A House of Play

16 February 202416 February 2024

Extra Travel Activities for Kids

We traveled for my dad’s Celebration of Life last week and I knew it would be a difficult week for the kids, so packed some extra materials to help keep the kids occupied during the event and other appointments.

On-the-Go Activities

We will sometimes bring these activities to a restaurant, on the rare occasion that we go to one. But, they also worked great for travel. Once again, many of these ideas are inspired by Mini Jetsetter.

For each one of my kids (3 and 5), I put together a pouch with art materials, a sketch book, mini colouring book, mess-free painting, water ring game, and at least one animal figure.

I also gave them each a mini lego set in a pencil case.

Everything above is from Dollarama or was a gift from the hairdresser or came from friends’ goody bags. The water ring game is from Jean Coutu (a drug store in Quebec) and the mess free painting sheets are from Amazon. Nothing is precious. I include things in these kits expecting them to get dropped, left behind and gifted to other kids we meet.

On-the-Go Sensory Activity – Pluffle

I packed an extra sensory activity, in case we needed to occupy the kids for a while at my mom’s house. I brought a ziplock bag full of Pluffle because it’s very light weight and you can squeeze the air out in the bag so it packs up small.

At my mom’s house, I dumped the bag into a bin and brought out some of the play kitchen dishes – and voila, a Pluffle tea party. It kept the kids busy for 2 hours. To me, that counts as a success. The only drawback to Pluffle is that it can be messy. We needed to do some sweeping and vacuuming after the activity.

15 February 2024

Kids Travel Activity Kits

I have mentioned before that we love Mini Jetsetter and their awesome travel tips and kit ideas. Using their ideas for inspiration, here are 2 kits I put together for a recent trip. We traveled to see family, so I went with a slight Valentine’s theme.

When gathering activities and toys to pack, I try to cover 7 main themes: art, fidget toys, sensory materials, building, small world play, puzzles & games and stories. Variety and novelty can be the key here. I keep most of these items separate from their regular toys, so they only see them while traveling, I will also try to rotate some items and activities within each category, so they are not the same activity every time. Most things listed below are from Dollarama, unless otherwise noted.

Travel Activity Kit for 5 Year Old

My daughter is more entertained by arts and crafts activities, so I tend to put more of those in her kit, while of course trying to maintain the balance of “same-ness” for siblings. If the differences between kits is too noticeable, there will be problems.

Art

blank sketch pad
stickers
stencils
note cards and envelopes for making valentines (white ones from Michaels)
pencil case with markers, pencil crayons, scissors, glue, washi tape, self inking stamp
Only Switch-eroo markers (Amazon)
Mini Etch-a-Sketch (Chapters)
pipe cleaner and beads for bracelet making
sewing heart craft
Spy pen (Zellers)

Fidget Toys

stretchy bracelets (these were a gift, but I think they are from Joe Fresh)
Tangle toy

Sensory Materials

Playdough jar with trinkets
playdough roller, knife and cutter
Wiki Stix – wax covered strings (Amazon)

Building

mini magnetic tiles (AliExpress)
Heart links (Michaels)
building flakes
suction toys

Small World Play (I was a little light on small world play this time)

pull-back vehicles

Puzzles & Games

Tin with dry-erase tic-tac-toe

Stories

Yoto mini and cards

Travel Activity Kit for 3 Year Old

My son is mostly entertained with vehicles and play dough, so his kit has a few less options.

Art

blank sketch pad
stickers
stencils
note cards and envelopes for making valentines (white ones from Michaels)
pencil case with markers, pencil crayons, scissors, glue, washi tape, self inking stamp
Only Switch-eroo markers (Amazon)
Mini Etch-a-Sketch (Chapters)
pipe cleaner and beads for bracelet making
Spy pen (Zellers)

Fidget Toys

Tangle toy

Sensory Materials

Playdough jar with trinkets
playdough roller, knife and cutter

Building

mini magnetic tiles (AliExpress)
Heart links (Michaels)
building flakes
suction toys

Small World Play

pull-back vehicle
airplane

Puzzles & Games

Tin with dry-erase tic-tac-toe

Stories

Yoto mini and cards

If you’re interested in more information on the travel kit bags and travel trays we use, see my other post here.

The kids dug into their kits as soon as we got to the gate at the airport and my daughter played with her kit during the flight (my son slept). We also brought these to an event while we were traveling and they helped keep the kids busy for a long time. Activity kits have become a must for us while traveling. We’re always looking for new ideas to add to the kits. What are some of your favourite travel activities?

