storage tub.

My younger two really enjoyed this activity, so much so that they fought over it. My suggestion is to have one for each toddler or to try to help them learn to take turns.

My youngest toddler didn’t quite grasp this but if I tried again when he is a little older I am sure he will be able to do it. He will also have more of an attention span for it as well and I won’t have to be as much a part of it.