Active, hands on learning, while playing is so important, and a child will develop many benefits of learning through play when exploring magnetic toys. