Category: Gift Ideas

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Camping Play Activities for Kids

Thinking about camping with your kids this summer? When my kids are gearing up to experience something new, I turn to play, books and sensory activities to help prepare them. We are going to try some outdoor “camping” at our cottage this summer. If that goes well, we may try the real thing next year. Here are 5 activities to help get your kids ready to venture into the great outdoors.

1. Camping Small World Invitation to Play

I packed the Drewart camper van with some of our Maileg characters and camping accessories and set it out near a small world camping play mat.

stewart camper van packed for camping trip

As much as I was dying to set up my own adorable small world camping scene, I intentionally left the set-up to my 3 yr old (his sister was busy teaching herself tennis 😂). I think so much of the fun of small world play is setting up the world in a way that lends itself to the stories in your head. So, I’m trying to remember to back-up sometimes and let my kids lead. 

For this play invitation, my son informed me I did not invite enough characters or pack enough food, so he remedied the situation. He invited his Frozen Anna and Elsa dolls to come along and brought some food over from our play kitchen. I love to see him using his imagination and the resources available to him to create the stories that interest him.

Materials

  • Drewart Camper Van – Nest
  • Maileg mice and camping accessories – most available at Simply Green Baby
  • Walk in the Woods play mat – Simons
boy unpacking stewart camper van
camping play mat
small world camping play

2. Camping Book & Sensory Play

Next, we dove into a sensory book play activity. The kids love the book, A Camping Spree for Mr. Magee, so I turned the book into a sensory play tray (the best I could). The book is about Mr. Magee and his dog going on a camping trip and running into some trouble when a bear accidentally unhitches their camper and they end up in a stream, teetering over a waterfall.

camping sensory book play

I used some boxes to build up a hill with a camping site on top and made a waterfall beside it, using some of our Brio mountain pieces, the Bathymetric Pond from Aurora & Holly Childrens’ Accessories and Play, and a play silk.

We had lots of fun acting out the scenes of the book in the play tray… and felt inspired to read the book a few more times.

waterfall with play silk and sensory filler
a camping spree for mr magee book play

Materials

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3. Camp Cookout Sensory Play

What’s more quintessential camping than a campfire cookout? We had some campfire fun making yummy treats with play dough and sensory mix. I used our Blueberry Pancakes Play Kit and some hot dog and hamburger play food from our play kitchen. To make the s’mores I put out packing peanuts for the marshmallows, brown play dough for the chocolate and some cardboard squares for the graham crackers.

s'mores sensory play
pretend camp cookout
blueberry pancakes sensory kit

The kids recently had real s’mores on a campfire – so they thought this play recreation was so fun. They especially loved spearing the marshmallows on the skewers and pretending to roast them.

I also used our pancake batter dispenser with the blueberry pancakes sensory mix to add an extra fun element to the play. The little flame nightlight was the perfect finishing touch to this pretend and sensory play.

tuff tray camp cookout sensory setup

Materials

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cardboard, playdough, packing peanut s'mores
play food s'mores

4. Camping Pretend Play

We finished off our camping week with a camping dramatic/ pretend play setup and an exciting night sleeping in the tent in the living room (see number 5). For the Dramatic Play Camping I set up our Ikea play tent, our Nugget as a tent and our play foam Slippery Wedges as a mountain. I had 2 log bean bag chairs I’ve been saving for a few years and a play campfire set, complete with s’mores. I added the flame nightlight to the campfire to give it a more realistic feel.

dramatic play camping

The details are the fun part for me, and I’m already thinking about what I can add the next time we do this. This time I added

  • Bug Spray (a spray bottle with water)
  • Bugs – Folkmanis Dragonfly Puppet and Lovevery velcro bugs stuck to the mountain
  • Flashlight
  • Thermos
  • Lantern with Electric Cable
  • Sleeping bag
  • Cooler
  • Stuffed Wolf
pretend play campfire
play couch tent
play bug spray
play foam wedges mountain
cat sleeping in play tent

5. Camping in the Living Room

Finally, it was the big event. We set up a tent in the living room, put the play couch cushions inside with some blankets and pillows. The kids also wanted to use the rain cover to extend the camping village into essential a huge fort. There was lots of excitement – the kids really loved this.

Although I had planned for all 4 of us to sleep in the tent, only 2 of us ended up doing it in the end. My son and I had a great camp-out night in the living room, while my husband and daughter decided their beds were more comfortable. The simulation was a success and I think we are ready to try this outside now… but, maybe just in the backyard.

