There is something about pumpkin season that opens up endless possibilities for play. Pumpkins can be painted, rolled, washed, stacked, scooped, poured, investigated, built with, transformed into small worlds & even turned into pretend pumpkin pie. One simple seasonal object can become the starting point for art, sensory exploration, STEM, literacy, dramatic play, fine motor development & so much more. Throughout my years in early childhood education, I have always loved taking familiar seasonal materials and looking for ways to explore them from completely different perspectives. A pumpkin doesn't have to be just something we carve or decorate, it can become a canvas, a building material, a sensory experience, a science investigation or the beginning of an entirely new world of play. Here are some favorite Tinkerwonderplay pumpkin invitations: PROCESS ART: Pumpkins make an incredible canvas for process art, inviting children to move beyond the traditional flat piece of paper and explore color, movement, texture, gravity, and cause and effect on a three-dimensional surface. Pumpkin Slide Painting -Painting gets a playful STEM twist as children experiment with pumpkins, paint, ramps, rolling & gravity, watching as movement creates completely different marks and patterns. There is no finished product to replicate—the movement and experimentation become part of the art itself. Invitation to Drip Paint on Pumpkins- Instead of reaching for a traditional paintbrush, invite children to drip, squeeze & pour paint directly over pumpkins. As the paint travels across the curves and grooves, children can observe colors moving, meeting & mixing for a beautiful combination of process art and scientific observation. See another version of our Invitation to Drip Paint on Pumpkins. Pumpkin Paint Party-Provide children with pumpkins, tempera paint & paintbrushes and transform a collection of white pumpkins into an open-ended canvas. Painting on a three-dimensional surface creates an entirely different experience than painting on paper. As children choose, mix & layer colors across pumpkins of different shapes, sizes and textures, they naturally explore color theory, comparison, observation & creative expression while strengthening the fine motor control needed for future writing. The beauty of a pumpkin paint party is that every pumpkin and every child's approach can be completely different. SENSORY PLAY: From smooth and bumpy exteriors to stringy pulp and slippery seeds, pumpkins are naturally filled with opportunities to touch, scoop, squish, pour, mix & investigate. Add water, oobleck and a few simple tools and an ordinary pumpkin can become an entirely new sensory experience. Pumpkin Exploration + Ooey Gooey Pumpkin Oobleck-Cut open a pumpkin and an entirely new sensory world appears. Children can investigate the seeds, pulp, textures & different parts of a real pumpkin before taking the experience even further with ooey gooey pumpkin oobleck. The changing consistency of oobleck adds another layer of discovery as children squeeze, scoop, pour & investigate how it behaves—bringing sensory play and early scientific thinking together. Fluorescent Pumpkin Soup Water Play-Add color, pumpkins, water & open-ended tools and invite children to create their own fluorescent pumpkin concoctions. Pouring, scooping, transferring & mixing naturally bring together sensory exploration, imaginative play, fine motor development and early concepts of capacity & volume. Explore more pumpkin soup inspiration in this pumpkin exploration and 3 Pumpkin Invitations. Invitation to Create Fall Soup- Take seasonal sensory play beyond pumpkins by creating a fall-inspired soup invitation filled with the colors, textures & natural elements of the season. Water, seasonal materials and an assortment of scooping, pouring & mixing tools invite children to become the creators of their own fall concoctions. This simple sensory experience naturally encourages imaginative play, fine motor development, language, measurement, capacity & experimentation as children decide what to add, how much to use and what their soup might become. Another way here. Pumpkin Washing- Sometimes the simplest invitations are the ones children return to again and again. Pumpkins, water, brushes and washing tools are all that is needed to encourage scrubbing, rinsing, pouring & caring for the pumpkins while weaving together sensory play, practical life skills & fine motor development. See two more versions of pumpkin washing in Three Pumpkin Exploration Invitations and 3 Pumpkin Invitations. STEM: Pumpkins aren't just for carving and painting—they can also become incredible tools for building, engineering, experimenting & problem solving. Open-ended pumpkin STEM challenges give children opportunities to stack, balance, construct, predict, test & redesign. And when something tumbles down? That's part of the learning too. Build. Test. Fall. Rebuild. STEM Pumpkins- What can you build when pumpkins meet an unexpected collection of materials? Pair pumpkins with materials such as CDs, cups, blocks & loose parts and suddenly they become an open-ended engineering challenge. Children can investigate stacking, balance, height, structure & stability, continually adjusting their designs as they discover what works—and what doesn't. Rather than showing children exactly what to construct, give them the freedom to design, test, problem solve, change their thinking & try again. The goal isn't necessarily to build the tallest or strongest structure. The