indoor play

Water Bead Tea Party Pretend Play

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We LOVE water beads!  They are such a fun way to play.  We’ve done so many fun activities with water beads: color matching, seasonal sensory bins, and even fine motor play with them.  One day we pulled out a pretty pink color for a little tea party pretend play.


Set up an invitation to play with the kids. Imagination, fine motor, pretend, and more with water beads!

 

Water Bead Tea Party

Note~ All children’s activities that we share on Sugar Aunts should be supervised by a responsible adult.  This activity especially should be monitored closely by an adult as children may get swept up in the moment of imaginative play.  If you are worried that your child may put water beads into their mouth, please do not attempt this activity. Sugaraunts.com is not responsible for any injuries or accidents.  Sorry for the lameness, but it must be said…because you never know.  Just use caution. 
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Onto the fun.  We grabbed a packet of Pink Water Beads and let them sit overnight in water.  By the next morning, we had a bin full of beads ready for playing.  I set up our tin tea set.  We were ready to play! 

Pink water beads for sensory play.

How fun does this look??

We poured a few cups of “tea”.  This was a great fine motor activity for Baby Girl (age 2.5).  Pouring, scooping, and transferring the water beads from cup to cup is a great way to practice dexterity and control with movements.

We pretended to have a tea party with lots of refills needed.  This sensory play activity that was very relaxing.  Running your hands through water beads has such a calming affect. 

Would you like a cup of tea? 

More water bead ideas you may enjoy:

Beans and Bugs Simple Sensory Bin

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Simple sensory bins are fun to throw together in a few minutes.  Sometimes, all it takes to occupy the kids in a sensory learning activity is just two items that you can find around the house or in the toy bin.  We started a Simple Sensory Bin series a few weeks ago, making sensory bins with just two items.  We’re working our way through the alphabet with simple sensory activities.  Of course we’re not going alphabetically…that would make too much sense 🙂  Instead, we’re just playing our way around the alphabet.  Today, we bring you B is for Beans and Bugs!


Create imagination play sensory fun with beans and bugs

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“B” themed sensory bin

We gathered up just two items for this easy sensory bin. 
dry black beans
bugs

 shallow tray

Easy sensory play doesn't require more than a few items found around the home.

How easy is this sensory bin?  It doesn’t get much easier to throw together.  Open a bag of dried beans.  Scatter bugs around.  Play.

Explore ants, spiders, and beatles with a sensory activity

We love our Melissa and Doug bugs.  The colors of these little guys are so vibrant and stand out great against the black of the beans.

B is for beans and bugs. Sensory bin for kids

We played with this bug sensory bin for such a long time.  And the pretend play…we had bugs digging in “dirt”, bugs making other buggy friends, and bugs building “dirt houses”.

These three buggy friends were talking and having a party.

Sensory play has never been so easy.  We put these black beans away for another day.  And maybe dinner. 😉
Simple sensory bin play idea with Beans and Bugs.
  

What simple sensory ideas will be next in our series?  Stay tuned for easy ideas coming this way soon!

S is for sticks and stones
Check out our Sensory Bins and Sensory Tables Pinterest board

Circus Sensory Bin

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A while back, we were on a bit of a Circus Theme in our pretend play.  We had a bunch of fun with our circus party ideas and read a bunch of circus books.  We did this sensory bin around that time, but are just now getting the chance to blog about it.  This was such an easy sensory activity to throw together that we will definitely be playing this again.

Creative and sensory play for kids with an easy circus theme.

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Create a circus themed sensory bin using popcorn!

To create an easy Circus Sensory Bin, you will need:


circus train pieces

Mini Animals

popcorn


plastic tray

Use circus train and circus animals in an easy sensory bin

I started by popping some corn.  And only ate a few handfuls.  Pop extra.  Snacks are good.

I put some popped and un popped corn onto a plastic tray.  Then, simply added our train set and animals.  The scene was set for imagination and pretend fun!

Kids will love to pretend with mini animals.

The animals in the different textures was such a fun way to explore animal names, animal sounds, and all in an easy sensory bin.

Kids will love to pretend and play while learning animal names and noises.

Baby Girl (age 2) loved this pretend play so much!  Not only did we have a blast playing and learning, she got a snack too!  Bonus!

Of course, the animals needed feeding, too.

We loaded up the train with popcorn and made deliveries.  Such a fun way to play away an afternoon.

This might be the perfect accompaniment to our circus tent craft.  Sensory play, craft, and snack…sounds like the perfect afternoon with the kids to me!

