Kids Need Play – Page 5 – Search For Seven

Opening lids

December 2, 2021January 9, 2022 Keira

Dear Reader,

I’ve been saving these lids for some kind of hidden prize activity or the like, but I just haven’t had time to put the game together and my kids just needed some extra lap time, today, so I handed them the lids while they hang out in my laps. I have a few different shapes and colors, but they’re all from wet wipes. They stayed sticky when I pulled off the plastic that houses the wipes so I simply stuck them together so they king of open like books. That also gave them 2 different ends that opened. It was a super simple project, but it allowed me to get my work done while still having little toddlers in my lap. And for that, I’m claiming victory. Eventually, I’ll cut out the flaps and put pictures inside the flaps and make the eye-spy or match game or whatever I finally decide to do with these, but for now, they make a great distraction and fine-motor toy.

Shadow Puppets

December 1, 2021December 1, 2021 Summer

Dear Readers,

I am always on the lookout for new ways to help my kiddos practice the different skills they need to have for school. Believe it or not, playing with shadows can help too!

There are a lot of shapes you can make. Making the normal duck shape, or any form of grasping can help with pencil grasp.

Hand dexterity is so important so practicing some of the other shapes is cool to.

You can add another layer to it and add some literacy elements by making a shadow puppet play.

Kids Need Play

I Spy Letter Sounds

November 29, 2021December 1, 2021 Summer

Dear Readers,

As the school year began this year many parents were learning that their child had fallen behind on their reading skills. This pandemic has not been kind to those just learning the beginning sounds to reading. My child was one of those that suffered.

She really struggled finding out the way to pick out letters in the words. I thought and thought about how I could help her with her reading. Then an idea came to me.

My older kids love to play I spy. I had a brain spark about using this to help with the sounds of letters.

Stock Photo by Ekaterina Belinskaya from Pexels

Basically played the same way as the original, “I spy with my little eye, something that…” Instead of saying a color here I decided to change it to “something that starts with the sound sss.” You could do start with, ends with, or if they get really good you can do middle sounds. Also when they get really good at the sounds you could change it to the letters.

My oldest did well at this game but my next oldest didn’t want to play it that way. It was the difference between first and kindergarten age and knowledge I think. My second oldest is just starting out on her journey to learning letter sounds and names, whereas my oldest (who is behind) has a little bit firmer foundation.

All in all I think it is one we will play every once in a while, and keep revisiting when my second oldest gets a firmer foundation with sounds.

Edit: my kids are spontaneously starting this game as we wait for the bus, so they seem to like it.

Kids Need Play

Sponge Bath

March 9, 2021March 2, 2021 Summer

Dear Readers,

As I have stated before, my kids love water. We are always looking for new ways to play in the water.

Today we decided to add sponges to our bath. My toddlers loved scrubbing the wall and each other.

You can use sponges to add another layer of sensory play. Another way to use sponges is to help your toddler learn the different body parts.

“Scrub your leg.”

“Now scrub your arm!”

All you need is sponges and a bath. You can add other aspects, we chose to add bubbles and color. It was so much fun!

Kids Need Play

Tweezer Activity

March 9, 2021March 2, 2021 Summer

Dear Readers,

Today I decided to work on the pincer grasp. Getting ready for pencil grasp will be important for when they begin writing.

This activity can have multiple levels of difficulty. To begin we had to make our tweezers. There are a couple different ways to make tweezers, but we chose to use some straws and hair ties. First you fold the straws in half (we chose these thick shake straws). Then you use the hair ties to wrap the fold. This makes the straw stay in the form of tweezers.

The easiest item we had to pick up was cotton balls. We also had varying sizes of beads to make it a little more difficult.

The girls played with this for a while, moving the items from bowl to cup and back again.

Kids Need Play

National Read Across America day: Puppet Play

March 2, 2021March 1, 2021 Summer

Dear Readers,

National Read Across America day is today! We decided to celebrate it by putting on a puppet play, but first we needed to have the puppets.

Puppets are easy enough to make. All we did was cut a gingerbread man outline out and then customize them. Once the customization was done we glued them onto the giant popsicle sticks. And there you have it, we had puppets ready for our play.