magic is in discovering how and why something works. Find even more pumpkin engineering inspiration in Three Pumpkin Exploration Invitations, Pumpkin STEM with CDs + Cups, STEM Pumpkins and 3 Pumpkin Invitations. Invitation to Build Five Little Pumpkins- Take the familiar Five Little Pumpkins rhyme beyond the pages and into play by pairing pumpkins with natural wooden blocks and inviting children to construct their own interpretation. How can all five pumpkins fit? How high can you build? How can you keep the pumpkins balanced? Children can build the setting, arrange and count their pumpkins, retell the rhyme, test their structures & eventually create stories of their own—bringing literacy, mathematics, spatial reasoning, storytelling & engineering together through one playful experience. Explore more ways to bring the rhyme to life with Five Little Pumpkins STEM with Natural Wooden Blocks and another Invitation to Build Five Little Pumpkins. Pumpkin Gravity Water Play- Turn water play into a STEM investigation by giving children opportunities to explore gravity, movement, pouring & pathways. Instead of explaining exactly what will happen, invite children to investigate:Where will the water go? What happens when something moves higher or lower? How can we change its path? Simple questions combined with hands-on experimentation become the beginning of early scientific thinking. SMALL WORLD PLAY: Small world play gives children the opportunity to transform familiar ideas into stories entirely their own. A pumpkin patch can become the setting for storytelling, pretend play, language development, sensory exploration & endless imagination. Piggies in the Pumpkin Patch Small World Play- Bring the pumpkin patch into a sensory space and add little piggies for an invitation filled with storytelling possibilities. Children can move characters throughout the environment, rearrange the pumpkin patch and create their own narratives. One child's pumpkin patch may become a farm, another may become a muddy pig adventure & another may become something completely unexpected. There is no script—and that's what makes small world play so powerful. DRAMATIC + LOOSE PARTS PLAY: Pumpkin season provides wonderful opportunities for children to recreate the real-world experiences happening around them—from visiting pumpkin patches and markets to baking pumpkin pies. Through dramatic play and loose parts, children can measure, scoop, create, communicate, imagine & make decisions while directing the experience themselves. Pumpkin Pie Spice Market- Create a seasonal market where children can scoop, measure, pour, mix, buy, sell & imagine. A scoop becomes measurement. A container introduces capacity. A pretend purchase encourages early mathematical thinking. A conversation between shopkeeper and customer builds language and social skills. All through play. Invitation to Create Pumpkin Pie with Loose Parts + Play Dough- Invite children to create their own pumpkin pies using play dough and an assortment of loose parts. Children can roll, press, pinch, arrange, decorate & redesign, strengthening fine motor skills while making their own creative decisions. One pie may have elaborate toppings, another may look completely different from a traditional pu mpkin pie—and that's exactly the point.The invitation is simply the beginning. Find more fall-inspired play dough invitations with Fall Pie Play Dough with Loose Parts and Invitation to Create Anything Fall. FINE MOTOR PLAY: Pumpkins and gourds are also perfect for strengthening the little muscles children use for grasping, drawing, writing, dressing & everyday independence. Their different shapes, sizes and textures naturally add challenge to even the simplest fine motor invitation. Stretch, Snap & Strengthen: Fine Motor Pumpkin Play- For this invitation, children explored baskets filled with rubber bands alongside pumpkins and gourds in all shapes and textures—bumpy, smooth, tall, round, large & small. As children stretch and wrap the bands around the pumpkins, they strengthen the small muscles in their hands and fingers while developing coordination, bilateral hand use, dexterity & control. The variety of pumpkins makes the challenge even more interesting. Some require more strength, others more precision, and some have such tricky shapes that the bands pop right off. That little snap creates another opportunity to adjust, persist, problem solve & try again. Pumpkins = Endless Possibilities What I love most about pumpkin play is that the pumpkin itself doesn't need to change, the invitation around it does. A pumpkin can become a canvas, sensory material, science investigation, building material, fine motor challenge, character in a story or prop in a small world. It can become a reason to pour water, mix colors, count, measure, stack, balance, scoop, scrub, stretch, paint, imagine, and create. And that's the beauty of open-ended play. We don't need an entirely new collection of materials for every learning experience. Sometimes simply pairing a familiar object with a new material, tool, question or environment is enough to completely change the way a child sees and interacts with it. When we give children that freedom, we aren't simply creating another seasonal activity. We are giving them opportunities to wonder, experiment, problem solve, make connections, test their ideas, express themselves & discover what is possible. So many possibilities for play. So grab a pumpkin or a whole patch of them and see where the wonder takes you.