Note:  Like all of our activities on sugaraunts.com, we encourage playing alongside your kids and in a supervised manner.  Some crafts and activities may present a dangerous situation for children who like to put things into their mouths.  Please monitor your child with this and any activity you see on our website.  Popcorn will present as a choking hazard for small children.  Please use your best judgment if you decide to do this activity with your kids.

You may be interested in our Circus Crafts and Activities Pinterest board for more circus ideas.

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This Little Piggy Went to the Market craft

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Is there a song or nursery rhyme that is a huge hit in your house?  You know the one that is said over and over (and over) again?  Right now we are on a This Little Piggy Went to the Market kick.  Baby Girl (age 2 and a half) loooooooves This Little Piggy.  She will ask me to do the finger play rhyme on both feet and then both hands again and again.  I’ve even heard her saying it to herself…with lots of adorable mistakes.  It’s beyond cute.  I love when she asks me, “Mom, what does this piggy do?” and points to a toe.  What a cutie!
When we made this piggy craft, Baby Girl very excited.  I told her we were making a This Little Piggy craft and she was so happy!

"This Little Piggy Went to the Market" craft for kids

This Little Piggy Went to the Market craft for Toddlers

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This craft for toddlers is very easy and a great opportunity for some learning, too.  You can talk to your Toddler about circles and sizes (big and little).  Toddlers are learning concepts such as size awareness and you can show them the big and little circles as you build the pigs.

I started with 5 big circles cut from pink construction paper and 15 small circles.  We counted out the big circles together.

I helped Baby Girl fold ten of the small circles in half.  These will be the pigs ears.

Big Sister helped out a little with counting out our piggy ears.

Baby Girl is all about using the glue stick.  This Little Piggy Went to the Market + glue stick
= Baby Girl’s best day ever!  She went crazy gluing on the big circles, ears, and snouts.

Craft idea for This Little Piggy finger play.

After all of the pieces were glued in place, I drew on little faces.  We had fun saying the finger play while using our five little piggys to join in on the fun.  Baby Girl played with these little piggys all day!

Circus Preschool Toddler Theme Summer Camp at Home

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We’re joining up with the awesome bloggers in the All Things Kids community to bring your creative and fun ideas to get your summer off to a great start.  So, the kids are out of school and ready for some fun.  The running around in the sprinkler and riding bikes are perfect to start off a summer of freedom.  But, what happens when the first “I’m bored” starts?  We’ve got you covered on ideas to keep the kids moving, learning, and creating this summer.  Each of us All Things Kids bloggers are bringing you ideas for themed activities.  These would be perfect too in place of a summer camp or vacation bible school and just do an at-home summer camp with the kids.  Why not invite a few friends over and start your own backyard summer camp for the kids? 

Backyard Summer Camp

It’s that simple to create a neighborhood summer camp!  Pull up the ideas from the all things kids bloggers and you’ve got 7 weeks of themes covered for a summer of camp fun.  We’ve found the best crafts, activities, snacks, and more all based on each week’s theme.  I’m ready for a backyard summer!
Check out all of the summer camp ideas: Robots, Bugs  Around the World , Animals, Ocean and Beach, Nature, and today’s post by us…Circus!

We’re scouring the net for the best and most creative ways to make your own Circus themed Summer Camp for preschoolers and toddlers.  We’ve got circus crafts, circus snacks, circus fine motor and gross motor activities to get the summer off to great start. 


Circus Theme Crafts

The kids will love a few circus crafts.  These lion, tiger, and monkey masks (Danya Banya) will keep the kids occupied and pretending. Or try this elephant mask craft (East Coast Mommy) for more pretend play.  For more circus animal crafts, try this activity from Inspired Treehouse.  

Kids will love making a craft a day at your backyard camp.  Make this elephant mask (Mamas Like Me) and they can wear it throughout the week. Children can work on so many important developmental areas while developing their scissor skills.  If painting is more your thing, this lion craft (Sassy Dealz) is a super cute circus animal to make.   Need a few more crafts to keep the kids busy with your circus theme?  I love these circus clown costumes (KangarooBoo blog) made with party hats and paper plates.

We loved making our circus tent craft.  This trapeze artist craft (Boy Mama Teacher Mama) is equally cute! A handprint zoo (House of Burke) would be a great memento to remember your week of circus fun.


Circus Theme Snacks

A backyard summer camp or themed learning unit definitely needs snacks to keep little ones going and energy levels high.  Here’s a few circus themed ideas for snack time:
  • Goldfish in a bag (You won goldfish!)
  • animal crackers
  • popcorn
  • Sandwiches cut into fun circus shapes with circus cookie cutters (and then reuse those cookie cutters for stamp art painting later in the week!)


