If there is one amazing thing that came out of this pandemic, it quite honestly has to be educators and parents creating resources to continue to provide children with learning materials. Tinkering Toddler Creates are monthly activity boxes for children ages 3-5 deigned to engage in learning through play. Designed by the founder & owner Lisa who has range of teaching experience from toddlers to elementary age. All the amazing materials along with detailed but easy to follow instructions are included in the crate. The XOXO crate was such a special Valentine's treat. The crate contained sensory play, art, math, literacy, games, and science. We had a blast learning and exploring through play.

Food plays an integral role in our lives. The food we eat is intertwined with culture. By exploring food children can learn a lot about a particular culture. Today we celebrated the Lunar New Year by eating some of the traditional foods as well as reading the story Ten Little Dumplings followed by an invitation with play-dough. The story written by By Larissa Fan and Illustrated by Cindy Wume is based on a true special family of ten sons with one daughter. Their parents call the boys their ten little dumplings since they are both are auspicious. Dumplings represent wealth, and it’s been said the more you eat the more money you make. Dumpling Shirt and Pants are from Mochi Kids . To extended the literacy experience you can set an invitation with play-dough and tools to create dumplings. Another way is to experiencing eating dumplings or any of the traditional foods. To celebrate the Lunar New Year we did both! Happy Lunar New Year!

“Teaching children about the natural world should be treated as one the most important events in their lives.” Thomas Berry I could write a novel on the benefits of outdoor play but will keep it pretty straight forward. Playing outdoors is absolutely vital to child’s development. It benefits a child’s mental health, physical health, cognitive health, social & emotional health, and honors their play. Play is the foundation of a child’s development and the outdoors is by far the best environment to honor that. Check out stories on instagram today as #FollowFridayEarlyYears highlights inspiring outdoor play accounts and books to support in the classroom or at home here.

In the story Homemade Love written by Bell Hooks and illustrated by Shane W. Evan is about the love of a mother & father regardless of the mistakes their sweet girl pie makes. Reading books from birth that represent all abilities, cultures, beliefs, & skin colors help children be exposed diverse experiences. Books are a window to the world & representation from a young age matters. It lays the foundation of seeing others & makes it easier for a child to accept themselves & understand that there is nothing wrong with them. Sensory & loose parts exploration is a great way integrate this literacy experience through cooking “homemade love” through play. To create this invitation you can make homemade chocolate play-dough: 2 Cups of Flour 2 Cups of Salt 2 Cups of Water (add food coloring or liquid water colors to create the color desired) 2 TBSP Cream of Tartar 2 TBSP Oil 2-3 TBSP Hot Cocoa Mix Heat a non stick pan to very low, pour flour, salt, water, cream of tartar, hot coca mix, & oil on the pan all together. A little trick we do for the color to evenly disperse is add the Liquid Water Colors or Food Coloring to the water prior to putting it in the pan. Continue to mix the ingredients until it hardens. Typically 4-5 minutes. Remove from pan and roll the play dough around on a cutting board until it cools down. Store in Tupperware/Ziplock. Then set out a tinker tray with loose parts materials (most are from @tinkeringtoddlercrates , post coming soon), cupcake liners, mini pie pan, & utensils. The Inspriemyplay PlayTray has amazing compartments for loose parts & the top is great to establish boundaries with where the play-dough can stay. This type of play enhances a child's free creative play, exposure to sensory elements, requires concentration, fine motor enhancement, while also being relaxing & stimulating. These invitations are perfect for limitless possibilities, fostering problem solving skills, creativity, exposure to new materials, & decision making. Through this kind of play children are really creating: using what they have & what they already know, & combining that to create a whole that’s greater than the parts.

The ABCs of Black History celebrates letter by letter the stories of black culture. Written by poet Rio Cortez and illustrated by Lauren Semmer , this books is an opportunity for children to learn about history to inspire their future big ideas. To extend the literacy experience through the arts painting with the color black is a great way to express how black is beautiful. This simple yet powerful invitation is often easily overlooked. Just some paper and black coloring materials from Discount School Supply ( crayon , marker , oil pastel , tempera stick , paint , & brushes ) Children’s encounters with black are richly nuanced and full of textural depth. Black on paper makes a strong declaration. Black calls attention to lines, to the edges of shapes. The starkness helps us to see deeply. It allows a child to use their imagination and create in an open-ended way. It is emotionally soothing, too. Creating with black provides a frame through which children can understand color even more and honor how black is beautiful.

Keith Haring was a popular artist and activist during the 1980s. Much of his work responded to social and political events. As an openly gay artist he represented a lot of what the LGBTQ community went through. He loved working with children, admiring their imagination, and encouraged them to collaboratively create art. Haring developed an eye catching distinct pop-graffiti aesthetic with fluid and bold outlines. His art with hearts showed up in many of his paintings as he often repeated symbols. He believed in the power of love so the hearts and human figures portrayed his optimistic beliefs in humanity. This invitation to explore his art through loose parts on the light table is a greater way to expose a child to such an influential artist. You can take laminating sheets and draw outlines of his art work. Place the sheet on the light table and provide flat marbles and translucent craft tiles. After his diagnosis, Haring set up The Keith Haring Foundation , to provide funding and support to AIDS research, charities and education.

@inspiremyplay PlayTray is here! Literally it’s an all in one solution dream come true. Everything you need in one tray. A deep tray, shallow tray, and six removable compartments. The bilingual board book 12 Lucky Animals written by Vicki Lee and illustrated by Joey Chou is a great introduction to the Lunar New Year animals. To recreate the book the Playtray is perfect for a sensory invitation to explore parts of the cultures traditions. To create this sensory tray place rice, lucky money, red envelopes, animal figurines, and utensils/cups to pour/scoop. Since children learn best and retain the most information when they engage their senses, inviting children the opportunity to investigate sensory materials it helps them develop and refine their cognitive, social and emotional, physical, creative and linguistic skill sets, simply through exploring and experimenting.

Cherry Blossom Flowers represent new growth after the long winter and are a symbol of prosperity for the Lunar New Year. They represent the earth coming back to life & wishes for prosperous new beginnings. A flower that blooms on New Year's day is particularly "lucky.“ These invitations explore how to recreate the flowers are through process art & loose parts play. Before inviting a child to create Cherry Blossoms you can show of images of the trees, branches, flowers, paintings, or these egg cartons ones inspired by @alandalicia. Next you can invite the child to paint blossoms by stamping the bottom of a bottle that is dipped in Colorations tempera paint . The other option for a child to pick up a pom pom with a chopstick, dip it in the paint and print flowers. For the loose parts explorations you can set out a tinker tray with flat marbles, rocks, & buttons . The child can create on an acrylic mirror which encourages reflection, perception, and appearance which in turn provides visual feedback. Loose parts play is art in a different medium, it is more about the process of exploration not the end product. Just like process art, loose parts are materials that can be moved, carried, combined, redesigned, lined up & taken apart in multiple ways. They are materials with no specific set of directions that can be used alone or combined with materials. Loose parts encourages an open ended process that has endless possibilities.

These two sensory bins in this table representing some of the Lunar New Year food traditions. The first sensory bin is explores noodles. You can cut up yarn, string, ribbon, or pipe cleaners. Noodles symbolize happiness & longevity. The second sensory bin is rice. The symbolism of rice is increasing prosperity every year. You can incorporate pretend play food to make more realistic dishes. These sensory bins let the children get a glimpse of celebrating Lunar New Year while gaining a range of sensory experiences, exposure to other foods through different cultures, developing communication skills through role play, and the chance to practice fine motor skills. By placing utensils and kitchen ware they can practicing pouring/scooping/mixing/picking the sensory materials. While tools such as tongs and chopsticks can be tricky for younger children to master, they often come up with their own creative ways of using them. Tongs/Chopsticks can help children to work on hand-dominance, pre-handwriting/handwriting skills, and improve their grasp. Many of our favorite memories are associated with one or more of our senses, especially with food. That is why children learn best and retain more information/skills when they engage in sensory play.

Ma Rainey, Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald are just a few female Black Jazz artist who made music history. To celebrate these pioneers for #BlackHistoryMonthy this invitation to paint the blues is a great away to connect to the arts. To set this invitation you can print images of the singers, laminate them. Before painting you can open discussion about each singer, what type of music they sang, what instruments were in their music, and how they made a change in music. Next place different shades of Colorations Tempera Paint , paintbrushes , and butcher paper. You can also print out black and white images of jazz instruments, laminate them, and tape them onto the butcher paper to paint around the silhouettes of the instruments. While they paint you can play all their music to inspire the way they paint. They paved the way for artists to come by breaking down barriers and making a huge impact to what they contributed through music. This is the perfect time to celebrate their groundbreaking timeless work.

This invitation to create consists of heart process art three ways on recycled cardboard. Heart Resist Art inspired by Busy Toddler's resist tape , Concentric Layered Hearts, and Collage Hearts. All you need is painters tape , glue , string, paint brushes ( easy grip / shaving brushes ) Colorations tempera paint from Discount School Supply. Before inviting a child to create cardboard hearts you can read two all time favorites The Invisible String written by Patrice Karst and In My Heart by Jo Witek to inspire their art. This will not only integrate through process it art and it deepen their connection/comprehension with the stories. In the story In My Heart the beautiful illustrations and layers of hearts talks about the different feelings and emotions we have. To recreate this books through art by simply layering different sized shape hearts, big to small or creating a collage to paint with brushes is a fun way to recreate the heart within the story. For the the book the Invisible String simply having a child paint with string instead of a paint brush provides for a different process in painting while connecting how in the story string connects our love no matter where we are.

The beauty of celebrating different cultures is that you get to learn and create in so many different ways. There are so many amazing ways to make Lanterns and Firecrackers for the Lunar New Year with children. The book Chinese New Year Colors is a great way to welcome the festivities to young children. The images of the symbolic gifts, foods, and objects through beautiful colors is inviting to extend in creating through art. While there are so many things you can make through this book lanterns and firecrackers are such fun ways to create. To create the lanterns all you need is paper lanterns and Colorations Tempera Paint . For the the firecrackers you can use recycled paper rolls , plastic colored cups, red pouch tops, gold ribbon, and pipe cleaners . Lanterns were originally used to provide illumination. For the Lunar New Year they are said to be lucky charms and a wish for the bright future. Firecrackers were originally used to scare away evil spirits and are also to express happiness and invite good luck.