Inspired by Please, Mr. Panda by Steve Antony, this invitation took the story beyond the pages and into play, inviting children to create, decorate & imagine their very own doughnuts through hands-on exploration. Please, Mr. Panda follows Mr. Panda as he offers a tray of colorful doughnuts to his animal friends. Everyone seems to want one, but there is one very important word they keep forgetting: please! Beyond its humor and beautifully simple illustrations, the story opens up a natural conversation about manners, kindness, communication & how we ask for the things we want. And, of course, all of those colorful doughnuts were just asking to become an invitation to play! I cut pool noodles into slices, and they instantly became the perfect pretend doughnuts. Their round shape and center opening created a simple, inexpensive base that children could completely transform through their own creativity. I arranged the doughnuts on our Tuff Tray alongside the book, connecting the story with the materials waiting to be explored. For our "frosting," I mixed shaving cream with Colorations® Fluorescent BioColor® Paint, creating vibrant, fluffy colors to scoop, spread, swirl & layer. Our Tinker Tray was filled with an assortment of loose parts, including resin sprinkles, acrylic rocks, glow-in-the-dark pebbles & gems galore. Children could choose their colors, pile on toppings, create patterns or dream up their own one of a kind doughnuts. One of my favorite ways to extend children's literature is to give children opportunities to make the story come to life. They could create doughnuts for Mr. Panda, offer them to one another, imagine which toppings each character might like & retell parts of the story through play. And within all of that decorating was so much learning. As children scooped, spread, pinched, pressed, sprinkled & placed, they strengthened fine motor skills & hand-eye coordination while exploring the soft, fluffy texture of the shaving cream & discovering what happened as colors and materials mixed together. The open-ended materials also naturally invited counting, sorting, patterning, color recognition, comparison & early mathematical thinking, all while children were completely immersed in creating and playing. This is exactly why I love using children's books as the beginning of an invitation rather than the end. A story can introduce a character, idea or possibility, & open-ended materials give children the freedom to imagine what might happen next. Please, Mr. Panda began with a tray of colorful doughnuts and a simple reminder about the power of saying please. Our invitation extended that story into opportunities to create, communicate, imagine, retell & play. The pool noodles became doughnuts. The shaving cream became frosting. The loose parts became toppings. And the story became something children could touch, transform & make entirely their own. That is the beauty of extending children's literature through play by giving children the materials, space & freedom to carry a story beyond the pages and into play.

In the World of Wassily Kandinsky: Where Color, Circles & Creativity Collide// There are certain artists whose work seems almost naturally made to be explored through the eyes of a child, and Wassily Kandinsky has always been one of them. His bold use of color, shape, line, movement & abstraction opens up so many possibilities for young children because there is no single object they are expected to see and no one “right” way to interpret what is in front of them. His work invites us to notice, wonder, feel & imagine. Kandinsky was a Russian painter & art theorist who became one of the great pioneers of abstract art. Rather than trying to make paintings look realistic, he explored how color, shape & composition could communicate feelings, ideas & even sound. He believed colors carried their own expressive qualities and was especially fascinated by the relationship between art & music. That freedom is one of the reasons I have loved introducing his work to young children throughout my career. Introducing children to famous artists has never been about asking them to recreate a masterpiece or make something that looks exactly like the original. Instead, it is an opportunity to expose children to a new way of seeing, introduce them to an artist's unique ideas & then provide materials that allow them to explore those ideas entirely in their own way. And Kandinsky gives us SO much to explore. Circles within circles. Bold colors. Lines. Shapes. Layers. Movement. Balance. Pattern. Music. Emotion. Over the years, I have taken his artwork far beyond simply looking at a painting. We have painted, printed, layered, arranged, stacked, built, collaborated & experimented with circles in countless forms. Some of our favorite Kandinsky-inspired invitations: 1. Kandinsky-Inspired Circle Bouquets: After exploring Kandinsky's artwork & reading stories about his life, we invited the children to experiment with printmaking, painting, layering & sculpture to create whimsical circle bouquets. Children painted and printed onto circles of different sizes, layered them together from small to large & transformed their creations into three-dimensional bouquets using craft sticks and handmade air-dry clay vases. What began with Kandinsky's circles became something completely new in the hands of the children: colorful sculptural bouquets created by tiny artists. 2. Kandinsky Circle Exploration: For this exploration, we took the circle the shape so closely associated with Kandinsky's work and investigated it through two completely different open-ended experiences. In one invitation, children worked collaboratively across black paper using recycled and precut circles, paper materials, pipettes & vibrant liquid watercolors. They layered, dripped, blended & overlapped their creations until individual explorations became one large collaborative work of art. Alongside it, we created a loose parts circle exploration on a mirrored magnetic sensory surface. Acrylic circles, wooden hoops, stacking pieces, geometric shapes & other open-ended materials invited children to arrange, balance, stack, pattern & redesign. There was no finished example to follow and no predetermined outcom, just materials, inspiration & the freedom to explore. 3. Three Ways to Explore Wassily Kandinsky: One of my favorite things about using a famous artist as inspiration is discovering just how many different directions one idea can take. Through our 3 Ways to Wassily explorations, children were given opportunities to investigate Kandinsky's distinctive use of color, circles, shapes & abstract composition through multiple creative processes. Rather than creating one traditional “Kandinsky craft,” each invitation provided another way for children to encounter his work through hands-on experimentation. 