outdoor play

Summer Learning Activities for Kids

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 School is out for many districts and homeschoolers and the summer fun has started.  How can you keep the learning going over the next few months?  We put together ideas to play your way through the ABCs this summer. We thought these featured posts from Share It Saturday were the perfect way to learn and play the summer away.  Have fun playing (and learning) this summer!
For the summer months, we’ll be doing Share It Saturday just a little differently.  Instead of weekly link up, there will be a month long linky going on. Stop back each week to add your posts to the party.  We’ll be pulling a few features from each month’s link ups, so be sure to add your new posts all month long!


Summer learning activities

 

Summer Learning Activities for Kids

Read books!  Keep a book log (Children are a Blessing) or even Start your own story time (Growing Book By Book)

Get outside! Try this rhyming toss game (Fantastic Fun and Learning) in the driveway.  While you’re there, practice sight words with fireworks. (There’s Just One Mommy).

We loved our outdoor sight word scavenger hunt.

Do some Science Experiments!
Nothing says summer more than red, white, and blue.  Try this 4th of July Science Ice Melt activity (Little Bins for Little Hands) or this Hopping Corn Science experiment (One Time Through)

How are you encouraging learning this summer?

Liquid Chalk Recipe Driveway Painting

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We love sensory art and  play activities at my house.  We also love making our own DIY sensory play recipes for playtime and art. This Liquid Chalk recipe is just one of our favorite ones to make.  It is cheap and easy and my kids love it.  It can be a little messy but clean up is pretty easy. Liquid chalk is a fun way to spend time with the kids outside on a nice sunny day while engaging in some tactile sensory challenges.

These liquid chalks would be a great addition to a rubber duck painting activity too, and a great way for kids to explore tactile sense with creative art.
DIY Driveway Liquid Chalk Recipe

Liquid Chalk Recipe

I mixed up a batch of liquid chalk in a muffin tin.  I placed it on a tray and sat it outside for the kids.
The kids had foam brushes to paint with.  They painted the driveway and garage floor.
Liquid chalk is fun to explore sight and touch.  Creating art on the concrete is a fun change from paper inside.
Painting outside like this gets the kids up and moving around too.  I have so much fun painting with them, when they let me.  
This day we wanted to mix it up with the typical chalk painting we usually do.  I had seen a fun Fizzing Sidewalk Paint Recipe by Kids Activities Blog and had wanted to try it out.  Today seemed like as good a day as any.
After the kids had painted a while, I brought out spray bottles with vinegar in them.  I let the kids spray the chalk paint.  We watched to see if it would fizz?  A little added simple science too.
We got a little fizzing action but not a lot.  They kids still had a blast spraying the vinegar on the ground either way.  This was a hit at my house and we hope you can enjoy it too.
 This is a guest post by Jaime at Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails. Jaime is an everyday stay at home mom. She  has 3 boys ages 5 yr to 1 yr.  Jaime loves to find fun activities, crafts, recipes…. for us to do together. When she is not washing clothes and chasing the boys around she enjoys sharing our activities and crafts on her blog.

Family Fun Night Activities

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Family playing with blocks on the floor. Text reads family fun night

If you are looking for family fun night ideas, look no further. We love a good family fun day, but sometimes you need a game night with the family or just a way to spend an evening. These family night ideas will keep you busy and building memories!

Family fun night

Family Fun Night

A typical Friday night or Saturday night with the family doesn’t need to mean everyone is off in their rooms watching screens. Get the whole family together for a family fun night!

The thing is that evenings and nights are a prime time for too much screen time, for the whole family. Research on screen time tells us this is detrimental!

Family fun night doesn’t need to be complicated. Whether you are thinking a movie night, playing board games, or doing activities, we’ve got you covered.

 
When you’ve got a family, your Friday and Saturday nights are no longer like they were in that time BK (Before Kids).  You find yourself on the couch after Toddler bed time, planning at-home date nights, looking forward to Friday night pizza night, or whatever your weekend rituals are! 
No matter what the family fun involves, it is sure to be better than it ever was BK!  Snuggles, giggles, and general chaos are sure to be involved (with some bedtime-procrastinating antics, too).  Life sure does change once you’ve got a family and it’s all for the better.
 