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Favourite Kids Books about the Ocean

Here is our June book Rotation. We have brought out some of our ocean-themed books to compliment this month’s toy rotation and our upcoming sensory activities. We are gearing up for World Ocean Day and our move to the East Coast next month.

book shelf with kids ocean books

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ocean books on shelf with plush whales
beach and whale children's books on shelf

We have some wonderful reads ahead of us in the next month. Do you see any favourites here? My husband’s favourite is An Island in the Sun.

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June Toy Rotation

It’s toy rotation time again. I do a toy rotation at the beginning of each month for my 3 year old son and 5 year old daughter. After a month, most of the toys we have out are stale and receive very little attention. Anything still being played with stays out for the next month. If you’re interested in more information on how I do toy rotations, check out my other toy rotation posts here.

We will be doing some ocean and beach play over the next few weeks so I brought out all of our related toys. I like matching our toy rotation to the activity themes we will be doing. I think helps inspire the kids to think of new ways to use their toys and I find it easier to already have most of our resources out and within reach. I have linked the toys that I could below.

June Toys

*save with code HOUSEOFPLAY10

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Toys Remaining Out

  • Grapat Mandala
  • Farm Toys (Fisher-price barn, Scheich Chicken Coop and animals, Ostheimer fences)

This month is our last month in this house. We’re moving at the beginning of next month. So this will be our last toy rotation that looks like this. I think we are ready for a slightly updated system anyway. Stay tuned to see what we do at our new house.

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May Toy & Book Rotation

I try to rotate some of our toys and books around the first of each month. I don’t rotate everything, but find that some rotation helps add some fresh energy to the playroom. The kids are usually excited to see toys that have been put away for a few months – the toys almost seem new to them. Also, limiting the number of toys that are out at one time helps the kids focus their creativity on the toys available.

toy rotation on IKEA shelf

My method for toy rotation is pretty relaxed. I take away toys that are no longer being played with and replace them with toys from storage. When I rotate in the “new” toys, I try to think about what might be happening in the upcoming month – if there are any holidays, special events or themes we’re going to be exploring.

This month, I’ve rotated in some toys related to the outdoors. The weather is just starting to slightly warm up where we live and we are ready to spend more time outside. I’ve also added a few construction materials, as we will be doing some construction play this month.

toys on Kallax shelf

There are a number of toys that I don’t rotate because they are played with regularly. Our farm animals, fences, barn and chicken coop stay out on the shelf all the time. My 3 year old son is a huge farm addict and plays with them pretty much everyday. I also leave out our open ended blocks, castle pieces and play kitchen. If you’re interested in learning more about the toys we leave out all the time, there is more information in this post.

toys and puzzles on Kallax shelf

Here’s what I put out for toy rotation in May.

Toys

  • Guidecraft Little Bricks (Scholar’s Choice)
  • Lovevery Flashlight
  • Magnifying Glasses (Amazon)
  • Discover the Busy World of the Beehive book (Amazon)
  • Felt beehive, bees and bee kaleidoscope (Sewing Seeds Play)
  • Lovevery Camping Set and Wood Stacking Boulders
  • The Little Book of Backyard Birds (Amazon)
  • Folkmanis bird finger puppets (Sewing Seeds Play)
  • Mader Wood tops – Roly Poly Spinning Top, Rainbow Spinning Top Learning Set (Nest.ca)
  • Goki Ladybug Bobble (JS Rainbows)
  • Lovevery Montessori Math Bars, Math Tiles & Number Sense Nature Counters
  • Lovevery First Sewing Kit
  • Lovevery Match & Tap Hammer Box
  • Chicco Remote Control Cars (Billy Bigwheels and Fiat 500 Sport)

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Puzzles and Games

puzzles and games in toy rotation

Book Rotation

Next, I rotate the books on the display shelves in my kids’ rooms. The books on the display shelves tend to be the ones we read at night, rather than the ones stacked on nearby shelves, so we all enjoy when they are refreshed every month. This month, I put out some books related to the outdoors and a few of our other favourites that we haven’t read in a while.

book shelf rotation
book rotation on wood shelf

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Can you guess what my kids’ favourites might be? My 5 year old daughter grabbed Stuck by Oliver Jeffers first and my 3 year old son chose his two Stick and Stone books. If you have any questions about the toys and books above or if you have any questions about toy rotation, please leave a comment.

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April Toy Rotation

It’s the beginning of a new month and time for a toy rotation. We’ve had our Easter toys, decorations and activities out for almost a month now, so it’s time for a refresh.

I started with the cubes in our IKEA Kallax shelf that house toys I rotate monthly. However, I plan on doing a larger reorganization of the toys in our playroom this week, so stay tuned.

My approach to toy rotation is to remove all the toys from the cubes that are no longer getting attention. This resulted in taking away everything but the Schleich farm animals, Ostheimer Wood Fences, Fisher-price Barn and Schleich Chicken Coop. If you’ve seen some of my other posts, then you may know that my 3.5 year old son is farm obsessed and plays with these items all the time. I wouldn’t dare take them away from him.

The next thing I did was to pull out toys that are topical for the month or in-line with my kids current interests. So this month I put out some toys with a spring feel to them and things the kids received in their Easter baskets this past weekend. If you are curious about what was in their Easter baskets, see here. I don’t have an endless number of spring toys, and we also had some out last month, and so I added in a few other items that the kids haven’t seen in a while.

I try to keep a rough balance between different types of toys, puzzles and games so that there is something about language, something related to math, building, pretend play, small world play etc. I also try to keep a rough balance of items for my 5.5 year old daughter and 3.5 year old son. Although as they both get older, I am finding they both play with everything.

Keep in mind we also have a number of toys that are not rotated. I’ll include a list at the bottom of toys that remain out all the time.

Here’s what we’ll be playing with this month:

barn toys in IKEA Kallax shelf
variety of toys in IKEA shelf
puzzles and games in IKEA shelf
  • Grapat Mandala
  • Lego City Barn and Farm Animals (Amazon)
  • Schleich farm animals
  • Ostheimer wood fences (Nest)
  • Fisher-price Barn (ours was passed down from friends, but here is a similar one)
  • Schleich Chicken Coop (Amazon)
  • Lego Disney Encanto the Madrigal House (Amazon)
  • Sarah’s Silks swords, rainbow veil & crown (The Playful Peacock, Mymy and Me)
  • Lovevery Montessori Sensory Box – from the Analyst Playkit
  • Clixo (Amazon)
  • Learning Resources Shape Shell Turtles (Amazon)
  • Guidecraft Barnyard Activity Boxes
  • Lovevery Turtle Hatch Game – from the Problem Solver Playkit
  • Lovevery Lockbox from the Realist Playkit with Velcro critters from the Fuzzy Bug Shrub in the Adventurer Play Kit
  • Londji A Home for Nature Puzzle (Mymy and Me)
  • Crocodile Creek Unicorn Dreams Floor Puzzle (Dilly Dally)
  • Janod A Day at the Farm Puzzle
  • Goki Life Cycle of a Chicken Puzzle (Sewing Seeds Play – save with code HOUSEOFPLAY10)
  • Peaceable Kingdom Snug as a Bug in a Rug Game (Amazon)
  • Lovevery Letter Sounds Animal Puzzle from the Storyteller Play Kit
  • 2 Jeux Mômes Jeu Éducatif Métiers + Chiffres (3 part cards – jobs and numbers)

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Grapat mandala in cotton rope basket

The white bins on the top level of the Kallax shelf hold items out of rotation and the toys in the bottoms baskets do not get rotated. The bottom baskets include

  • Magnetic tiles (combination of KidCheer and Picasso),
  • Picasso ball run,
  • Plan Toys wooden roads,
  • Brio/ wooden trains and tracks,
  • Balls and soft objects the kids can throw inside, and
  • Vehicles.
magnetic tiles and ball run storage
wooden train tracks storage
balls and vehicles storage

We also have wooden building toys, musical instruments, large vehicles and a play kitchen that remain out.

I find rotating toys helps refresh the kids’ interest for their toys and also keeps some of the clutter down. It does take a bit of effort on my part, but I always find it’s worth it when I see my kids’ enthusiasm and engagement with the “new” toys.

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Easter Egg Stuffers

easter eggs with toy stuffers

I like to save up small gifts for our egg hunt. My kids LOVE the egg hunt. It’s their favourite Easter tradition. I will hide a few chocolate eggs, but my kids go pretty wild after eating chocolate so I try to limit the amount. 

Here are some non-chocolate items I put in the small and medium size eggs. 

Small and Medium Sized Eggs

small and medium size easter egg stuffers

*Code HOUSEOFPLAY10 will save you 10% at Sewing Seeds Play

Maileg items 

easter eggs with non-chocolate items

Large Sized Eggs

I have a few larger sized eggs that I also fill up with goodies. 

