Tag: tot school

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Parenting Toddler and Preschool Age Fun Toddler and Preschool Age Learning Toys

7 Ways to Play With a Pretend Kitchen for Dramatic Play

My kids have a pretend kitchen that they LOVED when it was new to them. They spent at least an hour every day playing with it. After a couple of weeks, they got kind of bored, though, and I found myself just picking up the play food and dishes off the floor after they were dumped out and not played with.

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This is the first day that we had the pretend kitchen… we hadn’t even gotten the food and dishes in it yet.

I contemplated getting rid of the entire playset but knew I would regret it as soon as it was gone.

The only option was to find ways to make it more fun and exciting for the kids so I began brainstorming some ways to play with it.

It worked! I taught the kids a couple of new ways to use the pretend kitchen playset and they fell in love with it all over again.

7 Ways to Play With a Pretend Kitchen

*this post contains affiliate links*

  1. Cooking/Following recipes
    I know that most toddlers can’t read but that doesn’t mean they can’t follow directions! Using pictures with just a few words is all they need, and usually, they can figure it out from there. They use the pictures as a guide and eventually, they may start recognizing the words that are included with the picture. Even if they can’t figure out what the recipe is calling for, they can still pretend to create a meal or a treat from a recipe. If they see you do it when you’re cooking real food, they’ll be so excited to be able to do it with their play food. You can create recipes using Canva (if you click the link it’ll take you right to their recipe card template!) or even just Microsoft Word. Keep it short and simple, and don’t forget the pictures! The recipes (I’ve only made 2) I created for them are not even close to as cool as some of the ones I’ve found on Pinterest so I definitely plan on stepping my game up there.Recipe Book by Emily at LaForce Be With You – link
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  2. Grocery shopping/Putting food away
    We don’t have a grocery store set up, but I just take small baskets and sort out some of the food that way and then they come through with their shopping carts and choose which food they would like to “buy”. We use play money for this.. we actually made it ourselves and it looks NOTHING like real money aside from the fact that it is green. You could use monopoly money or anything else you have. After they “buy” their food, they push the shopping cart “home” to the kitchen playset and begin putting it away. When I first had this idea I was worried they wouldn’t want to put it away but turns out they really like to do it! I guess I shouldn’t be surprised because when I go grocery shopping they love to help put groceries away.
  3. Restaurant
    This one is their FAVORITE!! We use the play money, a tablet, and a pencil. I sit at the table and they come over to take my order. Then they go and prepare/cook whatever it is I ordered and serve it to me. It’s so much fun. I want to take this a step further and make a menu for them soon. There are a couple menus I’m considering.. the first one you can purchase (this isn’t an affiliate link, however) and the second one could be made at home. If you don’t feel like creating your own you can buy one for pretty cheap on Teachers Pay Teachers (pictured below).6f80c829b3cc3cb46ec0ddad52ef8300Created by Andrea Miller on Teachers Pay Teachers – link920e0ebb14fa0d8877f213a3bc127469Created by ObSEUSSed – Link
  4. Setting the table
    Josie really enjoys this one. I used paper and traced a toy plate, fork, spoon, knife, and cup onto 2 different pieces of paper. I also wrote the word out for what goes where because we are working on recognizing words. When the kids are setting the table they use the paper as a placemat and place everything where it belongs. We usually do it before we play restaurant.IMG_7652
  5. Washing dishes
    This one is fun because they love to “wash” dishes. I’ll admit, this is the one we do the least often because it usually results in them asking for real water in their kitchen playset. I let them do this sometimes. Other times I tell them to just pretend or to pick something new to play.
  6. Pizza shop
    I have a small tote where I store all of their “pizza” pieces. These pieces were all cut out on paper, but plan to re-do them on felt soon. I cut a circle on brown paper for the crust, small red circles for the pepperoni, and a bunch of small yellow pieces for the cheese. You could also include green peppers, mushrooms, ham, pineapple, etc.
  7. “House”
    I’m honestly just not sure what else to call this one… Josie likes to play mommy and feed her baby doll. She puts her baby’s highchair right next to the kitchen and cooks for her, then pretends to feed her the food.Sometimes she sneaks real food for her baby doll

Usually, throughout all of the “cooking” activities, they wear a chef hat and apron that I picked up at Dollar Tree.