We’re featuring great ideas for Family Fun Night.  Weather you’re up for games. activities, or experiments, these are fun activities the whole family can enjoy.  And of course, you’ve GOT to have the snacks!   So get ready to plan this weekend’s Family Fun night…we’ve got you covered!

 

 
Activities for Family Fun Night
 

Family Fun Night Ideas

  1. Create a whole themed night around a game. Gather board games, card games, or video games for an evening of friendly competition. Here are our favorite board games that are modified to develop skills and learning through play.
  2. If you’ve got kids who love the rainbow loom craze, get busy creating with DIY rubber band rings (Kids Activities Blog).
  3. Make your own shaped tortilla chips  as a family.  Enjoy dipping and watch for double-dippers!
  4. If the weather is nice, take a family walk and go on a Family nature walk. Collect signs of nature and create pretty flower collage art.
  5. Movie marathon: Pick a theme or series of movies to watch back-to-back with plenty of popcorn and snacks.
  6. DIY pizza party: Let everyone personalize their own pizzas with a variety of toppings.
  7. Indoor picnic: Spread out a blanket on the living room floor and enjoy a picnic-style dinner.
  8. Family Talent show: Showcase your family’s talents with performances, skits, or musical numbers.
  9. Arts and crafts night: Engage in a creative activity like painting, sculpting, or making jewelry together. Use these occupational therapy crafts that develop skills.
  10. Campout at home: Set up tents in the living room or backyard for a cozy indoor camping experience.
  11. Puzzle challenge: Work together to complete a challenging jigsaw puzzle as a team.
  12. Science experiments: Conduct fun and educational science experiments at home using household items.
  13. Karaoke night: Sing your hearts out with a karaoke machine or YouTube karaoke videos.
  14. Outdoor movie night: Set up a projector and screen in your backyard and enjoy a movie under the stars.
  15. Scavenger hunt: Create a scavenger hunt with clues and riddles for the whole family to solve.
  16. Theme night: Choose a theme such as superheroes, pirates, or the 80s, and dress up accordingly.
  17. Mini-Olympics: Set up a series of backyard or indoor games and compete in a family Olympics. Add some Olympics activities!
  18. Cookie baking contest: Have a friendly competition to see who can bake the most delicious cookies.
  19. Storytelling night: Take turns telling stories or make up a collaborative story together.
  20. Build a fort: Use blankets, pillows, and furniture to build a cozy fort for reading or playing games.
  21. Outdoor adventure: Go for a hike, bike ride, or nature walk in a nearby park or trail.
  22. Family photo shoot: Dress up, find a scenic location, and take family portraits together.
  23. DIY spa night: Create a relaxing spa experience at home with face masks, foot baths, and massages.
  24. Family book club: Choose a book to read together and discuss it during a special book club night. Pair these preschool books with activities.
  25. Family cooking challenge: Select a secret ingredient and see who can come up with the tastiest dish using it.
  26. Sports night: Play a game of basketball, soccer, or another sport in your backyard or at a local park.
  27. Build a model: Work together to assemble a model car, plane, or ship.
  28. Outdoor game tournament: Organize a tournament with games like cornhole, horseshoes, or ladder toss. Here are more outdoor lawn games.
  29. Family dance party: Clear some space, create a playlist, and dance together.
  30. DIY ice cream sundae bar: Set up a variety of toppings and let everyone create their own delicious sundae.
  31. Family video game competition: Play multiplayer video games and see who comes out on top.
  32. Painting night: Get out the easels, paints, and brushes for a family painting session.

  33. Family yoga or exercise session: Follow a guided family yoga video or do a workout routine together.

  34. Family gardening: Start a small garden or tend to existing plants, teaching children about plants and nature. Why not make a sensory garden?

