Do your kids love fruit and smoothies? Mine are major fruit consumers, so when I learned about this DIY Smoothie Station DIY activity from Teach Nutrition Maritimes, I was excited to try it.
All of the instructions, sample recipes, and labels are provided for free on the Teach Nutrition Maritimes website. The free download includes materials requirements and instructions for how to make the DIY blender and all the fruit loose parts. There are even labels to stick on the containers and sample smoothie recipes.
One of my favourite things about this activity is it’s made from recycled containers and simple craft supplies. It’s a inexpensive and easy way to make a fun and educational dramatic play setup for your kids. Here’s how mine turned out.
The kids thought having a Smoothie Bar where they could create their own smoothies was so fun! They followed the printed recipes at first and then quickly launched into dreaming up their own recipes. I love dramatic play because it has so many benefits. The kids learned about nutrition while practicing reading, measuring, math skills, cooperation and sharing.
There is such an amazing variety and amount of fruit parts in this activity. My kids wanted to try out each kind (naturally) so it kept them busy for ages.
Start saving your recyclables! This is such a fun DIY project!
Whose kids love Frozen? Definitely mine! The kids have loved Elsa, Anna and friends for a few years now and are currently in a major Frozen-loving phase.
I like to try and build on their interests when I can, so I thought up a few activities that involve Elsa and Anna. Winter is the perfect season for some real and pretend ice play. Here are some of the Frozen-inspired play activities we’ve done and loved lately.
Frozen Ice Rescue
What says ‘Frozen’ more than an actual castle made of ice?
I used buckets, mud kitchen pans and recycling containers (milk cartons, plastic bottles and a muffin package), filled them with water and left them outside to freeze. I also filled up the Tuff Tray with water and left it to freeze. Since some of the buckets were large and our temperatures didn’t drop very low, it took a few days for the containers of water to all freeze, so you may need to plan a few days in advance.
The Little People Frozen characters froze in cups of water in the freezer.
When everything was frozen, I set out the ice pieces and stacked a few of them to resemble a castle tower. I also put out a bowl of table salt and some squeeze bottles of warm water. When the kids came outside, they used the salt and warm water to free their friends from the ice.
It’s a great activity for hand strength and learning about how to melt ice. I found it to be an inexpensive, easy and fun option for winter play!
Large Tuff Tray – Scholar’s Choice (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY15)
Squeeze bottles – Dollarama
Little People Frozen characters (these are my kids’ favourites)
Frozen Arendelle Castle Small World
We can only be outside for short periods of time in the winter, so I set up our wooden castle pieces indoors to resemble Arendelle (as best I could). The kids said it didn’t look like Arendelle (haha), but I think they had fun with it anyway.
The castle is a mixture of the Drewart Large Fastness (the largest of the Drewart fastness castles), the Drewart Crane Tower, the Drewart Pirate Island and a number of Ostheimer castle pieces and walls. I added Wonderie Play Cloths as a back drop and floor covering along with some Sarah’s Silks. Then, I added the Frozen characters, some felt winter pieces and some gems and lucite cubes. The kids also decided to add their unicorns to the scene.
The castle was big enough for them to sit inside and they enjoyed dreaming up all kinds of stories involving their Frozen friends.
Wooden castle pieces: Drewart Large Fastness, Crane Tower and Pirate Island, Ostheimer Castle pieces – Nest
Wonder ‘Waves of Light in the Night’ Play Cloth, felt snow stitched balls, icebergs, snowflakes, Grimm’s giant acrylic gems – Sewing Seeds Play (save with HOUSEOFPLAY10)
Preloved Wonder ‘Frozen Arctic’ Play Cloth, wooden cart, Sewing Seeds Play felt snow stitched balls – Wonder + Kind Shop (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
Aurora Blocks, Arctic Ice Cave, wooden snowflakes – The Maple Mouse Sensory (save with ‘houseofplay10)
We recently added a Light Table and Clear Cover Tray to our play resources. It’s been wonderful for the kids during the winter months when we’re inside more than usual. The light has such a soothing feeling and adds a new element to our sensory play.
We tried out some fizzy play on the light table and invited our Frozen pals to the party.
We used Magic Potion Powder and squeeze bottles of water (since the fizz reaction is activated by water). I also added some Miracle Snow for the kids to mix with their potions. It comes as a powder that is activated by water to resemble real snow. Since both potion powder and snow are activated by water – they were very compatible in this play. When things get wet and messy, I avoid anything wood or felt and stick with resin, acrylic and plastic for easy cleaning after.
The kids explored the textures, mixed up potions and then created a Frozen spa with warm water for Anna and cold water for Elsa. I always love seeing what creative ideas they come up with.
The fizzing reaction is also very interesting to watch on the light table since the bubble details are accentuated.
Magic Potion Powder, Resin trees – Kidfolk & Co. (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY15)
After the Christmas decorations finally get stowed away, we like to focus on winter play. Since we live in Canada, winter is characterized by cold, snow and ice and January is the perfect time to explore many of these concepts.
Our Approach to Rotations
We don’t do a full toy rotation anymore. This is mostly because many of our toys are open-ended and continue to be played with in different capacities. However, it is fun to recognize the month and season we’re in with a few special and fresh items. Instead of a full toy rotation, we rotate one shelf monthly to reflect the play themes we’ll be exploring in the upcoming weeks.
I like having all of our resources out and available, so they can easily be added into activities. The kids like to also add the seasonal figures and pieces into their play with our open-ended toys.
Why Rotate Toys and Books?
Rotation helps keep things fresh and interesting. By putting away items for a few months and then bringing them back out, it generates new excitement and interest for kids. Even though the toys aren’t new, they seem new and novel. My kids will recall fond memories of playing with the toys in the past and want to replicate those experiences. They love rediscovering old favourites.
January Toy Rotation
So what did we bring out for January? Here are some of our winter favourites.
Along with winter toys, we like to bring out our wintertime stories. There are so many great children’s books about winter, snow and animals that live in cold climates. Here are 10 of our favourites.
This fall we enjoyed so many fun and educational learning themes from nature and our favourite books. Here are ten highlights from our sensory play activities over the past few months.
1. The Gruffalo Sensory Play
The Gruffalo is a firm favourite in our house. We’ve read it over, and over… and over. So, it was definitely time to do a sensory play activity based on the book.
For this play, I attempted to recreate the main scenes from the book around the Tuff Tray. The fox, owl, snake and Gruffalo each had their own areas for the mouse to visit on his way through the forest.
We do a lot of sensory and book play, but something about this play especially made me marvel at just how many learning opportunities are present in activities like these. And my kids were soaking them all up.
My 6 year old daughter immediately wanted to figure out the story sequence (and I read the book aloud to help her determine the order). While my 4 year old son wasn’t very interested in story sequencing, he was fascinated by the habitats the animals retreat to in the story.
And then both kids led the rest of the play and experimented with shape, size and speed in the Tree Trunk Dice Tower. They dug into (my favourite) dirt scented sensory mix and got creative decorating the Gruffalo sensory tray and building structures with the materials.
Of course, all of this while being immersed in the world of The Gruffalo – thanks to the gorgeous story blocks and animal figures. It was an awesome play.
Materials
Gruffalo Wood Hand-painted Story Blocks – The Maple Mouse Sensory (save with code ‘houseofplay10’)
Bajo Gruffalo and Mouse Jumbo Wood Figures, Felt Sheet Mats, Felt Acorns and Acorn Trinket Container – Sewing Seeds Play (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
Tree Trunk Dice Tower and Gruffalo Sensory Tray – Cjeco-Play
Papoose Toadstool Trunks and Raduga Grez Trees – Modern Rascals
This is such an easy and fun activity and it’s really 2 activities in 1. The first activity is for the kids to gather nature potion ingredients. This could be anything that looks interesting to them including leaves, acorns, pinecones, sticks, rocks, chestnuts, and berries. My kids enjoy gathering the ingredients almost as much as they like playing with them.
Once the ingredients are gathered, set them out with some water, utensils and potion powder. I used a pre-made powder from Kidfolk and Co, but you could also make your own using this recipe. Nature Fizzy Potions is definitely a go-to activity for us (and a little secret – it works for any season at any time of the year).
Materials
Magic Potion Powder – Kidfolk and Co. (save with HOUSEOFPLAY15)
Yellow Door Education Forest Play Sensory Stones – Sewing Seeds Play (save with HOUSEOFPLAY10)
I’ll be honest, I wanted this Sunflower Kit from The Maple Mouse Sensory Shop from the moment I saw it because it’s so gorgeous. It reminds me of the beautiful sunflower fields I saw in Italy. It was only once I received it, that I realized how well thought out it is. It is perfect for math play-based learning!
My daughter is 6, so she started Grade 1 this year, and I thought we could ease into some low-pressure, play-based learning with counting, skip counting and arithmetic practice.
Materials
Sunflower Flisat Bundle – The Maple Mouse Sensory (scented sensory filler, felt balls and sunflowers, wooden handprinted insert) (save with code ‘houseofplay10’)
Wooden Letter Blocks – AW and Co. (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
Bumbu Sunflower Stacker & Beyond Measure Boards Numbers/ Lines Reversible Mini Learning Mat – Wonder + Kind (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
Do you have the Grapat Mandala? This is such a fun way to use it in play – we’ve been doing this activity for the past few years at Thanksgiving and my kids always love it.
The recipe cards from Spire Kids list the Grapat Mandala “ingredients” to include in each dish. It’s great for early math skills, shape matching, colour matching (my kids like to try an match the shades on the cards), creativity and dramatic play. It’s packed full of benefits.
We also added some of our felt pies to this play because every good Thanksgiving dinner needs pie for desert!
Grapat Mandala pieces – Sewing Seeds Play (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
Felt Pumpkin Pie, Felt Blueberry Pie, Felt Mini Apple Pie – Tara Treasures (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
Large Apple Pie with Apple Slices – Judy Tutti Fruiti
5. Pumpkin Spice Sensory Play
Once the weather starts to turn cold, nothing says “fall” like a cozy Pumpkin Spice play. I think it’s hilarious that my kids know what a pumpkin spice latte is. lol. It has become engrained in our fall culture.
We scooped, poured and added all sorts of fun loose parts. I added some white yarn and scissors so the kids could practice some cutting skills and making milk patterns in our coffees. This addition was a big hit. They loved measuring out the pieces of yarn, cutting them and then swirling the onto their pumpkin spice lattes.
Felt pumpkin spice cups and pumpkin pie slices – Judy Tutti Fruiti
Resin pumpkin spice pieces, ice cubes and coffee cup trays – Playspiration
6. Road Trip Slime Pumpkin Pie
This might surprise you, but my favourite sensory material to bring in the car is now – Slime!
I never thought I would say that. I love that it all (mostly) stays together and doesn’t dry out and create little crumbles that fall all over the seats and car. Also – the kids love it- so it keeps them occupied and most importantly – this brand of slime will wash out of clothes, other fabrics and hair with vinegar! So I don’t have to worry if some goes astray.
We brought these little kits with us for our Thanksgiving weekend drive to the cottage. The kids were so excited when they saw the slime surprise I’d brought for them.
Materials
Magic Slime and Magic Glitter (biodegradable) – Kidfolk & Co. (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY15)
Polymer Clay Slices – I got mine from AliExpress, but you can also get them from Sewing Seeds Play
7. Sweeping Leaves
When I’m in the mood for a simple activity, Sweeping Leaves delivers. This activity took less than 5 minutes to set up. I made 2 tape squares (one for each of my two kids) and dumped a bunch of leaves and autumn loose parts in the tray. I used what I had, but you could also just collect some leaves and sticks from outside.
The objective was to sweep the leaves and other fall items into the square, collect them with the dust pan and then dump the pan in the bowl. Easy and fun, and a great way to practice those practical life sweeping skills!
We also read “Sweep” (one of our favourite fall reads) and talked about how sometimes our emotions can take over and what to do about it.
Materials
Yellow Door Sensory Stones Forest Floor – Sewing Seeds Play (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
We are explored woodland creatures and their habits in late fall and winter in this sensory Tuff Tray small world. Using the printable cards for guidance, we included some of our favourite woodland friends and the materials for them to find hibernation homes.
Our paper cache tree is made from recycled materials and gets quite a bit of use so I decided to make a half log to add to our collection. It’s made of cardboard rings that have been glued together, paper machéd, and painted. Now it’s a perfect little winter home for one of our animal friends. I have a post here on how I made the tree if you’d like more information.
Materials
Felt Skippy Squirrel, felt acorns and acorn container, felt bees, felt snails, felt pinecone, Yellow Door forest floor sensory stones – Sewing Seeds Play (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
Papoose Trees, Zooble Toys felt cave and stone, AW&Co. letter Blocks – Wonder + Kind Shop (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
Pinecone Wood Tray and Wood Letter Blocks – AW&Co (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
We’ve done a lot of pie related play this year. For good reason – it is a house favourite. It’s full of sensory exploration opportunities and learning possibilities.
This time, we made some festive playdough pumpkin pies while learning about fractions. My kids are certainly familiar with thinking about how many pieces of pie they get, so it was a good introduction to the concept.
I made the fraction pieces out of cardboard so the kids could made their playdough pies on top and then cut them using the guidance of the cardboard. I thought this would be a little easier for the kids since fractions are new to them. I composted the cardboard when we were finished, but you could easily cover them in clear packing tape if you want them to last for multiple plays.
Once the snow suits are out, it really starts feeling wintery here. Even though it’s still technically fall, we ready to change over to winter and Christmas play.
To mark the occasion, we did some sensory play and read one of our favourite books about seasons changing – As an Oak Tree Grows. The kids sorted the loose parts and sensory materials into fall and winter items and made some of their own creative wintery scenes.
If you’ve read to this point and are wondering where our Halloween plays went, we did do them, but I didn’t have the chance to post them on here in time for anyone to be interested. I may put them up next year before Halloween or if you’re interested please check out my Instagram or TikTok. Things happen much closer to real time on there.
If you know our family, then you know my son is obsessed with farms and wants to be a farmer when he grows up. Unsurprisingly, we do a lot of farm play. Here are some of our recent farm- themed plays from this fall. We do all kinds of farm play including sensory, small world and dramatic play.
Corn Maze & Pumpkin Patch Sensory Play
Nothing says “fall” like a trip to a corn maze and pumpkin patch – so I thought it would be fun to make a small world sensory tray on this theme.
We have many farm resources, but I don’t have a corn maze so I made one with cardboard, pasta and shredded paper. I cut out a large square of cardboard and then glued rigatoni pasta to the cardboard in a maze shape. Once the pastas were secure, I stuffed each piece with some shredded paper and ribbon packing material I had saved.
The sensory mix is also DIY. It’s a mixture of rice, beans, lentils and pumpkin shaped pasta from Homesense. I painted a few swirly pastas green, but the rest is natural.
The kids definitely approved of this play and spent a few hours harvesting pumpkins and making their “houses” in the barn tray and the corn maze (filling them with rice mix and putting the straw ‘roof’ on top). As a bonus, it got them very excited to go visit a corn maze in person.
All felt (sheet mats, scare crow, pumpkins, sunflowers, yellow balls) – Sewing Seeds Play (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
We do a new dramatic play set up about once a month, usually with the play kitchen. The kids never seem to tire of their play kitchen, so we’ve dedicated a fairly large portion of our playroom to it.
This September, we played Farmers’ Market! This was an easy one to set up, since we already had the food (except for the DIY potatoes – thanks Mom). I just added some printables from The PreK Mama.
The main reason I do these dramatic play/ pretend play setups is because my kids love them and have a ton of fun with them, but there are also many learning and developmental benefits from dramatic play.
– it teaches self-regulation,
– encourages language development,
– teaches conflict resolution,
– encourages math and literacy development,
– relieves emotional tension,
– and is empowering to children.
Those are more than enough reasons to make it an important part of our play.
Farmers’ Market Dramatic Play printables – The PreK Mama
Felt carrots, apples and felt ball “berries” – Sewing Seeds Play (saves with code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
Potatoes and strawberries are DIY (made by my mom)
Since the barn toys are always out anyway, I thought I might as well set them out for extra easy access. It makes it easier for the kids to find what pieces they need and I also find it easier to cleanup.
Sometimes the kids play with the scene on top of the toy shelf and other times they remove the toys and set up their own small world play scenes. This little small world invitation to play was set up in our playroom for most of the fall.
4. Farm Harvest Playdough
On National Play-doh Day in September we had some playdough fun – farm style using our super squishy and sparkly Magic Dough from Kidfolk & Co.
Playdough is such a favourite here. The kids just love it and it’s so good for their fine motor skills development. It’s also easy to tailor to whatever theme interests your kids. In this case, I added a resin barn tray and some resin fruits and vegetables to “harvest”.
My 4 year old son (who wants to be a farmer when he grows up) was all about harvesting the food in this activity, whereas my 6 year old daughter was more interested in building a strawberry dough house. I love the open-ended nature of playdough and how it lends itself to all imaginations.
Magic Dough, Green Tractor Tray, On-the-Farm Mini Eco-Cutter set, Jumbo Resin Tractor – Kidfolk & Co. (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY15)
Resin barn, fence and hay bales – Olive Eve and Co.
Mini resin fruits from Amazon
5. Rooster Play-based Learning
My son’s favourite animal is the rooster. When I mentioned to Carved Together Co. a rooster tray might be a fun idea, they not only made it- they consulted us in the design. This is without a doubt why I love shopping small.
We’ve been having a lot of fun with this tray and one of the things we’ve loved doing is making different rooster breed sensory art using dried goods. While designing the roosters, we talked about different breeds, the difference between chickens and roosters and the parts of a chicken/ rooster.
I’m always interested to see how my kids react to a setup like this. At times they were very focused on the learning opportunities provided and other times they came up with their own learning ideas. For example, my son (of course) was very interested in learning about roosters. My daughter took the Grapat measurement tool, nesting eggs and coloured rice to explore size and dimension. Then she made a rice soup. I love when they come up with their own ideas.
I get A LOT of requests for farm activities and this is an easy setup strategy I use often. I fill up most of a Tuff Tray with felt mats and then add one bag of sensory mix to the tray. It’s enough filler for a sensory experience, but keeps cleanup simple and straightforward. Then, I add my son’s farm toys (or ask him to help me add the toys!) and that’s it. It takes about 5 mins to set up.
Felt sheet mats, felt sunflower – Sewing Seeds Play (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
Zooble Toys Large green landscape mat – Wonder + Kind Shop (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
Tractor sensory tray and On the Farm Sensory Filler – Kidfolk & Co (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY15)
Sometimes our farm sensory play is smaller and focuses on a few things, like a sparkly new tractor tray and some bright and fun farm-themed sensory mix. Scooping and pouring sensory materials can be just as much fun on a small scale. My son loved loading up his little tractor with sensory filler and moving it around the bin.
Tractor Sensory Tray, Resin Jumbo Tractor, On the Farm Sensory Bin Filler, Resin, charms, and mini eco cutter from Farm Surprise Jar – Kidfolk and Co. (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY15)
Fall is a time for apple picking, eating freshly ripened apples and doing apple-related learning activities. Here are some of the highlights from our apple play and exploration this fall. My kids are 4 and 6 and as they get older, we’re incorporating more reading and math learning into our play.
Apple Sensory Play (What Animals Eat Apples?)
After all the commotion of the first day of school (which involved lots of big emotions and late buses), I set up a fun sensory play for my kids when they got home. Our routine is usually to do an activity when the kids arrive home from school and an apple themed play felt perfect. The kids agreed.
For this play we had some fun learning about what kinds of animals like to eat apples and of course scooped and poured the beautiful sensory mix using handmade creations from some our favourite small shops. We enlisted some of our favourite felt friends and Folkmanis finger puppets for this play. They were all treated to an apple feast.
Fall Apple Tree Flisat Bundle (handpainted wood insert, wood apples, wood leaves, wood mini apple trees and scented Apple Orchard Filler – The Maple Mouse Sensory (save with code ‘houseofplay10’)… in collaboration with Readymade Play Canada and Earth and Pine
Felt apples and wood basket, felt Skippy the squirrel, felt worms, Folkmanis puppets – Sewing Seeds Play (✨ save with code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
Pretend pie play is always a hit in this house. I think this was one of the kids’ most loved activities this fall. The kids enjoyed this so much that they played with it for days and wouldn’t let me put it away.
We used oats, homemade cloud dough and homemade playdough (with cinnamon and nutmeg) to make our pies. The kids loved having the freedom to mix all the different materials together and get their hands messy. They especially love the texture of cloud dough – it is our very favourite sensory base for baking activities. Plus, it’s so easy to make.
Cloud Dough Recipe
4 cups flour
1/2 cup oil
dash of cinnamon (optional)
Mix 2 ingredients together. That’s it!
I added a number of pie-related accessories to this play: small pie pans, baking utensils, scoops, painted chick peas, small apple slice counters, cinnamon sticks, cookie cutters and of course – wooden apples. We also have a very fun pie topper dough cutters that I got from Michaels in a kids pie baking kit.
There was no specific focus or goal to this play. I just let the kids be free to explore the materials and use their imaginations.
In-between plays, I would return the cloud dough and oats to the bowls and cover and cover them for the night, along with the playdough,.
Apples are also a great topic to practice counting, writing and lifecycles! We learned about the lifecycle of the apple using a fun printable spinner from Preschool Play & Learn (link to the free printable) and recreated the cycle with a search and find sensory activity. I placed objects representing each life cycle stage in the sensory mix and the kids found them and placed them in order on the wooden cycle tray, while using their spinner for guidance.
We also practiced some apple counting with wooden apple counters and a ten frame and worked on letter formation and spelling while printing the word “apple”.
When life gets busy, kite paper is a great resource for quick and easy activity. On one occasion, when I needed a quick source of entertainment for the kids I grabbed the kite paper and we made some apple decorations with it. We tried 2 different methods: a simple origami folding method and a cut and past 3D apple method. Both were fun!
We did 2 different versions – the origami version and a cut and paste version. Both versions were straight forward and easy for the kids to make (particularly my 6 year old).
For a last minute, simple activity – I think it turned out pretty well. Folding, cutting and pasting is great for fine motor skills and we created some beautiful fall decorations for our windows.
We’ve done mermaid play, so we also needed to do some pirate play. The kids loved this activity – something about the combination of collecting treasure and putting people in jail is so much fun for kids.
I used our Tuff Tray and put in our Drewart Pirate Island and some beach sand and pasta shells sensory mix to make up our pirate island. Of course, weI also had to include many treasures!
It’s interesting to me that these pirate toys have been out for a while at our house ( they were in July’s toy rotation and they do get played with), but as soon as I put them in a tray with some sensory mixes – the kids’ imaginations exploded and they came up with all kinds of new stories. I really do believe that sensory can help bring new life to toys .
We had this play activity out in our playroom for about a week and my 3 year old son, especially, loved creating his own imaginative stories about finding treasure and imprisoning and rescuing pirates.
Both my son (4 years old) and my daughter (5 years old) think mermaids are magical and fascinating creatures to add to their imaginative play. So, of course, we needed to do some mermaid sensory play activities. Confession: I love mermaids too.
Mermaid Sensory Small World Play
This IKEA flisat table sensory play activity was made around Eye Spy Club’s storyboard pieces and an old bag of epsom salts I had in the bathroom cupboard. I dyed the epsom salts blue by simply adding blue food colouring to the salt and shaking in a ziplock bag. The epsom salts had all harden in the bag and I was shaving away salt from a huge ball when I thought, “this is kind of fun, maybe the kids would like to break this up”. So I left the rest of the salt hunk for them. Then I added in a bag of mix-ins from an Ice Cream Play Kit I already had to the coloured salt (also from Eye Spy Club).
The gorgeous hand painted mermaid peg dolls are from Kidfolk and Co. They had so much fun with our already much-loved Tara Treasures mermaid.
I added in our bathymetric pond on its side to look like a cave and some of our other ocean resources. The kids enjoyed breaking up the salt ball first and then spent time organizing the mermaids’ house. They made them beds and puts them to sleep. So sweet.
Materials
Mermaid Peg Dolls and Resin Conch Shell – Kidfolk & Co. (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY15)
Storyboard Insert, Great Outdoors Storyboard Starter Pack and Ocean + Sea Play Pieces – Eye Spy Club
Resin Mermaid Tail – Readymade Play (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
Under the Sea Slime Play
We also recently did some mermaid inspired slime play that included many resin pieces and other small shop goodies from our growing sensory collection.
I used to be very wary of slime. I had a few bad experiences with store bought brands that scared me, but then I found Kidfolk & Co’s Magic Slime. It is my absolute favourite! So stretchy and fun, but comes out of clothes and doesn’t create a sticky mess everywhere. My daughter LOVES slime and requests it all the time, so I am so happy we have found something that works for us both.
Now that I’m on-board the slime train, I love it! It’s such an easy sensory activity to set up and clean up. A jar of slime, some fun add-ins and you’re good to go.
The summer months are filled with ocean and beach time in our family and we do a lot of beach and ocean themed play to reflect on those experiences. These plays have helped my kids (now 4 and 5 years old) voice their questions about ocean creatures, expand their imagination on ocean topics and just have fun. Here are a few more ideas for some ocean themed play. For even more inspiration, check out my other post on ocean plays.
1. Ocean Playdough Invitation
I had some play dough colours that my kids had mixed up into a swirly ball. It was still super squishy and soft and the colours looked a little like the ocean so I put in in a quick tray with some Dollarama brand kinetic sand that I’ve had for years.
The kids dove right into this playdough tray. I think they liked that the materials were all out of their containers and easy to access.
They made a pretty big mess with this, but also had a great time. So I call it even.
A simple water play with scoops and treasures is one of my kids’ favourites. They love searching through all the treasures and collecting their favourites. This Ocean Water Play was right in their wheelhouse.
I put our Wonderie Amongst the Corals Play Cloth in the Tuff Tray with water and added anything else waterproof I could find. This play features the fillers, magic pack pieces and resin from many of our favourite small shops.
July is jellyfish season at our cottage in Nova Scotia and we’ve seen many jellyfish at the outer beaches around us. I wanted to give the kids a fun and messy activity where they could safely touch the ‘jellyfish’. The jellyfish are jello I poured into bowls and put in some string for tentacles to harden in the jello.
Then I put Glo Pals Light Up Cubes under each jellyfish to make them glow. The jello did start to fall apart when I took it out of the bowls – if I do something like this again I need to find a better mold.
We also take our ocean play into the bath! Ocean themed baths are some of my favourites because many of our bath toys are already ocean related. I also brought in the Guidecraft Coral Connections. I love that this toy is waterproof and works both indoors and outdoors. My daughter put all the coral pieces around her and said she was in a mermaid castle. She wouldn’t get out of the bath.
I also like to add a little bath foam soap whenever I can, so the kids unknowingly get clean while they’re playing. They are usually too busy to be interupted with boring washing from mom.
And finally, we did some beach cottage book play. My kids favourite bedtime story right now is The Little Blue Cottage by Kelly Jordan. It’s a sweet story about a girl who forms an attachment with her summer cottage and continues to return to it year after year. I can see why the kids have identified with it, since we also spend summers at our cottage.