The play we chose was the 3 little pigs and the big bad wolf. The girls loved making the puppets and had varying amounts of help.

With the puppets done the kids were able to put on the play. They enjoyed telling the story over and over and over again. They put on the play multiple times for us because they had so much fun doing it.

If you have kids like mine, you’ll need to be prepared to sit through multiple renditions. But on the bright side you won’t have to do much for it.

Brag, Educational, Kids Need Play

Read Across America Day: Complete a Reading Challenge

March 2, 2021June 24, 2022 Keira

Dear Reader,

Happy Read Across America Day! Or, happy birthday to Dr Seuss, if you’d rather. In honor of Dr Seuss’ birthday, I wanted to share a great accomplishment we just reached at our house! My preschooler has reached her goal of reading 1000 books! And my toddlers are at 500.

Okay, they can’t read. But they can listen. And they do!

I kinda just said, yeah, sure when the library offered the program, thinking it was a good way to dedicate snuggle time to my then-toddler while her twin sisters were still tiny (read: super time-consuming and attention-needing). They helped me download the Beanstack app and signed me up for the challenge linked to their library (I know a lot of libraries all over the US use the app, check with your library!), and that allowed us to start earning prizes. So far we have earned games, book bags, shirts, simple crafts, and a handprint on the library wall!

My toddlers don’t really care about the prizes, but they love the trips to the library. And they love books! I guess that’s the real benefit to the challenge. To have such a love of books at a young age is amazing. And my preschooler is already listening to chapter books at night. The kid that never.sits.still will curl up in my lap and sit for a solid 20-30 minutes and listen to intermediate-level chapters! It’s her favorite part of the night. Story time has slowly gotten longer and longer, and honestly, even though it takes more of my time, I love it, too.

I hope, in honor of Dr Seuss, you pick up a book today. And I hope you enjoy it as much as we do. And if you don’t… You’re reading the wrong books!

Kids Need Play

Park Play

November 18, 2020November 23, 2020 Summer

Dear Readers,

With grandma coming for a visit we needed something simple and fun to do. With the weather being so nice I thought it would be the perfect time to go to the park.

My girls love the park, and had a blast. The best part about the park is that there are so many options on what to do. There is the slide, or swings, or even the splash park when it is warm enough. There are also fields so if we had brought a ball we could have played with that, or climbed trees.

Not all parks are equal, but the chance to get outside is always a plus. And like I said there are lots of options you can do at a park, even if they don’t have a playground.

Kids Need Play

Proprioceptive Ball Play

November 18, 2020March 1, 2021 Summer

Dear Readers,

I have some children who are constantly seeking proprioceptive input. I pretty sure I have said this in a previous post but proprioceptive input is the input from joints, muscles and connective tissues that underlie body awareness. It can be obtained by lifting, pushing, and pulling heavy objects, including one’s own weight.

I have had this exercise ball for many years and haven’t brought it out until now. It has been hidden in a corner and I am regretting that I haven’t thought to bring it out before now.

The kids have loved playing with the ball and I don’t have to watch them too closely while they play with it. My oldest (the biggest seeker of the proprioceptive input) has especially loved exploring what she can do with the ball. It has been a great help.

Kids Need Play

Coffee Filter Crinkle

November 17, 2020November 29, 2021 Keira

Dear Reader,

Coffee filters are pretty useful. They make great snack holders, because they don’t dump the contents all over the room when bumped or pushed. They’re good for getting streak-free windows. And they’re great for crafts. While my preschooler and I were working on a big craft project today, I needed something to count as a toddler activity, and something that entertained the toddlers enough to get our craft done! So, I handed them some coffee filters. I figured they’d wrinkle them and crumble them, but they were definitely more interested in separating the filters than anything else.

After I crinkled up a few, it kinda became more fun to crinkle them, but really, they just liked playing in the paper more than anything. It doesn’t crinkle the same way as doctors-office paper, so I guess they would have had more fun with that? But a) I had coffee filters, and b) they still were exploring and working on hand-eye coordination by separating the layers, so it was still a fun activity for them, even if it wasn’t what I anticipated. Just goes to show you, when you’re planning an activity for toddlers, a but of flexibility is required.