4. Kandinsky-Inspired Circle Prints: For this invitation, I gathered an assortment of plates, recycled round caps & circular tools in different sizes and paired them with colorful paint. Children were invited to dip the different circular objects into the paint and press them onto paper, experimenting with overlapping, layering & nesting circles inside one another to create concentric circle-inspired artwork. I especially love process art experiences like this because the materials provide a connection to Kandinsky's work without dictating what the finished piece should look like. Children could repeat, overlap, layer & experiment with the circles however they chose, discovering along the way how an everyday recycled object could become an unexpected art tool. 5. Kandinsky-Inspired Loose Parts: This invitation took Kandinsky's circles, lines & abstract compositions off the page and into loose parts play. I created two different bases to encourage children to investigate his work in new ways. On the first, I drew simple Kandinsky-inspired outlines and designs. Children were invited to trace, follow & build along the lines using an assortment of colorful loose parts, interpreting the designs however they chose. For the second invitation, I used mirrors as the base, giving children a completely blank canvas for creating their own Kandinsky-inspired arrangements with loose parts. The mirrored surface added another dimension to the experience as the children's circles, colors, shapes & patterns were reflected back at them. The reflection made even the simplest arrangements feel transformed, encouraging children to notice symmetry, repetition, color, pattern & composition as they continually arranged and rearranged their designs. And because nothing was permanent, children could create, take apart & begin all over again. 6. Invitation to Paint in Concentric Circles: Sometimes the simplest invitation leaves the most room for creativity. For this experience, I drew outlines of circles and Kandinsky-inspired compositions onto paper and paired them with an assortment of colorful paints. Rather than asking children to copy Kandinsky's colors or recreate one of his paintings, the outlines simply becam e a starting point. Children were invited to freely paint within, around & across the concentric circles, choosing their own colors and deciding how they wanted their compositions to evolve. Some carefully followed the shapes while others painted beyond them, blended colors together or completely transformed the original design. The result was an invitation that offered just enough inspiration while still leaving plenty of space for individual expression, experimentation & creative freedom. When we introduce children to artists like Kandinsky, we aren't teaching them how to make a Kandinsky. We are showing them that art doesn't have to look like something familiar. A color can represent a feeling. A shape can become an idea. A line can move across a page like music. And the same inspiration can become something entirely different in every child's hands. Kandinsky once described color as having the power to directly influence the soul, and more than a century later, his extraordinary world of color, circles, lines & shapes continues to invite new generations of little artists to look closer, wonder deeply & create freely. And that is exactly what art should do. That is where the magic is.

When children interact with a book through hands-on experiences, the story becomes something they can touch, retell, count, create, & make their own. Mouse Count by Ellen Stoll Walsh is perfect for extending literacy through play. With its colorful illustrations, playful storyline, & counting from one to ten and back again, the book naturally inspires opportunities for story retelling, sequencing, counting, number recognition, & creative exploration. After reading the story together, I created three simple Mouse Count invitations to bring the book beyond the pages & into play. 1. Retell, Sequence & Count the Mice: I brought Mouse Count to life using a plush snake & mice, a clear jar, & sensory liquid numbers. After reading the book, we went back page by page & used the props to reenact the story. As each mouse was added to the jar, the children counted along & found the sensory number that matched the quantity. When the clever mice escaped, we reversed the process & counted backward just like in the story! 2. How Many Stripes Does the Snake Have?: I created a loose-parts counting invitation in our tuff tray inspired by the colorful snake in Mouse Count. I drew snakes on large poster paper & provided a tinker tray filled with colorful loose parts (cubes, rocks, flat marbles, gold, mosaic tiles, glow and the dark pebbles) in colors inspired by the illustrations. Children were invited to decorate the snakes with stripes & patterns before answering the question: How many stripes does your snake have? They could touch & count each stripe, add more, take some away, compare their snakes, & count again. 3. Paint Recycled Cardboard Snakes: For the final invitation, I turned recycled materials into an open-ended process art experience. I cut recycled cardboard into snake shapes & paired them with Colorations® paint (tempera, fluorescent, metallic) , paint cups, & paintbrushes. Inspired by the snake in the story, children were invited to paint their cardboard snakes however they imagined, experimenting with lines, stripes, dots, patterns, colors, brushstrokes, & color mixing. These three Mouse Count invitations bring together early literacy, math, fine motor development, art, & play within one familiar story. Reenacting the book encourages story comprehension, sequencing, recall, vocabulary, expressive language, & storytelling. Counting the mice & snake stripes supports number recognition, one-to-one correspondence, counting forward & backward, quantity, patterning, & early mathematical thinking. Manipulating loose parts & painting strengthens fine motor control, hand-eye coordination, spatial awareness, problem-solving, creativity, & self-expression. Most importantly, extending books through hands-on play gives children multiple ways to experience & understand a story. Instead of literacy ending when the book closes, the story becomes a starting point for counting, creating, imagining, experimenting, & discovering.