We used some old playdough, water and decorative sand for a slightly messy, bookish play.
For Ocean Week (June 1-9th) this year, we tried 5 sensory and play-based learning activities. It’s an ideal time of year to learn about the ocean and even more relevant to us because we’re moving to the east coast of Canada next month, where we’ll be fortunate enough to experience the wonders of the ocean ourselves.
1. Ocean Fizzy Play
To start the week off, we took our Tuff Tray outside on a beautiful day for some ocean fizzy play.
I filled the Tuff Tray up with water and some of our resin and acrylic ocean-themed pieces. In our round, metal spice box, I added Kidfolk and Co.’s scented potion powder and some small add-ins. The Potion Powder is activated with water so as soon as the kids put it in the water, it fizzed and bubbled away. It was the perfect ingredient for some experimental science and small world fun. We played with it all day.
Materials
Magic Potion Powder and Resin Conch Shell (left) – Kidfolk and Co.
Resin Octomama and Conch Shell (right) – Olive Eve and Co.
All acrylic pieces (coral reef pieces, shells, sand dollars, Kraken legs) – Stars and Sensory
Yellow Door Education Rustic Pourers – Sewing Seeds Play (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
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2. Rock Pool Sensory Play & Learn
Next, we explored rock pools with the help of some of my favourite small shops. The Bathymetric Pond made a perfect rock pool. I filled it with some left over sensory mix I had from a previous activity (our Dino Search and Count Tray) and some rock pool critters. In the other bin, I used some ready-to-use sensory mixes to make a rocky beach and wooden waves and pool.
The Usborne Rock Pool Life to Spot book is the perfect companion for this little sensory activity. It has pictures of creatures to look for in rock pools and even little stickers to match to a chart in the back of the book. The kids had a great time searching the bins for rock pool inhabitants and life and matching them to the book.
We love our Maileg beach collection toys. These little mice and their accessories are so adorable.
The kids and I wanted to give them a real trip to the beach, so we used the Wonderie Coral Reef Play Cloth and spread some Sandy Seascape sensory mix over top. We also gave them an island the mice could swim to or walk to, by turning over the Bathymetric Pond. The finishing touches were the felt palm trees. This small world play scene has definitely made us ready for the beach!
One we’d played with a beach we thought we’d explore the ocean depths. On hot day, there is nothing better than some small world ocean and water play.
The basis of this small world play was the Coral Reef Play Cloth. It is the perfect size for the Tuff Tray and works so well in water play. I thought it would be fun to have some different textures in the tray, so I added acrylic and plastic coral reef pieces, artificial anemones (aquarium accessories I found on Amazon), some small rocks and glass pebbles.
This was such a soothing and peaceful play. The kids especially loved the feeling of the anemone’s and were content moving the sea creatures around in the water for a very long time.
Materials
Wonderie Coral Reef Play Cloth – Sewing Seeds Play (save with code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
Last summer, we took an amazing trip to see the whales in Tadoussac, Quebec. And ever since, the kids have loved learning about whales. We saw whale skull with baleen at a museum in Tadoussac, so they understood a little about how whales feed. I liked that this activity reinforced that concept and extended the learning about different types of whale hunting and feeding methods.
Did you know there are a variety of ways that whales hunt and feed? I learned a few things here too.
Skimmers – feed by skimming the surface of the water (e.g., right whales)
Gulpers – dive down and swim to the surface with their mouth open (e.g, blue whales and humpbacks)
Bubblers – trap prey by swimming in a circle and releasing a ring of bubbles (e.g., humpbacks)
Biters – bite individual or small groups of prey (e.g., orcas and belugas)
This a simple and fun play-based learning activity using materials we had around our house. We used dried herbs to represent the krill and plankton, small pieces of felt to represent small fish and a comb, plastic bag, straws and tongs to imitate the whale’s hunting and feeding behaviour. Full instructions can be found here.
We plan to continue our ocean-related play over the next week so stay tuned for more ideas.