You will definitely need play food to go along with the kitchen playset. The pretend kitchen comes with a little, but not enough. I have found the best deals on Amazon.


JaxoJoy 122-Piece Deluxe Pretend Play Food Set Beautiful Toy Food Assortment

This is the kitchen playset that we have. When you click the link below you’ll be able to see lots of other options, as well. There is literally a pretend kitchen for every budget!

Step2 Lifestyle Deluxe Kids Pretend Kitchen

I love watching them use their imagination and pretend to do real, everyday activities. It is such a good learning opportunity and if you play your cards right, they’ll be working on letter/word recognition, number recognition, and counting. They’ll get practice using writing utensils and speaking/asking questions. The possibilities are endless.

I did have to show my kids the first couple of times they did some of these activities. Now I’m usually able to leave them to it. They either do the activity I showed them or create an entirely new activity. I still play with them sometimes just to reinforce the learning opportunities involved.

If your child has a kitchen playset, what do they like to do with it? We’re always looking for new ideas!

Categories
Big kid fun Craft Family Activities Holiday Toddler and Preschool Age Fun

6 Easy and Fun 4th of July Crafts and Activities for Kids

4th of July, July 4th, Independence Day, Family cook out, Memorial Day, Patriotic Craft

I like to make holidays memorable for my kids. One way I do it is by doing holiday-themed crafts and activities in the days leading up to the holiday. My kids love it, I get keepsakes, and it offers an opportunity to discuss what the holiday means. 4th of July activities and crafts make the holiday more fun and exciting. Plus, there are plenty of ideas to choose from.

The 4th of July is always busy for us. We have a cookout the day of the holiday and another party the weekend after. It’s hard to talk about the meaning of the holiday with so much going on. Luckily, our craft time gives us that needed time to connect. 

4th of July Activities and Crafts

This year we’ve done two crafts already, including:

4th of July Ripped Paper Wreath Kids Craft

4th of July, July 4th, Independence Day, Family cook out, Memorial Day, Patriotic Craft
4th of July Activities and Crafts

These ripped paper wreaths were fun and easy. We used white paper, cut it into a circle (or close enough), and cut a round hole in the middle. Then, the kids ripped blue and red paper to glue on. I cut out stars to put on at the end. We hung the finished wreaths on the kids’ bedroom doors.

Handprint Firework Craft

Handprint Fireworks

This one is my favorite one we have made so far this year. It’s so cute, and I love handprint keepsakes. I painted their hands red before helping them put their hand flat on white paper. Then, using blue and red paint (separately so it doesn’t turn purple), they used their fingers to make the “fireworks” part. Super simple.

Other 4th of July Crafts and Activities

There are three other crafts I want to do with them before the 4th of July and one scavenger hunt.

Kids Blowers Patriotic Craft Idea

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These patriotic kids blowers from Natural Beach Living are so cute. The kids can use them during fireworks displays to add more festivity.

Footprint Rocket Pop

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I love this Footprint Rocket Pop craft from Tippytoe Crafts. It’s another keepsake for Mama and a craft the kids will love. It could be a general summertime craft, but with the red, white, and blue, it gives me patriotic vibes.

Painted Rocks

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We want to paint some rocks like these Painted Rocks for the 4th of July created by Thrifty Nifty Things. I don’t know if this is popular everywhere, but where I’m from, people paint rocks and hide them for others to find. When you find a rock, you’re supposed to post a picture on the dedicated Facebook site and say where you found it. Then, you re-hide it in a new location. I want to paint them this weekend and hide them in the couple of days before the 4th of July. My kids LOVE hiding and finding rocks around town, so it’s perfect for them.

4th of July Scavenger Hunt

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I fell in love with this 4th of July Scavenger Hunt Printable from Women With Intention on Pinterest. I’m bummed that the link didn’t work, and the website no longer exists, so I can’t download it directly from who created it. Later tonight I’ll make a scavenger hunt printable to use at home on the 4th of July and maybe a second one for the larger party the weekend after.

Recap: 4th of July Activities and Crafts

How do you teach your kids about holidays? Are you doing any fun crafts or activities with them for the 4th of July? Tell me about it in the comments!