Every child has a mark to make, & #InternationalDotDay is a beautiful celebration of the creativity, courage, & confidence it takes to make it! Celebrated each year on September 15th (& the days surrounding it), Dot Day was inspired by Peter H. Reynolds’ beloved book, The Dot. The story follows Vashti, a young girl who doesn’t believe she can draw until her teacher encourages her to simply make a mark & see where it takes her. One little dot becomes the beginning of a journey filled with creativity, confidence, & self-discovery. Inspired by Vashti’s story, we invited the children to make their own marks through a colorful, open-ended process art experience that eventually transformed individual creations into one collaborative work of art. For our canvas, we repurposed recycled pizza boxes, cutting the cardboard into circular canvases. Colorations® Fluorescent BioColor® & Metallic BioColor® Paint in a combination of divided & single paint cups. An assortment of paintbrushes encouraged the children to experiment with different strokes, movements, colors, & techniques. Children were simply encouraged to paint, explore, experiment, & make their mark, just like Vashti. Once the painted dots had dried, we moved on to a second layer of creative exploration. With colored masking tape, washi tape, & colorful dot stickers the children cut, , layered, & decorated their artwork. Adding these materials transformed the experience into a mixed-media invitation while also encouraging fine motor development, bilateral coordination, hand-eye coordination, scissor skills, & creative decision-making. Each dot became completely unique, reflecting the child who created it. The final, & perhaps most meaningful part of the experience was bringing all of the children's dots together. Connecting the finished pieces with tape to create one large collaborative Dot Day artwork. What began as individual marks became something even more beautiful when placed together, creating a visual reminder that while every child’s ideas, choices, & creative expression are uniquely their own, they can also contribute to something bigger. That is part of what makes The Dot such a meaningful story to explore with young children. Creativity isn't about making something “perfect." Sometimes it simply begins with having the courage to try, experiment, & see where one little mark might lead. Happy International Dot Day! Here are other ways to celebrate dot day: 3 ways to paint the dot & dot marker collage.

One of our favorite ways to extend a beloved book is by bringing the story beyond the pages & into play.. After reading Lily the Pond Mermaid by Lucy Fleming, we were inspired to recreate Lily’s enchanting pond through a small world invitation. The story follows Lily, a tiny mermaid who lovingly cares for her pond & all the creatures who call it home. When a storm disrupts their peaceful environment, Lily discovers the importance of friendship, community, caring for nature, & accepting help from others. The beautiful pond setting made it the perfect inspiration for a world children could continue exploring long after the story ended. To create our pond, we lined the Tuff Trays with our deep spot mirror & magnetic mirror to add an element of reflection & light play, then layered in tree blocks, rocks, aquarium greenery, lily pads, pond creatures, rustic bowls & pourers, stacking gems, & solar fountains. The fountains added movement and ripples across the reflective surfaces, bringing the miniature pond to life and inviting children to build, arrange, pour, stack, & transform the environment. One of my favorite things about pairing books with #SmallWorldPlay is watching a story become something children can physically interact with. They can recreate and reenact favorite moments, recall the chain of events, explore what happened first, next, & last, and deepen their understanding of the characters, setting, problems, & solutions. As the play unfolds, so does language. Children narrate what their characters are doing, create conversations, use vocabulary from the book, ask questions, & begin telling stories of their own. What starts as story retelling often quickly becomes imaginary play, where children change the storyline, introduce new characters, solve new problems, & decide what happens next. Through this simple extension, children are strengthening language, literacy, comprehension, sequencing, creativity, communication, & problem-solving while developing an even deeper connection to books. What began as a beautiful story became a small world play the children could touch, build, explore, retell, & reimagine.

