Raise your hand if all the recipes you have ever tried to make slime never come out right? Discount School Supply's non toxic Classroom Slime Tub to the rescue. This invitation to explore Monster Slime was set with a tray, graduated cylinders , beakers, wiggly eyes , mini cauldrons, ladle, and halloween decor. Slime has the strangest characteristics in that it flows somewhat like a liquid, spilling out onto the table, but is very obviously a solid. It is ooey and gooey and cold to the touch as it flows between your fingers and down your arms. It clings to your hands, but it is not sticky, and very easy to clean up! While this looks like messy play , it is so much more than that. It provides children with an exciting tactile and sensory experience that inspires their curiosity, allows them to explore the world around them and enhances their learning, language and creativity. Children learn through experimentation and discovery and messy play encourages children to explore new textures and manipulate different materials through touch. This slime is reusable, cleans easily, safe and allergy-free. Note anytime there are loose parts or non-edible materials are provided to a child, supervision is of the utmost importance to ensure safety.

With Excellerations® Building Brilliance® Magnetic Clear , LED tea lights, creepy crawlers, eyeballs, spider webs, bats, and skulls placed in a tinker tray to invite a child to create a spooky house with Halloween just around the corner. Block play with any building materials has a natural progression. Children have to learn how to move and manipulate various shaped objects, big and small, as well as have the fine motor control to “click” them into place. Building helps children enhance their visual-spatial skills. Encourages thinking and reasoning: These skills are what make children become well-rounded, independent and successful adults. Involves focus and patience: Children need to work slowly and carefully to be successful at creating their designs. Using their imagination boosts cognitive, academic, language and social growth. When building, children need to decide what will or won’t work. Through building, children learn to experiment and make new discoveries about how things work. Builds confidence: Once that masterpiece is finished, children are so proud of their accomplishments. It increases their belief in themselves. Invitations enhance a child's free creative play, exposure to sensory elements, wonder, concepts/themes, and the world around them. Through this kind of play children are really creating: using what they have and what they already know, and combining that to create a whole that’s greater than the parts. in

After reading or singing the story Five Little Pumpkins, integrating the literacy experience with a STEM invitation is a great way to deepen their connection to a make the book come to life. Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate, First one said "Oh my, it's getting late!" Second one said "There are witches in the air," Third one said "but we don't care!" Fourth one said "Let's run and run and run." Fifth one said "I'm ready for some fun!" Ooo ooo went the wind, and out went the lights, And five little pumpkins rolled out of sight. To set this invitation we used real pumpkins and Jumbo Interlocking Blocks .The goal was to recreate the story through building. Depending on your child's age they may need your guidance and engagement to begin the building process. If that is the case, a lot of language and mirroring what is going to be done and what you are going to do together will help guide the process. If they are old enough you can prompt questions before building of "Can you build a gate for the pumpkins just like the story or song we just read?" Opportunities for hands-on play with different materials allow children to learn and extend their knowledge and creative thinking skills. STEM invitations are designed to engage and stretch their thinking by introducing the engineering and design process through building which is a natural fit due to the fact that in the early years a child's work is to constantly problem solve through play. This invitation is a perfect opportunity to change a building invitation to challenge the child to think and create in new ways, while enhancing their interpretation and perception of the song or story they just read. Are you a parent of kids ages 1-5 years old?  Have you tried the Kinspire app ?  I’ve partnered with Kinspire for that very reason… and guess what? Starting TODAY, you can sign up for exclusive access to Kinspire+, the brand-new premium product with tons of new features. Kinspire+ helps you quickly find just-right, easy-to-start activities that support your child’s developmental needs.  Right now, Kinspire+ is offering my followers a deal: 50% off for life when you sign up for exclusive presale access.  Sign up today with my link and you’ll pay only $4.99 per month (half off $9.99 subscription price). (You won’t be charged until Kinspire+ launches, and you can cancel at any time). Join me in the fun and #LetsKinspire! If you have any questions, feel free to ask me, DM @kinspireapp, or email social@kinspireapp.com .