  35. Backyard camping and stargazing: Pitch a tent, roast marshmallows, and enjoy the night sky.
  36. Family trivia night: Test your knowledge with trivia questions and see who knows the most.
  37. Visit a local museum or art gallery: Explore the exhibits and learn something new together.
  38. DIY movie production: Write a short script, assign roles, and create your own family movie.
  39. Create a time capsule: Gather meaningful items and bury them in the backyard to be opened in the future.

  40. DIY mini-golf course: Create your own mini-golf course using household items and have a friendly competition.

  41. Family bike ride: Take a bike ride together, exploring your neighborhood or a nearby bike trail.

  42. Write a message to your future self! This is fun for the whole family.
  43. Family volunteer.
     
     
     
    Enjoy your Family Fun night!  Let us know how YOUR family enjoys family time.
 

Spring Sensory Play Date Activities from All Things Kids

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Signs of spring are on their way!  Use the sensory activities listed below to create a sensory playdate filled with everything Spring. It’s the perfect time of year to meet up with friends and play through the senses!

Spring Sensory Play Date Activities!

We wanted to put together fun activities and ideas for Spring sensory-themed play dates.  Invite a few friends over, pull out the old sheet, and get ready for some sensory based play this season.  These would be great ideas for preschool classroom activities, too.  Sensory play is so important for children.  There is so much learning that happens when kids get messy and explore textures.  They are learning new concepts such as cause and effect while developing language and self-confidence.  Sensory play can be based on anything!  These Spring-themed sensory play ideas will keep you and the kids occupied and having fun this month while the weather turns.  Don’t stress the mess and have fun!

The bloggers below present a fun and sensory-tastic Spring activity that covers each day of the week, and are perfect for creating a Spring playdate that covers all things sensory. 

These are the sensory activities you won’t want to miss this Spring:

Monday: Crayon Box Chronicles brings us Melting Insect Sensory Painting
Tuesday: The OT Toolbox (that’s us!) shares Spring Sensory Water bin
Wednesday: All Done Monkey shows how to have a Spring Sensory Outdoor Activity
Thursday: House of Burke created a soapy color-mixing sensory bin. How fun! 
Saturday:  Fun-A-Day

How to incorporate sensory play into playing outside

Sensory diet activities can be specific to sensory system like these vestibular sensory diet activities. Sensory activities can be prescribed according to need along with environment in order to maximize sensory input within a child’s day such as within the school day. Using authentic sensory input within the child’s environment plays into the whole child that we must understand when focusing on any goal toward improved functional independence. 

Many sensory diet activities can naturally be found outdoors. In fact, outdoor sensory diet activities are a fun way to encourage sensory input in a child’s environment and without fancy therapy equipment or tools. 

It’s a fact that kids are spending less time playing outdoors. From after-school schedules to two working parents, to unsafe conditions, to increased digital screen time, to less outdoor recess time…kids just get less natural play in the outdoors. Some therapists have connected the dots between less outdoor play and increased sensory struggles and attention difficulties in learning. 

Knowing this, it can be powerful to have a list of outdoor sensory diet activities that can be recommended as therapy home programing and family activities that meet underlying needs.

That’s where the Outdoor Sensory Diet Cards and Sensory Challenge Cards come into play.

They are a FREE printable resource that encourages sensory diet strategies in the outdoors. In the printable packet, there are 90 outdoor sensory diet activities, 60 outdoor recess sensory diet activities, 30 blank sensory diet cards, and 6 sensory challenge cards. They can be used based on preference and interest of the child, encouraging motivation and carryover, all while providing much-needed sensory input.

Here’s a little more information about the Outdoor Sensory Diet Cards
  • 90 outdoor sensory diet activities
  • 60 outdoor recess sensory diet activities
  • 30 blank sensory diet cards, and 6 sensory challenge cards
  • They can be used based on preference and interest of the child, encouraging motivation and carryover, all while providing much-needed sensory input. 
  • Research tells us that outdoor play improves attention and provides an ideal environment for a calm and alert state, perfect for integration of sensory input.
  • Outdoor play provides input from all the senses, allows for movement in all planes, and provides a variety of strengthening components including eccentric, concentric, and isometric muscle contractions. 
  • Great tool for parents, teachers, AND therapists!