There are certain artists whose work stays with you, Yayoi Kusama was one of them. Learning of her passing feels especially poignant because her work has been such a source of inspiration throughout my journey of introducing young children to artists & giving them opportunities to experience art in ways that are playful, immersive, open-ended, & entirely their own. Kusama shaped so much of why I wanted to expose young children to the work of real artists in the first place. Her art showed us that creativity could extend far beyond a piece of paper or canvas. A room could become art. A mirror could become art. A pumpkin, a mushroom, a collection of dots, light, repetition, color, even an entire environment could invite us to look at the world differently. Introducing young children to famous artists has never been about asking them to recreate or copy a finished piece of art. It has always been about inviting them to discover the artist, explore their unique style & ideas, & then giving children the freedom to interpret that inspiration through their own play, imagination, & creativity. Kusama’s extraordinary work brought that philosophy to life in some of the most magical ways. Over the years, I have watched children cover entire spaces in dots, transform ordinary objects, experiment with mirrors, construct miniature infinity rooms, create spotted mushrooms, spray paint collaboratively, & become completely immersed in environments inspired by her extraordinary imagination. Some of my favorite moments have been simply standing back & watching children create in response to her work. Perhaps that is because Kusama's art so naturally speaks the language of childhood: wonder, repetition, pattern, color, scale, imagination, experimentation, & the freedom to transform something ordinary into something extraordinary. Kusama continued creating until the final days of her remarkable 97 years, leaving behind a world forever changed by her dots, pumpkins, infinity rooms, sculptures, paintings, installations, & unmistakable way of seeing. Her studio shared their hope of carrying her wishes forward through art, continuing to bring hope & strength to future generations. I will continue introducing young children to Yayoi Kusama, learning about her life, stepping into her incredible worlds, covering things in dots, exploring infinity & reflection, creating collaboratively, & discovering how one artist's imagination can inspire another's to grow. Her work will continue to live not only in museums & galleries around the world, but also in classrooms, studios, Tuff Trays, art spaces, & the paint-covered hands of children discovering her for the very first time. Some of our favorite invitations inspired by her life's work: 1. Mini Infinity Rooms Inspired by Yayoi KusamaExplore the Mini Infinity Rooms invitation 2. Inviting Children to Explore Yayoi Kusama's ObliterationExplore the Obliteration invitation 3. Creating 3D Mushrooms Inspired by Yayoi KusamaExplore the 3D Mushroom invitation 4. Four Yayoi Kusama InvitationsExplore four Kusama-inspired invitations 5. Yayoi Kusama Collaborative Spray & Dot ArtExplore the Collaborative Spray & Dot Art invitation 6. Collaborative Invitation to Create: Yayoi KusamaExplore the collaborative Kusama invitation 7. Collaborative Invitation to Create: Yayoi KusamaExplore the collaborative Kusama invitation 8. Invitation to Create Just Like Yayoi KusamaExplore the Invitation to Create And on a personal level, having the opportunity to experience Kusama's work in person at SFMOMA's Infinite Love exhibition was an unforgettable highlight. Stepping inside the immersive installations I had admired for so long, the scale, repetition, reflections, color, & endless sense of wonder gave me an even deeper appreciation for the artist who had inspired so many of the experiences I had created with children over the years. It felt incredibly special to experience that magic firsthand and to understand, in an entirely new way, why her work has always felt so naturally connected to the wonder & imagination of childhood. “Our earth is only one polka dot among a million stars in the cosmos. Polka dots are a way to infinity.” — Yayoi Kusama Her dots were infinite. Her imagination was limitless. Her influence will continue through every new generation of little artists we invite to discover her. Thank you, Yayoi Kusama, for showing us that when we are given the freedom to create, the possibilities truly are infinite.

Books have an incredible way of inspiring play beyond the pages! After reading Eating the Alphabet: Fruits & Vegetables from A to Z by Lois Ehlert, we brought the colorful alphabet book to life with a hands-on fruit hunt & letter-matching. Inspired by the fruits featured throughout the story, we placed a collection of pretend fruits & veggies in our Cosy Direct Sensory bin, and around it we placed our Discount School Supply sensory letters. The children were invited the children to search, discover, & match. Using tongs, the children carefully grasped each fruit and veggie, identifying its name, listening for its beginning sound, & searching for the corresponding letter. Apple... A! Banana... B! Lemon... L! Each discovery became an opportunity to make meaningful connections between the fruit & veggie, its beginning sound, & the letter that represents that sound. We kept the book nearby so children could revisit the pages, find familiar fruits, & use the illustrations as a visual reference throughout their play. This simple invitation blended early literacy, sensory exploration, & fine motor development into one playful experience. Searching for letters encouraged letter recognition & beginning sound awareness, while naming the different fruits naturally introduced new vocabulary. Using the tongs added another layer of learning, strengthening the small muscles in the hands & fingers, developing hand-eye coordination, & encouraging the controlled movements that help prepare little hands for future writing. Most importantly, the children were learning through searching, grasping, identifying, sounding out, & matching. Instead of practicing letters in isolation, they were connecting them to familiar objects and a book, making early literacy feel playful, purposeful, & memorable. Sometimes the best way to explore the alphabet is to read it, hunt for it, & play with it!