15 February 202415 February 2024

Play Dough Love Bugs

Using the adorable Eye Spy Club wood love bug play pieces for inspiration, we made some love bug creations of our own. I quickly pulled together a selection of loose parts, diy heart stamps, play dough, cookie cutters and trays.

Loose Parts (all from Dollarama unless otherwise noted)

cupcake picks (wood picks from Homesense)
suction toys
pipe cleaners
googly eyes
wood hearts
heart gems
“O’s” from x’s and o’s game
paper heart straws

The kids came up with some very interesting creations. I’m sure there are many other fun loose parts we could have added. Any suggestions?

9 February 202415 February 2024

Loads of Love – Valentine’s Sensory Play Tray

My son has never met a vehicle he doesn’t love, so I thought I would set up a construction themed Valentine’s play tray for him and his sister. To give the activity a little more interest for his older sister, I set up 2 letter recognition/ matching activities. The first one had the letters for “love” written on garages and the individual letters on construction vehicles so the kids could park each vehicle in the garage with the corresponding letter. The other one was to write the alphabet out in the middle of the tray and cover it with popcorn kernels. The kids could dig in the popcorn to find the letters and then match them with wooden letter blocks.

valentines construction sensory activity

To set up the activity, I put our Tuff Tray on top of our Nugget foam play couches. I find if the tray is off the ground, it helps the kids keep the mess inside the tray. They are less tempted to scoop material into containers on the ground. I connected our IKEA Ravunge roads in a circle on the tray and wrote out the alphabet with a chalk marker in the centre of the circle. Then I set up a few magnetic tiles as “garages” and labeled them with “l”, “o”, “v”, “e” and then labeled four construction vehicles with the same letters. I poured the popcorn kernels on the tray to cover the letters, sprinkled some satin hearts, added a wooden dump truck tray, felt hearts and more vehicles. The last step was to add the wooden letter blocks, for matching with the letters hiding under the popcorn kernels.

Materials used in this activity

Tuff Tray
Popcorn Kernels (Bulk Barn)
IKEA Ravunge roads
Various construction vehicles
Magnetic Tiles
Chalk marker
Wooden Dump Truck Tray (AW and Collective)
Felt hearts (Sewing Seeds Play)
Satin hearts (Dollarama)
Wood letter blocks (Birch and Bark Natural Wood)

My thoughts

This activity turned out great on an entertainment and learning level. Here are my thoughts

Fun – High

The kids (3.5 yrs and 5.5 yrs old) had a great time with this activity. My son loved driving the vehicles through the popcorn, putting them in garages and everything vehicle related. While my daughter does not get as excited about vehicles, she loved the letter recognition aspect of it and found plenty to keep her attention.

Engagement Time – 45mins + 45mins + 30mins

We left this tray out for 3 days. The popcorn kernels didn’t make much of a mess and were big enough that I could pick them off the floor if a few stray ones made it off the tray. The first night the tray was out, the kids were most interested in driving vehicles, scooping popcorn and putting vehicles in the garages. The next day, they became more interested in the letter recognition part of the activity. On day 3, the kids started thinking of new ways to use the popcorn and it became feed for the farm animals. Once too much of the popcorn started getting out of the tray for my liking, I cleaned up the activity.

Cost – Medium

I used about $15 (cdn) worth of popcorn, and a small package of satin hearts from Dollarama. Everything else we had in our toy and sensory activity supplies. The roads from IKEA are very reasonably priced and construction vehicles are available in dollar stores.

Effort – Medium

The activity took me about 20 minutes to set up and after 3 days, I did have to pick up some popcorn off the floor, but otherwise I didn’t think this activity required too much effort.

Final thoughts

This tray worked well for multiple days of play. It offered enough variety to keep the kids attention and was clean enough for me to leave out in the playroom. It was great for catching my vehicle-loving-son’s attention and the different letter recognition activities were a draw for my daughter. I think it was a successful activity and would definitely repeat it or do something very similar again.

5 February 20245 February 2024

Valentine’s Pretend Play Sweet Shop

I like to refresh our play kitchen space by setting it up as different types of shops. For February and Valentine’s Day, we’re playing Sweet Shop.

We have lovingly collected a variety of adorable play food sweets. Most were gifts to my kids for previous Valentine’s Days. There are so many beautiful play sweets out there, here are a few of the ones we have.