Be sure to grab the Outdoor Sensory Diet Cards and use them with a child (or adult) with sensory processing needs!

Outdoor sensory diet activity cards for parents, teachers, and therapists of children with sensory processing needs.

WInter Science Experiments for Kids

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Winter is here! Did you get pummeled by freezing temps and snow like we did?  Or, maybe you’re enjoying sunny skies and warm environments like our Australian readers on the other side of the globe.   Either way, maybe a little wintery inspired science is in order.  These Winter Science Experiments for the kids are just the thing to put you in a winter mood.  (Or just the thing that’s needed to cope with the winter blast!) We’ve got some great topics for you and the kids to use to explore and learn.  This is one collection of Winter Experiments that the kids will love!



snowball experiments


nature studies


arctic animal science

and


ice experiments

{Note: This post contains affiliate links.  In other words, this blog will receive monetary compensation when any purchases are made through the links in this post.  Our opinions and ideas are in no way affected.  As always, we thank you for your support and community here at Sugar Aunts.}


Winter Science Experiments for Kids

Melting Icebergs from Stir The Wonder
Moon Phases Experiment from We Made That
Winter Science Experiments for Kids: Frozen Bubbles from Kids Fun 101
Nature In Winter-The Cardinal from Teaching Two Stinkers
Snowball Experiments from Sugar Aunts
Snow Science Experiment from Little Bins for Little Hands
Arctic Animals 9 Learning Activities from Gift of Curiosity
Polar Bear Science from Sugar Aunts

Winter Letter Play Activity in Snow

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It’s pretty darn cold outside this time of year.  We had fun during our last snow day and took a handful of letters into the snow to play and learn with letters in a different sensory experience….the snow!  This

Winter Letter Activity

Winter Play Activity was great for Letter Play, learning and identifying letters, and just having fun!  Children of different ages can enjoy this outdoor learning activity. 
Toddlers enjoy locating letters hidden in the snow while they can begin to identify letter names and colors. 
Preschoolers can work on letter identification as they search for and find letters in the snow. 
Older children in kindergarten and above can spell words as they find letters.  This was the perfect letter learning activity for us, as it covered all of the kid’s age ranges.

Winter Letter Play Activity with Snow

Affiliate links below.

We used our magnetic letters in a small patch of snow.  Mom hid the letters and the kids went busy finding them.  If it’s too cold where you live, it would be easy to modify this activity. 

Grab a plastic bin and fill it with snow.  Bring the bin indoors and play right on the floor with a towel underneath.  Keep warm indoors while the kids scoop snow, find letters, and have fun with playful learning!

Letters in Snow

For more letter learning fun, It was fun to press the letters into the snow (flip them around so they show in the right direction!) 

I had Little Guy name the letters as they were pressed into the snow.  We then matched the impression letter with the plastic letter by pressing the magnetic letter into the impression in the snow. 

We didn’t worry about flipping the letter around.  We just pressed the letter right into the snow so that it faced the correct direction and Little Guy could match up the letters.

Finding the letters in the snow was such a fun sensory experience! 
If we played indoors with snow and our letters, we would pull out some scoops, spoons, and work on a little fine motor skills at the same time…maybe a good idea for next time when it IS too cold to get outside!

SO if you’re in a warmer climate, how could you modify this activity?  Using shredded paper to simulate snow like we did with our Snowy Farm Sensory Bin, or create your own Sensory Snow for indoor play!