Categories
Craft Sensory Play Toddler and Preschool Age Fun Toddler and Preschool Age Learning

Easy Art Collage for Toddlers

If you are anything like me, you prefer your kids to create artwork from things you already have at home. This means coming up with creative, easy activities that use up materials you have no other purpose for.

This time, I had leftover streamers that I would never use. I always save the un-opened streamers just in case I need them for the next birthday party, but I usually throw away the rolls that have already been opened.

I decided not to waste them this time and used them for crafts instead.

I grabbed the streamers, some old newspapers, scissors, glue, and paper and let the toddlers go to town making a collage.

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Liam is still too little to use glue and scissors so I just gave him some streamers to play with while we did the craft and he was able to get in some no-mess sensory play, too. It was a win-win.

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This activity was actually really fun even though it was super simple! The toddlers explored the newspaper while we did it, and asked questions about some of the pictures. I always love a good learning experience.

What are some easy crafts you like to do with your littles? Tell me about them in the comments! 🙂

Categories
Toddler and Preschool Age Fun Toddler and Preschool Age Learning

Magazine Letter Hunt

What’s better than an activity that involves letter recognition, cutting, and gluing? An activity that the kids LOVE and one that holds their attention for a while, right? What if I told you this activity does ALL OF THAT?

I’m serious.

I was inspired by Playful Learning in the Early Years. She did this activity on a poster-size scale and with each letter written out on one big piece of paper. The kids lined up their cut out letters next to the written letter.

My kids only know a handful of letters, though, so I thought writing them ALL out at once would overwhelm them. For this activity I wanted to work on letter H. No reason, really, it’s just one of the letters that they didn’t really know yet. I plan on doing this same activity with pretty much every letter of the alphabet at some point.

I took a single sheet of paper and wrote the letter H at the top of the page in both uppercase and lowercase. I handed the kids scissors, glue sticks, and a stack of magazines and asked them to find H’s, cut them out, and glue them to their paper. Sylas was able to do it all on his own and I worked with Josie on hers. Josie only wanted to do like, three H’s and then got distracted by pretty shoes and started cutting out the entire outfit. At least she focused on the letters for a little bit.

I guess this is also a good time to talk about when activities don’t go as planned. Josie literally covered up most of her letters with a giant picture of an actress’ outfit… THAT’S OKAY. She still took something from the activity.. we talked about and looked for the letter H, and she was able to pick some of them out herself. She also worked on fine motor concepts. Cutting, gluing, using her pinching fingers when needed, and also she made a little collage. She’s happy with what she created, she learned, she worked on other concepts, and she enjoyed herself. It’s totally okay if your child doesn’t do exactly what you had envisioned.

 

Next time I’ll probably cut the paper in half because the letters were small and didn’t cover much of the page anyway.

They really liked this one because they love cutting and gluing, and apparently they think it’s fun to cut up mommy’s magazines.

And a bonus – now they are BOTH recognizing H.

What are your favorite ways to teach letter recognition? I’m always looking for new ideas. 🙂

 

**Note – Sylas just turned 4 a couple days ago and Josie is 2.

 

Categories
Friday Favorites

Friday Pinterest Favorites

It’s Friday so I’m here to share some of my favorite pins from the week!! I love all the different ideas that can be found on Pinterest.

Lego Zip Line from Little Bins for Little Hands -How cool is this?! My boys LOVE legos and with their age difference (6 years) it’s hard to find things that they both enjoy. I’m so excited to show them this and help them make it together.

 

We Decided On Forever sign made by ThisPhraseofLife on Etsy – Omgosh I am in LOVE with this sign. I pretty much have to have it. After finding this sign I browsed around on her Etsy shop a little and I basically loved every item she sells. Seriously, you should check it out.

Just Another Manic Mom-Day Design Silhouette for Cricut by GalliniDesign on Etsy – When I first pinned this I thought it was going to take me directly to a shirt that I could buy but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it is actually a silhouette to use with a Cricut. That means I can put this saying on anything! How awesome is that?!

Find & Erase Matching Shapes by Jamie at Hands on As We Grow – If you guys saw my post from yesterday (Name and Letter Recognition with Sidewalk Chalk), you know that we like to do learning activities outside. I love this one because it ties learning, sidewalk chalk, and water play together in one activity. My kids love all of the above, but water play is definitely their favorite. It’s supposed to storm this weekend but on the next nice day we have, we will definitely be trying this activity. Oh, and while I was on Jamie’s blog, I signed up to do a 7-day challenge of doing activities with my toddlers. I can’t wait to read the emails and see what it entails!