Viga Wooden Macarons
Wooden Gem Block Hearts (handmade by a local shop – Highway to Railway)
Wooden Lollipops (Erzi and Goki)
Felt hearts (Sewing Seeds Play)
Resin chocolate bars (handmade by a small shop – The Creative Mix Shop)
Ice creams (Jellicat, Erzi, Melissa and Doug)
Crochet Strawberries (handmade by my mom)
Felt Donuts (Etsy Shops – Needle in a Craft Stack, Victorian Clara)
Resin Candies (Stars and Sensory, The Creative Mix Shop, Dollarama)
Chocolate Bonbons (Tenderleaf Toys)
Wooden Chocolate Cake (Amazon)
Plastic cupcakes (Green Toys)
Ice Cream Scoop and Serve (Melissa and Doug)
Felt fruit slices (Sewing Seeds Play)

In order to give the space more of a shop feel, I set up our Arches Magoo Slippery Wedges with a tablecloth overtop as a counter and used our Lovevery Easy Connect Fort with a silk on top to make a canopy for the shop. This is my answer to giving a Waldorf play stand feel without having one of those beautiful pieces.

felt fruit slices and valentines paper straws

This kids have been having a wonderful time buying and selling sweets. They particularly like bringing my husband and I treats in the morning with some play coffee. We are very supportive of them practicing this routine.

2 February 20242 February 2024

Valentine’s Day Cardboard Mailbox

For kids, Valentine’s Day is about sending love to family and friends – sometimes through the mail. Last year, my kids were very interested in the concept of mailing valentines. So, I used two cardboard boxes, some hot glue and red paint to make a mailbox for them. A pretty simple project that has received a lot of love from my kids.

If you’re interested in how it was made, here’s a link to the instructions I slightly adapted. I recommend reinforcing the floor, because if the box is big enough – your kids will climb inside.

I brought out the mailbox again this year and it has proved just as popular. Next to the mailbox I set out some of our favourite play letters and envelopes. The kids have so much fun mailing valentines and using the tins to create “packages”. The felt envelopes (from Sewing Seeds Play) have a felt letter inside and the kids enjoy putting all kinds of treasures in the envelope. The wood letters are from Eye Spy Club and make a very satisfying “plop” when put through the mail slot. The acrylic letters and velcro stamps are new to us this year (from Stars and Sensory). You can write with a dry erase marker on the acrylic and stick on the stamps and tokens with velcro. So fun! I also put out some paper, cards, envelopes and a pencil so they can create and write their own valentines.

Besides a traditional mailbox, the box has also been a bridge, a house and a moving truck. I love how creative kids are with cardboard boxes. The possibilities are endless. What are some of your kids’ favourite uses for cardboard boxes?

29 January 202415 February 2024

Cloud Dough Valentine’s Day Cupcakes

Have you ever played with Cloud Dough? It has a really fun texture. It can hold together like a dough when compressed, but then will crumble again easily under too much pressure. Cloud dough is one of my kids very favourite textures to play with and they love to pretend bake with it. It’s also very easy to make with ingredients you probably have in your cupboard.

Cloud Dough Recipe

8 cups flour
1 cup oil

Mix 2 ingredients together. That’s it!

The Activity

For the activity, I prepared a few quick recipe cards for “Valentine’s Day Cupcakes” and set the Cloud Dough out with some measuring cups, scoops, cupcake liners, and other small containers.

I included a bowl of pastel, mini styrofoam balls for the “frosting” (from AliExpress), some polymer clay slices for “sprinkles” (also from AliExpress) and some resin candies, chocolates and mini cupcakes (Stars and Sensory, The Creative Mix Shop, and Dollarama).

I also added some wood heart stamps that were a quick DIY. To make them I stacked 2 wooden hearts (from Dollarama) and hot glued them on a wood block.

I put all the materials out on our IKEA Flisat table with a plasticized table cloth underneath to attempt to catch some of the mess.

My Thoughts

Fun – High

My kids love Cloud Dough. They will request I bring it out if we haven’t played with it in a while. They also loved the added texture of the styrofoam balls. My 3 year old son was very content scooping material and adding decorations, while my 5 year old loved following the recipes and then inventing her own creations.

Engagement Time – 1 hr

My kids were very engaged in this activity so they played uninterrupted and mostly independently for over an hour.

Cost – Low

The cost to recreate this activity is low. The ingredients for Cloud Dough are inexpensive and may already be in your cupboard. I used some resin candies and chocolate from small shops that I already had, but you could easily just use the pink and red hearts from Dollarama as add-ins. The styrofoam balls are also inexpensive. I found them to be the best price on AliEpress, but you could also find them on Amazon (they are sometimes called “slime add-ins”).