Snow Maze Outdoor Kids Activity

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A few weeks back we had a nice snowfall.  It was great snow for making snowmen and rolling snow.  When we rolled the snow it rolled all the way down to the grass!  We ended up with a nice path in the snow and decided to make it a little more interesting.  Our Snow Maze was born!  This was the perfect outdoor activity for the kids as we made a maze all the way up to the base of our snowman.  Finishing the final touches on our snowman required a bit more navigating, to gather up the scarf, sticks, carrot, and rock…but it sure was fun!  Little Guy had a lot of fun making his way through the maze.  He’s a big fan of mazes on paper, so this life-size backyard maze was even better!  There were even a few “bad guys” to negotiate around, too.  We’ve had fun with Snowball Experiments in the past and LOVE getting outdoors with snow activities for the kids, so our snow maze was no exception!


Snow Maze Outdoor Activity for Kids

 

Snow Maze: Outdoor Activity for Kids

Mazes are such a great activity for visual motor integration skills when done on paper.  Scanning with the eyes and coordinating the hand to make the correct and accurate motions can be very difficult for a child with visual perception problems.  When a life-size model is introduced, the visual perceptual skills multiply as the child needs to negotiate whole body movements.  Also, they need to scan the scene from inside the maze unlike looking down at a maze on paper.
{Note: This post contains affiliate links.  In other words, this blog will receive monetary compensation when any purchases are made through the links in this post.  Our opinions and ideas are in no way affected.  As always, we thank you for your support and community here at Sugar Aunts.}


Plus, negotiating “bad guys” tends to up the difficulty of any maze 😉

We enjoyed our snowy day and our snowy maze.  If you make a snow maze this winter, be sure to share with us.  We love to see what you’ve been doing!

Looking for more fun ideas?  We’ve got tons of fun activities, crafts, and more planned for this winter.  Be sure to follow along on our social media outlets: on Facebook, Google+ Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram!

 

Play and Learn with Apple Activities

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Happy Share It Saturday! 
It’s that time of year when we just want to go to the apple orchard…
…or pick up a 3 pound bag of apples at the grocery store 🙂
Apple crisp, apple painting, apple pie, apple cider…We love fall and all things apples!
Our round-up today on Share It Saturday features activities, play, crafts, learning, and cooking all with an apple theme.  Perfect for this time of year!
We’re ready to try some of the activities shared this week and enjoy the season of apples!

Apple Crafts and Activities

30+ Apple Activities by Reading Confetti
Apple Scented Dough by Munchkin and Bean
Apple School Day and Teacher Gifts by 3 Boys and a Dog
Apple Magnet Play

Learning with Apples

Fill The Bushel Spelling/Sight Word Game by Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational
Apples, Apples Color Chant and Printable by School Time Snippets
Learning Apples

Apple Cooking With Kids

Clay Rocks for Sensory, Outdoor, and Fine Motor Play

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We’ve been having a ton of fun with clay recently.  One sunny afternoon, Big Sister and Little Guy got creative and covered a big rock with clay.  It sat out in the sun and got pretty soft.  


It’s a great way to encourage development of fine motor skills and hand strength in a fun way! 

This post has been sitting as a draft for weeks!  We made a clay rock a while ago and before this was published, I wanted to see what our rock would do in the rain.  It worked!! Check it out:


Sensory Play with Clay and Rocks

What great sensory play!  Pressing that clay around was such a neat sensation.  They could smear the clay around into such a pretty design!


Fine Motor Play with Clay and Rocks

Pressing the clay was a great fine motor strengthening activity.  They could isolate individual fingers, press and push the clay into the other colors.  The resistance of the clay worked their little hand and finger muscles.

So, after the rock sat out in the HOT sun for a while, we noticed that the clay was becoming warmer.  We wondered what would happen if we baked the whole rock and clay. 

Mom put the rock on a piece of aluminum foil and baked the rock on a cookie sheet at 350 for about 15 minutes.  When this rock came out, the color was spread all over the rock!  What a pretty rock for our yard.

I wanted to wait and see what would happen to our rock after it was out in the rain and sun for a few weeks.  It is still looking very bright and pretty!  The clay hasn’t seemed to come off at all in the elements. 

This was such a fun experiment.  Every time Little Guy sees the rock he says: “Hey Mom, Look at that rock, that was SO FUN!”