    • A    dd these things to a little peanut butter (or other nut butter) for some protein.


Circus Theme Gross Motor Backyard Activities

I know a few little ones who would LOVE this water gun game (Driven By Décor).  Use a few ping pong balls and a squirt gun for an easy (and summer-ific) carnival game. Inspired Treehouse put together put together three gross motor circus activities.  A ball toss game would be easy to set up with a few bins and some bean bags or balls. 


Circus Theme Sensory Activities

The kids (and moms) will get a kick out of a fun circus sensory activity.  How cool is this popcorn painting activity (Mess for Less)? We put together a few fun ideas for circus sensory bins in our circus party essentials post

 


Circus Theme Learning

Any circus unit or backyard camp needs circus books!  These are some of our favorites.

Circus Party Items for Games, Activities

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We’ve got a mini circus theme going on this week with play, crafts, and awesome-ness!  We thought it would be fun to put together a bunch of ideas for a circus party or circus themed event at school, vacation bible school, or summer camp.  Just a few clicks around Circus boards on Pinterest and you’ll find loads of creative circus-themed crafts, activities, games, and decorations.  These ideas are easy to put together and a great way to throw in a little learning, too!


Circus Party Favors

No circus is complete without the clowns.  While you may not have a clown at the party (or a loving uncle who is willing to dress up…), all you need is a bunch of clown noses.  These are great party favors and the perfect photo-opp for a bunch of cute (sugar rush-crazed) kiddos!  Use them in games too by having the kids toss the clown noses into buckets. Add a few baggies of popcorn and animal crackers and you are set on the party favors.


Circus Party Decorations:

Décor for a backyard circus requires only a few of these Red & White Striped Table Skirts thrown on  the tables.  If you’ve got a tree in the party area, a mini-circus tent would make a totally cute play area.  I love the simplicity and awesomeness of this no-sew circus tent.  Re-used, the tent is the perfect outdoor pretend play/reading area. Decorate the party area with a few strands of Pennant Banners and the scene is set!


Circus Party Games:

Circus Games and Activities are the hit of the real circus and the backyard themed party!  I love that these ideas can be re-used once the party is packed up and a memory.  One of our favorite toys that we use ALL the tme in learning activities, pretend play, sensory activities are our animal figures.  These circus animal figures and circus animal train will be perfect in a circus party sensory bin.  Throw the animals into a big bin filled with rainbow colored rice, a few scoops and funnels, and you’re set.  If the weather permits, these circus animals would be great in a baby pool with water. 
The circus and it’s carnival games make great memories!  This bean bag toss game and ring toss set
are a great way to get the kids moving.  Make it a learning opportunity by adding math into the game or working on colors as the kids play.  The younger kids (and hey, older ones too!) love the Duck Pond Pool at the circus.  Add a sticker to a few of the rubber ducks
and the party go-ers can win a prize.


Circus Party Essentials:

The red and white colors of the circus are classic and fun!  I love these red and white paper straws.  Grab up some red and white packs of paper plates and napkins from the dollar store and your food essentials are done.  We’re all about simple and it’s easy to eliminate costs on party supplies in the paper plate area.
When it comes to the snacks for kids, a popcorn buffet and bowls of animal crackers hit the mark.

Let us know if you plan a circus themed party. We would love to hear about your party details!  Stop on over to our facebook page and share the fun with us!

Get the essentials here:

Looking for more circus themed ideas?  Stop on over to our Circus Crafts and Activities board on Pinterest and check out all of the cuteness:

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom letter learning activity

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This week’s post in the Preschool Book Series is featuring one of our all time favorite books.  We started reading this when Big Sister was just a little one and have enjoyed it with each of the kids over the past six years.  We LOVE Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
by Bill Martin, Jr. for it’s rhyme, rhyme, and fun story.  It’s so catchy and I’ve caught the kids singing the words to the story aloud many times.
We decided to make a palm tree to go along with the story as we read the book and identified letters.
This was such a fun activity for all of us!
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom book activity to combine letter learning with gross motor.

Chicka Chicka Book Boom Letter Activity

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I started by making a palm tree on a huge piece of cardboard.  I will admit…  this tree turned out WAY bigger than I was planning.  I drew the palm tree and the next thing I knew, it was pretty much life sized. 
A few pieces of clear contact paper were taped to the tree, sticky side out, and we were ready to go!

