As a former early childhood teacher, I find myself always looking for ways my littles can have some hands-on fun with learning. That’s how learning SHOULD be… FUN! And with my background, obviously I LOVE a good theme! Now, is it crucial you have a theme when it comes to play? Absolutely not! That’s just my preference. I am here to help show ideas and tips on how to make learning just a tad more fun and inviting.
Sensory Fun
Sensory Boxes are SO fun, and so easy! Sensory boxes bring so much benefit to little ones fine motor skills, language development, and their sensory connections. It is such a great way to teach them impulse control too!! Scared of a mess? Lay a vinyl tablecloth down or a towel underneath the box.
There’s just something so inviting about a rice box. I love to color my rice to make it more festive. You can find the how-to on that here. Rice boxes are my FAVORITE. It’s always the most messy too… but that’s toddlerhood. LOL. I lay a mat down underneath and am with my littles during the first dozen times they play, in order to show what is a good choice, and not so good choice. My little girl LOVED to throw the rice everywhere, which obviously is not a good choice, so many times she was given 2 warnings, and then 3rd strike, the lid was put on, and the box was done. I would always say, “You’re having a hard time making good choices, keeping rice in the box. We’ll try again later.”
Who doesn’t love a good “Jingle Bells” sing-a-long? This box is fun, it pairs perfectly with magnets. We use these magnet wands to make this box a little more fun.
There’s something to this bin that I just LOVE. It screams fun, while also having a little bit of everything. I found these cute pasta shapes at Aldi a couple years ago. Add in some Poms, bows, trinkets, and grabbers. We serve “Christmas Cheer” in the reindeer cups. ❤️
Kinetic sand might be one of the coolest inventions when it comes to kid play… My kids LOVE the sand, but like… the mess… no thanks. Kinetic sand is like a dough, but texture of sand. If you haven’t ever tried it, I HIGHLY encourage you to pick up a bag next time your at the store looking for a little treat for your little one. It’s great, but with supervision. 😉
This play dough is sooo easy to make, and lasts about a year if it’s stored in a ziplock bag. You can find that recipe here. Play dough is definitely a favorite, and when this tray is out, the kids climb right up to the table to squish, squeeze, poke, cut, and make their own creations.
Fine Motor Activities
For littles who can’t write yet, I put out a bunch of different print outs and magazine cut outs of their favorite toys I know they want. They choose which ones they want to include on their “list” to Santa, and then we glue them to the page and send it off! For the older kids I made up this page to send Santa. A place for a picture and practice writing the word. Grab your copy for FREE here.
Writing Christmas/ Holiday cards is such an easy little activity to put out. It also is a great way for littles to learn how to hold writing tools. Grab a tray and cut some colored construction paper in half and fold them into cards. I put out cups of crayons and markers/pencils, and a box of holiday stickers I found at the dollar store.
If your child is under the age of 5, I wouldn’t stress too much about how they are holding the writing tool, but more focus on the strokes they are able to make, and model how you are making your own card. Kids are amazing observers and learn by watching, and then trying to do it like you. As you’re making your own creation, speak your actions. Like.. “I am making a line, I’m starting at the top and bringing my crayon all the way down.” or “Oo! I made a circle like a snowman! If I put my crayon here, and bring it ‘arounnnndd town’, It makes a circle! COOL!” You can observe their work too, such as, “Wow, you made a line!” or “Look at all of those colors! I love it!”
This is such a good fine motor activity with lacing the pasta/cereal. Put out a container of holiday shaped pasta or this elf cereal we’ve been seeing everywhere! I actually found both at ALDI. Add some pipe cleaners for sturdiness, or string with tape on the end for older kids.
Because who doesn’t love a good homemade kid ornament?! They are definitely some of my favorites hanging on the tree. I use this veggie tray for all things that involve multiple items in our activities. Its truly amazing, and I only paid $1 for it at the Dollar Store!! We love to use our Kwik Stix for easy/quick (and less mess) painting. These tempura paint sticks are a total game changer. Add some bells, pom pom balls, glitter, google eyes, and glitter to make the ultimate homemade ornaments.
This one was so fun to create. I traced a shadow of a gingerbread man on contact paper, flipped it over and taped it sticky side out to the wall, using painters tape. I made a reel on the “how-to” over on Instagram last year. Add some strips of brown paper to use to fill in the man!
Catch the Gingerbread Friends
Our silly elf got into it with these gingerbread men…This is a pretty simple set up. I got these cute little gingerbread boys and girls from Jayme over at Teach Talk Inspire. She has an awesome Learn & Play bundle for every month of the year with incredible resources to make it easy to create fun learning opportunities with your littles. You can find those HERE. Hide the gingerbread friends all over the house, and have your little match up the numbers!
Sound Ornaments
Last year my little guy was working on using all the sounds in his words. These cute little ornaments can be found here. I made a reel on this too, on Instagram showing how I “hide” all my ornaments for my kids to find, and then fill the tree. For older kiddos, you can use the ornaments to match the rhyming pictures, too!
I hope you give some of these activities a try! Tag us so we can see your fun! Be sure to follow along on Instagram & Facebook, too!
Happy Holidays!
XO,
Holly
Making Beautiful Messes 