Learning the alphabet doesn’t have to mean sitting down with flashcards or worksheets. Children can build meaningful connections with letters when they are given opportunities to touch, manipulate, create, search, & play with them. By incorporating letters into sensory play, process art, water exploration, & fine motor invitations, children are exposed to letter shapes and names in ways that feel natural, engaging, & memorable. Here are four of our favorite ways to bring the alphabet into play. Letters & Water Play: Sometimes simply introducing familiar learning materials in an unexpected environment makes them exciting all over again! We filled our Explorer Tuff Tray with water and Colorations Metallic in gold for a little shimmer. Added Excellerations® Uppercase ABC Liquid Letters alongside translucent buckets, pitchers, & pouring tools. Children were free to scoop, pour, collect, identify, & search for letters as they explored the water. They could hunt for the letters in their names, collect familiar letters, or simply investigate them through open-ended sensory play. This invitation combined letter recognition, sensory exploration, fine motor development, pouring, transferring, & early language without turning the experience into a formal lesson. Painting Letter Stones: For this invitation, we placed Feels-Write Uppercase Letter Stones inside our Cosy Direct White Tuff Tray alongside Colorations® Fluorescent BioColor® Paint & Colorations® Natural Fine Brushes. Children were invited to paint directly onto the stones, carefully following the grooves and shapes of each letter with their brushes. As they painted, they naturally traced the lines, curves, & formations that make each letter unique. Beyond letter recognition, following the grooves encouraged fine motor control, hand-eye coordination, visual tracking, & pre-writing skills while allowing children to explore the alphabet creatively. Excavating Frozen Letters + Gems: For an alphabet adventure with extra excitement, we froze Alphabet Letter Pebbles alongside colorful Acrylic Ice Rocks, creating an icy letter excavation. Children worked to free each hidden letter before identifying it and placing the rescued letters in alphabetical order. The challenge of uncovering what was hidden added an element of curiosity & problem-solving that kept children engaged in the process. As they excavated, searched, identified, & sequenced, children explored letter recognition, alphabetical order, problem-solving, fine motor skills, & early scientific thinking all within one playful experience. Spectacular Sand Letter Hunt on the Light Table: Our final invitation combined sensory play, fine, more, & the magic of the light table. We covered our Sensory Mood Discovery Light Table with a layer of Spectacular Sensory Sand and hid Alphabet Letter Pebbles throughout. Children used tweezers to carefully search for & retrieve each hidden letter before matching it to the corresponding Excellerations® Uppercase ABC Liquid Letter. Searching through the sand transformed simple letter matching into a sensory challenge. Using tweezers also strengthened pincer grasp, finger strength, hand-eye coordination, concentration, & the fine motor control needed for future writing. What we love most about these invitations is that the alphabet becomes something children can touch, paint, pour, excavate, search for, & discover. Rather than asking children to memorize letters in isolation, playful experiences give them repeated exposure while engaging their senses, curiosity, & natural desire to explore. Each interaction builds familiarity with letter shapes and names while simultaneously supporting fine motor development, language, problem-solving, creativity, & early literacy. When letters become part of play, learning the alphabet becomes less about memorizing & more about discovering.

There is something so fun about about bringing a favorite story off the pages & into play! After reading A Delicious Dinosaur Pizza Counting Party by R. M. Smith, we extended the story with a hands-on pizza-making invitation that combined literacy, math, sequencing, & pretend play. Throughout the story, a group of colorful dinosaur friends work together to create one very unique pizza, adding different toppings as they count along from one to ten. After reading, we invited the children to become pizza makers themselves, using pretend pizza ingredients & play food to recreate the dinosaur pizza from the story. With the book nearby as a visual reference, the children worked through the story again, identifying the next topping, finding the corresponding pretend ingredient, & adding it to their pizza. As each new topping was added, we counted together, recognized the corresponding numbers, compared quantities, & practiced putting the events of the story in order. What looked like a simple pizza-making invitation was filled with opportunities for meaningful learning. Recreating the pizza encouraged children to recall details, sequence events, strengthen story comprehension, recognize numbers, count with one-to-one correspondence, & connect quantities to numerals. The pretend-play element made those early literacy & math concepts feel natural rather than instructional. Children weren't simply being asked what happened in the story or how many objects they could count, they were remembering, finding, counting, creating, & retelling as they played. The book became a tool for problem-solving, encouraging them to search the illustrations for clues & independently check their thinking. This was such a simple way to transform storytime into an interactive learning experience. By pairing a playful book with familiar pretend-play materials, we were able to extend the story long after the final page, proving once again that some of the most meaningful learning happens when books & play come together.