  • Bath bombs – Costco
  • Socks – Souris Mini
  • Wind-up chick (this was a free gift with purchase – Veille sur toi)
  • Small fire truck (Dollarama)
  • Goki Animal bobble (another free gift with purchase – JS Rainbows)
  • Ooly rainbow scoops stacking crayon (Dilly Dally)
  • Blue felt slippers (outgrown baby slippers)

Maileg items

  • Bunny outfits – size 5 – Simply Green Baby
  • Micro and my bunny & rabbits
  • Veggies & Fruits (some were previously given) – Minimono
  • Mouse high chair – Minimono
large easter eggs with toys

A note on buying these items – I tend to shop all year round for holidays. It helps me spread out spending, take advantage of sales and combine purchases at small shops to save on shipping. So, some of these items I bought months or even years ago. And some are small pieces that came with sets I’ve given to my kids in the past. I kept the small pieces out because I was worried they would put them in their mouth or lose them. Now, I think they’re ready to play with them. 2 gifts in 1.

I also save and reuse our plastic eggs every year. Every little bit helps.

I love hearing about other families’ traditions. Do you do an egg hunt? What do you put in the eggs?

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Easter Basket Ideas

Want to see what’s in my kids’ Easter baskets this year? My kids are 3 and 5 and this year I put things in their baskets that will compliment our spring play. 

easter baskets 2024

I love making holiday baskets. I like to shop small when possible, so I tend to shop very early – some of these items I bought last year (lol). I find that if I shop early and shop for future holidays, I’m able to combine orders and save on shipping. It also spreads out the spending and makes things a little more budget-friendly for me.

Both my kids LOVE the egg hunt, so I save most small-ish items to put in the eggs. I found that the smaller items got lost in the basket and my kids found them more exciting when they discovered the little gifts in eggs.

easter basket 5 year old
easter basket 3 year old

Easter Basket Stuffers – 3 & 5 Year Old

What did you put in your kids’ baskets this year?

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Favourite Toys – 3 year old boy

My son has definite preferences when it comes to toys. He tends to play with the same favourites over and over. If I do a toy rotation and introduce something new, he will of course be interested in it, but he always goes back to the tried-and-true. Here are his 6 favourites.

6. Play Food

Both my kids love play food. They love to get my husband and I a “coffee” in the morning with some treats on the side. The food is used in picnics, birthday parties, pretend shop play and so much more. I don’t think brand matters much to them; they play happily with all of it. I do try to vary the material of the food – felt, wood, plastic, resin, etc. – to give a little extra sensory experience.

5. Trains

Our trains and wooden tracks are out all the time. My son has a favourite steam engine that he will drive endlessly around the tracks. He also likes to see how many trains he can connect in one strand and how far he can pull it without breaking. We have a few varieties of tracks that all work great – Brio, Hape, Ikea, Bigjigs – but when it comes to the trains, Brio is the clear favourite.

4. Large Trucks

My son loves vehicles, especially large trucks. He will lay down flat on the floor and move the truck so he can watch the wheels turn. He finds it fascinating and will spend long periods repeating this over and over. When he is working on the rotational schema, this is one of his favourite activities. Again, we have a variety of brands, but the Fagus trucks are probably out the most. They are beautifully made, sturdy (he will sometimes ride them), and easy to manouver. To me, they are well worth the investment.

3. Play Couch and Foam

I can’t have a favourites list without including the play couch. We have a Nugget that has been a house, a slide, a monster, a table, and so much more. We also have slippery wedges from Arches Magoo that my son can’t get enough of sliding down. The play foam is such a great way to for kids to burn off excess energy. If we had the space in our house, I would invest in more.

2. Animals

Now we get into the farm play. My son has had a love for farms and farm animals since he was about 18 months. He loves his Schleich animals. He will set them up in little scenes around his barn (see below) and make up all kinds of fun stories for them. It is his preferred small world play.

1. Barn

My son’s number 1 favourite toy has to be his Fisher-Price barn. When we go away for a few days – he misses it and talks about when he will see it again. This barn was passed down to us from friends before my daughter was born, so it’s probably about 10 years old. My daughter used to love it too. It’s still going strong and gets used pretty much everyday in our house. Many times I have thought about buying my son a fancier barn, but this one is just so loved, it doesn’t really make sense to replace it. It’s red and his favourite colour is red. It has swinging stall doors, a grain silo he can drop things down, and it’s light-weight so he can easily take it out and carry it where he wants it. I’m not sure what other features we could really ask for.

So that’s my son’s top 6. What are some of your 3 year olds’ favourite toys?

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Favourite Toys – 5 year old girl

My daughter is a generalist when it comes to toys. She likes everything, especially new and novel toys and activities, and doesn’t express strong preferences for any one thing. However, when I thought about it, there are certain toys that she does play with much more frequently than others. Here is her top 6.

6. Play Food

My kids love play food. They love to serve it to us, sell it to each other, bake and cook with it, and the list goes on. If my daughter is looking for something to do in the morning, she will often gravitate over to the play kitchen and take out some food. She doesn’t have a preference when it comes to brand, but she does love play ice cream. We have the Scoop and Serve and Scoop Ice Cream Counter and Stack magnetic set from Melissa and Doug and they both get a lot of attention, along with our Jellicat ice cream cones.

5. Dollhouse

My daughter’s dollhouses are in her room and when we go upstairs after dinner, this is often her first stop. She also knows that I have a weakness for dollhouses and Maileg, so if she asks me to play, I will likely say yes. Our dollhouses are Pottery Barn that I (very, very fortunately) found on marketplace, the furniture is a combination of Maileg, Ikea, Pottery Barn, and vintage items, and the critters are Maileg.

4. Magnetic Tiles and Ball Run

What kid doesn’t like magnetic tiles? My husband and I even like playing with them. My daughter especially loves to build castles and houses with her magnetic tiles. Once the house is built, she will bring in tiny pillows, blankets, food and people to complete her pretend world. She also loves when my husband will build a ball run with her. The Picasso Tiles ball run that we have is very fun, but it does require some adult help to set up.

3. Wood Castle

This toy was a risk I took that thankfully paid off. We started my daughter’s collection of Ostheimer castle pieces a year and a half ago. These pieces are expensive, so I teamed up with some family members to buy her a few. At first, they didn’t get a lot of attention, and I was worried. But, more and more she started pulling them out to the point where they started getting used almost every day. We invested in a few more pieces for Christmas because they are so popular. I think part of the appeal is that just pulling out one tower creates an instant magical scene. They are whimsical and beautifully made (and smell amazing) and they inspire my kids (my daughter especially) to build imaginative castles and villages. They have become a clear playroom favourite.

2. Translucent Cubes

I think if there is one small toy that my daughter uses the most, it has to be the Bauspiel Lucent Cubes. I got these cubes for her as part of a Bauspiel sampler set from Scholar’s Choice and I was surprised how much she loved these cubes. They look unassuming, but they are brightly coloured, feel very smooth, have a satisfying weight, and are so open-ended. They are my daughter’s “treasures” that she uses in small world play, to decorate wooden block builds, as play candies, in sensory trays, and much more. Pretty much, whatever she is building or creating, she adds in these lucent cubes.

1. Play Couch & Foam

My daughter has lots of energy and loves sports activities. When she’s at home, she will often have a lot of excess energy to burn and so the thing she loves most in the playroom is the play couch (Nugget) and foam slippery wedges (Arches Magoo). She loves to build forts with the couch and blankets and bring her play food inside. Whenever the slippery wedges are configured into a slide, she will run straight toward it. These foam pieces take up a lot of space, but my husband and I both agree that the enjoyment the kids gets from them, makes it well worth it.

I love hearing about playroom favourites. What are some of your 5 year olds’ favourites?

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Valentine’s Gifts

wrapped valentines gifts for kids

This year I’m giving my kids wrapped gifts instead of a Valentine’s basket. I tend to go a little overboard when I have a basket to fill, so this was my attempt to scale back this year. Each of my kids is getting a few gifts geared toward their special interests – frozen for my daughter and vehicles and farms for my son.

I used reusable wrapping for a couple reasons. Obviously it’s best to reduce waste, but I also find these wrapping cloths (from Souris Mini) are super easy and fast to wrap with. These cloths are technically from Christmas, but I think they work for Valentines’s Day too. The pink gifts are wrapped in Sarah’s Silks from our basket of silks and cloths in the playroom.

Here’s what’s inside the gifts

5 Year Old Girl

  • Disney Frozen Doll (Costco)
  • Frozen Coding Kit (Dollarama)
  • Flubby does NOT like Valentine’s Day book
  • Chocolates (a few)
5 year old girl valentine's day gifts

3 Year Old Boy

  • Brio airplane (from a store that had a closing sale)
  • Tara Treasures felt Barn Bag (Mymy and Me)
  • Farm Animal Play Pieces (Eye Spy Club)
  • Llama Llama I love you book
  • Chocolates
3 year old boy Valentine's gifts