 

What are some of your favorite pins from this week? Leave a link in the comments so I can check them out. 🙂

Categories
Family Activities Our Family Toddler and Preschool Age Fun Toddler and Preschool Age Learning

Name Recognition with Sidewalk Chalk

While we were outside playing today I wanted to do a learning activity with the toddlers. We hadn’t done much all day because Liam had a reaction to eggs and it threw our day off a little while we dealt with that.

The kids were using sidewalk chalk so I grabbed a couple pieces myself and wrote out the names of everyone in our immediate family. We’ve been working so hard on name and letter recognition so I wanted to reinforce what we have been learning.

I asked Sylas to find his name and he did immediately, then he noticed that my name has the same letter as his name. We talked about how he will see the letter ‘S’ in a few different names in our family so I asked him to show me every name that had a letter ‘S’ in it. He was able to identify them all!

Then he went and stood on Peyton’s name and actually told me that it was Peyton’s name! I hadn’t read any of them to him so I was a little surprised. I asked how he knew and he said, “It has his first letter!” He couldn’t remember that it was called ‘P’ so we worked on that a little, too.

We worked our way through all the names and the letters they have in common.

It was super effective and since we had never done it with sidewalk chalk before, he paid attention a little longer and seemed to pick up on more of the learning aspect.

Bonus, there is absolutely no clean-up required. 😉

Categories
Craft Toddler and Preschool Age Fun

Paper Plate Wolf Craft

My toddlers are obsessed with the big bad wolf right now, Josie especially. Her favorite is The 3 Little Pigs but she’s also really enjoying Little Red Riding Hood.

We read the books pretty often and I also found a couple YouTube videos of each story that the kids really like.

Josie always asks to watch this “scary” Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf, which is actually an older version. That one is definitely her favorite, but Sylas likes a newer version better (Three Little Pigs kids story cartoon).

They agree on the same Little Red Riding Hood video, so that’s good. I don’t have to sit through two different versions of the same cartoon.

Anyway, Josie asked to make a wolf with paint and of course, I said yes. I never pass up on an opportunity for crafts. I sometimes regret that afterward when there’s a mess to clean up but it’s worth it.

She used brown paint on a paper plate for the wolf’s head and then I helped her cut out construction paper in the shape of a snout, teeth, eyes, ears, and nose.

She glued all the shapes together and put them on the paper plate.

It turned out sooooo cute!! I love it and so does she.

She’s been walking about the house with it in front of her face and growling. She thinks it’s hilarious.

Share your most recent crafts with me in the comments! I’d love to take a look. 🙂

Categories
Toddler and Preschool Age Fun Toddler and Preschool Age Learning

Name Recognition with Caterpillar Letter Matching

We work on letters and name recognition SO MUCH. When I was working full time and my kids were with a babysitter, I felt like they were falling behind and not learning quite so much anymore. That feeling had a lot to do with me quitting my job to stay home with them. We couldn’t afford a daycare, so the littles just went with whatever friend or family member was available that day. They were taken care of, don’t get me wrong, but they were not learning anything and that was a huge issue for me. (Let me just add that my friend Nikki did watch them sometimes and she worked on learning stuff with them, but she didn’t have them often enough to really enforce it).

So, since I’ve been off work, we’ve worked on letters quite a bit. Sylas is starting preschool in the fall and I want him to know how to write his name before he starts and I want him to be able to recognize letters.

That leads us to this – Name Recognition with Caterpillar Letter Matching.

I found two objects with different size circles to use to draw the circles, one only slightly bigger than the other. I used the smaller circle shaped object to trace on construction paper and then I cut out different colored paper for each letter of their names. The first time I cut out the construction paper, my circles were too big and wouldn’t fit on the piece of paper so I had to find a smaller circle and re-cut. I used a canned good from the play kitchen and it was a perfect size.

The bigger circle is for the caterpillars head, which I traced onto a full piece of paper. I didn’t need to cut construction paper for the head because there was nothing to match. Josie did insist, however, that I make a circle for her to put on the head. I didn’t, but I would if she was adamant. LOL.

So, once the construction paper is cut out and the caterpillars head is drawn on the page, I used the same toy canned good (the smaller of your two circles) to trace five more circles onto the full page, trying my best to make it look like a caterpillar. Finally, I wrote one letter of their name in each circle and did the same on the construction paper circles, and then I added a face to each caterpillar.

I made one for both older toddlers.

It was extremely easy to make and both Sylas and Josie loved it. I wondered how Josie would like it because it’s hit or miss with her, but she LOVED it. She didn’t even need help to match the letters in her name and she did it over and over again. We talked about the letters as she worked. She would say, “what letter this one mom?” in her teacher’s voice and then I would tell her what letter it is and vice versa.

When dinner was ready I told the kids we had to be done and Sylas asked if we could save it to do it again later so I put it in a gallon size Ziploc bag (I but these from the dollar tree because they are so handy. I store everything in them haha).

This activity could be used for numbers, shapes, other letters, etc. There really is no limit to what you can match up here.

What are some of your favorite name recognition activities? I’d love to hear about them!

Categories
Toddler and Preschool Age Fun Toddler and Preschool Age Learning

Cutting Practice

Do any of you have a toddler or preschooler who loves to cut things up? I do! Sylas loves using scissors to cut any piece of paper he finds lying around. Usually, he’s pretty good about asking before he starts cutting but sometimes he just thinks the paper is fair game. It’s gotten him into some trouble a couple times. He hasn’t mastered control of the scissors yet and his cutting is usually all over the place. With him starting preschool in the fall I want him to be a little better with them. That leads us to the DIY Preschool Cutting Box.

So. Much. Fun.

 

For one of the cutting activities, I cut strips of different colored paper and then drew some lines and designs on them (see the picture for design ideas). It was literally that simple. The little one will simply use scissors to cut on the lines you’ve drawn. I did a ton of them because I knew Sylas would want to keep going forever.

Another option for cutting that I put in the box is empty toilet paper rolls, cut down to different sizes with “hair” (see picture) and faces on them. I ALWAYS save the cardboard tubes because they can be used in so many different ways. Chris was complaining that I had too many piling up so I grabbed those and tried to come up with something fun. It was DEFINITELY fun. Toddler AND preschooler approved.

I also drew shapes and letters on paper for him to cut out, as well. A little shape and letter practice built into cutting practice. I’ll take it.

I never knew how tricky it would be to teach a leftie to use scissors… I have to cut everything with my left hand when I’m showing him how. LOL

Sylas spent a long time working on everything in the box. It’s the perfect quiet time option for kids who no longer nap, or just when mama may need a little quiet time.

 

Categories
Toddler and Preschool Age Fun Toddler and Preschool Age Learning

Alphabet Bingo

My kids have been way into their Bingo games lately and it seemed like the only version we didn’t have is an Alphabet version. Well, I changed that this morning! I made one by hand. I probably could have easily created one to print out but it was just easier to freehand it. I wasn’t sure how well my kids would enjoy this but they LOVED it. Sylas especially. It was perfect for matching the letters and also working on recognizing them. We used cheerios at our bingo markers. A bunch of them were eaten by Josie but that’s okay.

   

So to make this game, I cut squares out of orange paper. You can use any color you want, of course. Then I used a pencil to draw lines, creating 16 boxes. Four vertical lines and four horizontal. When I was content with my lines (they’re still not perfect but that’s okay), I drew over them with a black marker. In the boxes, I wrote letters. I made two boards and I made sure to get all 26 letters somewhere on the two of them, then I filled in the extra boxes with letters that weren’t on that board yet.

Then I cut out 26 small pieces of paper and wrote one letter on each piece of paper. I put these pieces into a small bowl and began pulling slips of paper from the bowl. I read the letter aloud and asked if either of the kids had that letter. Sylas was able to recognize quite a few letters without having to match my piece of paper to the letters on his board, and Josie was able to identify ‘A’ and ‘J’ without matching. For the letters they didn’t know, I sat my piece of paper with the letter on it in between their boards and let them match it up.

This is seriously my new favorite way to learn letters. I really feel like it’s going to help them learn, and they have a lot of fun playing. I didn’t want to reward them with candy or anything like that so I just excitedly announced the winner and that was enough for them. Then I let them eat their cheerios.

Tell me about some learning games you’ve created for your littles!