There is something magical about watching colors swirl, blend, and burst into one-of-a-kind masterpieces. The Colorations® Giant Spin Art Center takes traditional painting to the next level by combining movement, creativity, and hands-on exploration into one engaging art invitation. Its oversized spinning surface, easy-to-clean silicone tray, and manual spinning wheel invite children to experiment with color, motion, and cause and effect while strengthening fine motor skills and encouraging open-ended creativity. One of our favorite things about this art center is how versatile it is. By simply changing the materials, children are introduced to completely different artistic experiences. Here are three of our favorite ways to use it. 1. Fluorescent BioColor® Paint: Our first invitation featured Colorations® Fluorescent BioColor® Paint, whose rich, creamy consistency created bold ribbons of color as the paper spun. Children squeezed small amounts of paint onto the paper before turning the wheel, eagerly watching the vibrant fluorescent colors stretch outward into beautiful spirals and unexpected patterns. Every spin produced a completely unique masterpiece while naturally introducing concepts like centrifugal force, color mixing, and cause and effect. Beyond creating eye-catching artwork, children strengthened: Fine motor skills while squeezing bottles and turning the spinning wheel Bilateral coordination by using both hands together Hand-eye coordination and visual tracking Creative confidence through open-ended experimentation 2. Liquid Watercolors: For our second invitation, we switched to Colorations® Liquid Watercolors and invited children to use pipettes to carefully drip paint onto the spinning paper from their Colorations® Double-Dip Divided Paint Cups. This simple change completely transformed the experience. The thinner paint spread quickly across the paper, creating delicate splashes, soft blends, and watercolor-like effects that were impossible to predict. Using pipettes also added another layer of learning. As children squeezed, released, and controlled the amount of paint they added, they strengthened the small muscles in their hands while practicing precision and concentration. This invitation supported: Fine motor development Pincer grasp and finger strength Hand-eye coordination Color recognition and color mixing Scientific thinking through prediction and observation Every drop became an experiment as children discovered how changing the amount of paint, the speed of the spinner, or where they placed each drop created dramatically different results. 3. Markers: For our final invitation, we traded paint for Colorations® Classic Markers. Children held markers against the spinning paper, creating vibrant circles, spirals, zigzags, and layered designs. By experimenting with pressure, changing colors, and moving the markers toward or away from the center, they discovered endless ways to transform simple lines into intricate works of art. Using markers also created a cleaner option that still provided all the excitement of spin art while encouraging children to slow down, focus, and intentionally explore line, pattern, and design. This activity encouraged: Grip strength and pencil control Wrist stability Bilateral coordination Pattern making Creativity and self-expression Why We Love the Giant Spin Art Center: The Colorations® Giant Spin Art Center is so much more than a painting tool. It invites children to explore art through movement, curiosity, and experimentation. Whether using thick fluorescent paint, vibrant liquid watercolors with pipettes, or colorful markers, every invitation encouraged children to ask questions, make discoveries, and create confidently without worrying about a "right" way to make art. By simply changing the materials, one product becomes an endless source of creative inspiration, making it a classroom and home favorite that children will want to revisit again and again.

There is no question that everyone is axolotl obsessed! Their feathery gills, tiny smiles, & fascinating ability to regenerate parts of their bodies make them an exciting creature for children to discover & learn about. After learning more about these incredible aquatic amphibians, we brought that learning to life through an immersive small world inspired by Lake Xochimilco, the remarkable place wild axolotls call home. We used our Tuff Tray to create a freshwater world inspired by the canals, shallow marshes, & remaining wetlands of Lake Xochimilco near Mexico City. We added water mixed with Colorations Metallic Paint, aquatic plants, rocks, aquarium stones, axolotl figurines, OpenPlayToys cones, & natural loose parts for children to explore & transform. One of our favorite additions was the beautifully designed Explore Nook™ Water Way & Mill Kit. Its wooden channels & pathways added an engaging STEM element as children experimented with directing & following the flow of water. We also added a beverage dispenser filled with water, allowing children to independently release water into their creations while pouring, filling, experimenting, & discovering cause & effect as it traveled through the channels. As the children played, we discussed what makes axolotls so extraordinary. Axolotls are a type of salamander, but unlike many amphibians, they remain aquatic throughout their lives & retain their recognizable feathery external gills. In the wild, they are native to freshwater canals & wetlands. They are also famous for their incredible regenerative abilities, including the ability to regrow lost limbs & repair certain other parts of their bodies. Through this invitation, children weren't simply learning facts about an animal, they were building, pouring, experimenting, imagining, & discovering. Manipulating the water channels encouraged early engineering, problem-solving, & cause-and-effect exploration, while pouring & controlling the beverage dispenser strengthened fine motor coordination. Small world play also created a natural opportunity to explore where axolotls come from, what they need to survive, & why protecting their unique freshwater environment is so important. A little water, a lot of wonder, & one extraordinary amphibian made for an invitation overflowing with play, discovery, & curiosity.