With the changes in the leaves all around. Setting up an provocation where a child paints with the colors of the changing leaves is great way to deepen their connection with the world around them through the arts. A provocation is a technique used to stimulate children's thinking, to inspire them artistically, to empower them to take control over their learning, to open their minds, to create an environment for reflection, to challenge children, to encourage creativity. To set up this up I placed f abric fall leaves that are perfect for reusing in other invitations, jumbo cut out leaves , tempera paint , and buttons . While all of these materials are not used in the process they are placed to ignite wonder, curiosity, and observation to detail. They simply provoke similarities and differences, color/shape recognition, and sensory exploration. Once it was time to paint all of the materials that are not going to be used were removed (fabric leaves & buttons). Finger painting is an excellent tactile experience because it stimulates a child’s senses. (Touch/feel, sight, smell, edible finger paint= taste) The mixing of colors teaches the child about their colors, how to create new colors, cause/effect, and the basics of chemical reactions. It allows them to use their imagination and create in an open-ended way. It is emotionally soothing, too. It strengthens the hand and fingers which helps with fine motor skills all while learning the shapes of the leaves. While mess or loose parts is not for everyone, there is of great importance to both of them in early childhood. It simply comes down to modifying or removing activities to suite your child or classroom. Just as every child has a different style of learning, whether you are a parent or teacher, you too have a unique way in guiding that child or classroom to gain knew knowledge and experiences.

"Art is as natural as sunshine and as vital as nourishment." Mary F. Kohl To celebrate a huge #tinkerwonderplay milestone of reaching 20K and kick off re-occurring #giveaways for all your support, I have boxed up some of my favorite Discount School Supply Process Art Products for one very lucky winner! To Enter on Instagram: 1)Follow @tinkerwonderplay and @discountschoolsupply on Instagram 2)Tag a friend. 3)You may enter as many times as you'd like, but each tag must be in a separate comment. 4)Like This Post Giveaway Ends October 5th Winner announced over Instagram stories. Winner will be notified by this account only. This giveaway is not affiliated or endorsed by Instagram.

Typically I have done this practical life invitation with baby dolls, play kitchen items, or a car wash. Since fall is here, a fun way of further exploring pumpkins and gourds through sensory play, is inviting a child to wash pumpkins. The invitation is simply placed in a sensory bin , with pumpkins + gourds , soap , water, and hand towels. Practical life activities are not only enticing they are important activities for young children. There are a series of steps that children will go through for a cleaning activity. That’s wonderful for developing concentration, organization, and the ability to follow directions. Pumpkin washing is even more attractive and engaging to the child because they love anything that a) involves water b) something they are noticing in the world around them lately and c) it is totally out of the norm d) it empowers them to feel capable of doing something they see adults do. By adding real life cleaning supplies sponges, towels, and soap, it makes it an all encompassing activity that they are proud to do over and over again! Practical life activities help instill care of their environment, are both fun and great for developing order, concentration, coordination, and independence in hygiene and cleanliness.

This fall STEM invitation lets a child explore how to balance the pumpkins and wicker balls on recycled paper tubes . STEM activities are designed to engage and stretch a child's thinking. Introducing the engineering and design process is a natural fit due to the fact that children already like to build and problem solve. This invitation is a perfect opportunity to change a simple building activity to challenge them to think and create in new ways and enhancing their interpretation and perception of weight, height, and balancing. There was no wrong or right way to do this activity and the possibilities are truly endless. Even through guiding my son through modeling how to place the pumpkins, his only motive was to knock down the materials, that is totally normal and part of his process. This invitation will be out for him to revisit to continue to explore the materials and build in his own way. As a child is left to create and explore, it stretches their problem-solving skills by all the ways they have to figure out how to balance the pumpkins and wicker balls. It may not happen right away due to his age (14 months), but that is the beauty of mastering a new skill. Through all these trials, the child is able to analyze the situation more critically and come up with solutions in their own way. STEM subliminally provides awesome real life lessons that are so valuable and enriching to a child.