Baby Girl LOVED this activity.  I threw a bunch of foam letters
from our foam puzzle and she started going through them.  This is a great way to work on letter identification, visual scanning, and crossing midline with little ones. 

We read the book and looked for the letters in alphabetical order as they went up the coconut tree.

Baby Girl is not able to identify letters yet, but Little Guy is, and he liked this letter learning activity too.  He thought it was pretty cool that the letters could stick on the tree as they climbed the coconut tree.  But, he was quick to point out that I forgot the coconuts on our tree.  Ooops.

Of course we had to make our tree fall down after all of the letters were in the tree, just like in the book.  And hilarity ensued.  This is one activity that we will be doing again and again!  the palm tree has taken residence in our basement and we have been sticking all kinds of fun things to it. I mean, maybe the next installment of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom could include feathers 😉

Be sure to stop by and see what the other fabulous bloggers in the Preschool Book Club series did to go along with Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.

Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Letter Learning Activity
Get the Book here:

You also might like our Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons snack post.

Learning Activities for Babies and Toddlers Age 0-2

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 I’m so excited to share fun ideas for learning in Babies and Toddlers.  The super creative ideas are perfect for the 0-2 year age range, and would be a hit with older siblings, too.  I’m definitely saving these ideas for after the baby gets here.  Check out these ideas for your Baby or Toddler.  You’re sure to have  fun time!
Be sure to check out our resource on the best crayons for toddlers. We broke down child development and selected therapist-recommended coloring tools to support child development during the toddler years.


Great ideas for playful learning in 0-2 years old.

Playful learning ideas for 0-2 years:

 

Babies love to hear voices, and there is no time like right now to introduce books.  These favorite Board books and printables (Totschooling) are sure to be a hit with your Toddler, too.

Put together a Kitchen treasure basket for babies (Living Montessori Now) to explore textures sounds, and shapes with baby-safe household items.

Explore colors, emotions, painting, and more with some homeschool ideas for Toddlers from 3 Boys and a Dog.

Create a Simple Alphabet Book for Babies and Toddlers from The Measured Mom for letter learning fun.

Some of our favorite baby and toddler activities:

Baby Brain Building | Baby and Toddler Sensory Floor Play | Baby Ice and Bath

Learning Colors with pipe cleaners | Fine Motor Play with Tissue Paper
Cups and Spoons | Discovery Bottles

Grow a Garden with Play Dough Flowers

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We love making these play dough flowers with paper clips, paper flowers, and rocks. It’s such a fun fine motor activity that kids absolutely love, and so do I as an occupational therapist who loves easy and simple fine motor activities that build skills through play.

Play Dough Flowers with paper clips and rocks

We are loving all things Spring these days.  One rainy morning, Baby Girl and I played with this play dough fine motor activity while Little Guy was away at preschool.  She loves play dough and was very excited to Grow a Garden with a few extras thrown in there to make a fun flower garden.
 
Play dough is such a great way to work on fine motor skills and this garden activity hits the mark when it comes to strengthening those little muscles in the hands.  Not only that, it’s totally fun and happy!
 
 
 
 
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I started by making a bunch of flowers.  I used my circle paper punches and glued circles together to make flowers.

Baby Girl and I stuck them onto green paper clips.  It was a great way to get started on the fine motor work in this activity.  She was really focused on putting the paperclips onto the flowers.

 
Next, I pulled out the green play dough and we started planting flowers!
 
 
Rocks were needed for our flower garden, of course! 
 

 

PaperClip Play Dough Activity

We tried clay and play dough for this activity.  The clay was more resistive to press the paper clips into, and a better strengthening tool…but it seemed to stick more to the paper clips.  Play dough worked better for us, and was just as good a fine motor strengthening work out. 

Pressing the paper clips into the play dough is a great way to encourage a tripod grasp while strengthening the intrinsic muscles of the hands.  The small muscles within the hand are so important for arch support and control in many fine motor tasks (coloring, zippering, buttoning…)

We’ve done another paper clips and play dough color match activity recently that hit on the fine motor work in this activity.  Check it out…your little play dough fan will love it!

This was a fun way to pretend and play as we grew our little garden!

More play dough ideas you may like:

 
Play Dough Farm | Play Dough Color Match | Play Dough Cupcakes
 
 
 

Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an occupational therapist since 2000, working in school-based, hand therapy, outpatient peds, EI, and SNF. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. Read her story about going from an OT making $3/hour (after paying for kids’ childcare) to a full-time OT resource creator for millions of readers. Want to collaborate? Send an email to contact@theottoolbox.com.