Effort – High

For me, this is the only draw-back of this activity. It is messy – one of the messiest we do. For me, this means I only bring out Cloud Dough on weekends or days when I have lots of time to clean up afterward. Even though the table cloth on the ground does catch some mess, I ended up having to vacuum when the activity was done. The kids also needed to change clothes when they were done.

Is it worth doing? Yes! I think so. The kids love it and it’s inexpensive to make. Plus Cloud Dough keeps well for years. I’ve had mine for at least 2 years now.

It also has lots of learning benefits.

It’s a great activity for working on early math skills – number recognition, measurement, and an introduction to fractions;
Scooping the dough, frosting and sprinkles promotes hand-eye coordination; and
Measuring the materials and filling (and overfilling) the muffin cups is a great activity for the containment schema (when your child is learning about spacial awareness and how much of something fits inside a container).

Have you tried Cloud Dough? What did you think?

26 January 202426 January 2024

Valentine’s Gifts

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)

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

24 January 202415 February 2024

Winter Ice & Fizzy Sensory Tray

The activity

We repurposed part of our last Winter Sensory Play Tray for this activity. The kids weren’t quite ready to let go of the last activity and I like to save effort and repurpose activities when I can. So, I put the tray with the ice slide and fake snow back outside to refreeze and brought it back in when we were ready to do this activity.

I made an ice ring with frozen fruit and evergreen sprigs and some fizzy powder (recipe here). I added warm water, salt and scoops, pipettes and bowls. The kids decided to bring in some winter animals and loose parts.

Review of this activity

Overall, we found this activity to be mediocre. There were some fun elements to it, but some misses as well. Here was our experience

Enjoyment – Medium

The kids always like a fizzy activity, so they jumped into mixing the fizzy powder and water right away. They played with the tray on and off for about 5-6 hours and the play evolved from fizzy play, to melting ice, to making soup, to small world play. However, they found the fruit and evergreen ice ring confusing. They weren’t sure what to do with it and because it was difficult to get the fruit out of the ice, they lost interest in it quickly.

Learning – Low

We’ve done quite a few fizzy activities, so the science wasn’t new to them. We talked about how salt and warm water can melt ice and the kids found that interesting. Most of the learning from this activity involved fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination from working the pipette. So, for us this tray didn’t have a big learning component. That could explain why the kids didn’t find it highly engaging.

Cost – Low

We reused the ice slide and the fake snow from our last Winter Tray activity by storing the tray outside and the ingredients for the ice ring and the fizzy powder were things I had in my cupboards, fridge and freezer. The citric acid powder for the fizzy powder is inexpensive on Amazon and I’ve had the container of bubble bath for over a year – you only need a small amount.

Effort – Medium

There’s weren’t any special skills were involved in setting up this activity, just some planning ahead. I prepared the ice ring a day in advance and the fizzy powder just before doing the activity. The large tray is excellent for containing mess, so there was nothing to clean up on the ground after. The most challenging part of clean up was maneuvering the tray over to the sink to pour out the water (I definitely needed my husband’s help). There was a little spillage in the process, but thankfully water is easy to clean up. That’s why it’s one of my favourite sensory elements for kids activities.

Final Thoughts

I had a few learnings and take aways from doing this activity. I think it would be a good activity for a weekend, or any day when you can leave it out for a few hours. The lack of messiness definitely helped make this possible.

I wouldn’t repeat this activity again in the same way. I really needed to allow a lot of time for the ice to melt in order for the kids to get the most out of it. It took a few hours for the ice to start melting enough to get fruit and evergreens out, even with the help of the salt and water. The kids didn’t have enough patience to stay engaged that long. Next time I make an ice melting activity, I would make the ice thinner – so it’s easier for the kids to melt.

24 January 202415 February 2024

Fizzy Powder Recipe

Fizzy powder, also called potion powder, is really easy to make. Just add water to see a fizzing and bubbling reaction. You can get a similar reaction from combining vinegar and baking soda, but I prefer to use water as the liquid for activity play. It’s easier, readily available, less smelly and a little more friendly for the kids to stick their hands in.

My kids like to use lots of it when we do a fizzy activity so I find it cheapest to make it myself. I usually just eyeball the measurements, it doesn’t need to be exact. Here are the ingredients I use:

1 cup baking soda

1/4 cup citric acid powder (I buy mine on Amazon)

2-3 tbsp Epsom salt bubble bath or dry soap/ bubble bath (mine is from Happy Hippo Bath Co.) *This ingredient is optional, but I find it helps make more bubbles that last longer once the water is added.

That’s it. Pour all the ingredients together and mix. Be careful not to get any water on the mix until it’s time for the fizzy play.