Making pretend soup with all things fall. Pumpkins, acorns, sticks , leaves, pine cones, Liquid Water Colors , kitchen utensils, and bowls. Inviting a child to create any type of sensory soup encourages scooping, pouring and transferring. This helps encourage exploration, of science, language, color theory, natural materials, and sensory play. When a child is adding and stirring ingredients it fosters creativity and enables children to experiment with science and math concepts. Children begin to understand and investigate with ideas such as more/less, same/different, many/few, empty/full, before/after, greater than/less than. Children also learn physics principles such as the effects of force (increasing the waterflow through increased force); effects of gravity (water runs downhill) etc. The social learnings from water play include collaboration, concentration, turn taking, problem solving, perseverance, self-regulation, and more. Children also gain physical learning through sensory play through water and loose parts, such as precision in pouring, eye-hand coordination, and other skills. Exploring with their senses is engaging, engrossing no and absorbing to almost all children.

Have you ever done Marble Painting? This invitation is the same process just with acorns. If you can forage a handful of acorns on a walk or a hike, grab a cardboard box, paper , and tempera paint , you are ready to do the fall rendition of process art classic! This activity is great engaging in multi-tasking as they tilt the box, keep an eye on the acorns so they don’t fall out of the box, and direct the object through the paint all at the same time. The whole process is great for eye-hand coordination as well as cause and effect. Through this process they see the effect of colors mixing together and through science explore the effects of gravity. Every time we provide children with the opportunity to create art all on their own, we are reminded of how engaging and important process art is. With that said, sometimes what we intentionally set out doesn't go exactly in the direction we planned for. That is the beauty of the process. It is all about trial and error, exploration, creativity, and using skills they have while exposing them to new ones. As you can see in this process, my son went straight for finger painting (skill he has) and it took me guiding him over and over to somewhat grasp the new skill of tilting the box to move the acorns. Always remember for a child it is about the process, not the prodcut.

In a time where children are experiencing intensive technological exposure, a mud kitchen encourages children to be outside with nature to ignite curiosity, wonder, and creativity. Outdoor mud kitchens provide opportunity to practice practical life skills, make sense of the world around them through dramatic play, and engage in science by experimenting with natural materials. For the initial introduction to this play space I placed all things fall, eventually I will most definitely bring in real mud. Nearly all children are drawn to mud and messy play is of great importance. Research has shown that there are endless benefits in playing with mud and building healthy immune systems. For the first experience I placed pumpkins, foraged acorns & leaves, sticks , wicker balls , felt acorns , pots & pans , wooden utensils, and a muffin tin. Learning through play is all about allowing children to foster a myriad of skills at their own developmental level. A mud kitchen is an optimal creative environment where it meets the diverse needs and interests of children at their own pace while instilling wonder and play. In all the years of being in early childhood and going to conferences I have never seen such a beautiful quality made mud kitchen that will definitely carry on throughout the years. Please show some love and follow Grow Wild Co. And stay tuned for different themes of play in this area!

Mobiles are free-moving, hanging sculptures. An invitation to create a DIY Mobile is great for a wide range of ages with plenty of opportunity for creative while learning about shapes, colors, patterns, and textures. The materials you can use are limitless. From recycled materials, beads, string, paper, so on the options are open ended to whatever. For this mobile material we used cardboard, string, branches , and black + white tempera paint. The reason I chose black and white paint is because they are easily overlooked, dismissed as unimportant in exploring art, not as immediately engaging as color. Children’s encounters with these shades are richly nuanced and full of textural depth. Black paint on paper makes a strong declaration. Black and white are potent colors. They call attention to line, to the edges of shapes. Their starkness helps us to see deeply. It allows them to use their imagination and create in an open-ended way. It is emotionally soothing, too. Black and white art provides a frame through which children can understand color even more.

Turn any recycled container or box into a fine motor filled wonderland.This great homemade invitation can strengthen fine motor skills, enhance color, number, letter, shape, recognition, and provide sensory play. What may seem like an easy developmental milestone to conquer, learning to take things in and out of containers can be quite the tasked for a baby. Typically babies naturally learn to take things out before putting them. Therefore an invitation to explore drop containers or boxes, exposes them how to learn to put different objects through play. To make this invitation simply take recycled containers or boxes, cut different slits and shapes, provide a tinker tray of different materials such as pom poms , foam cubes , wood circles , q-tips, and craft sticks . You can guide your child on what to do by demonstrating or simply let your child freely explore.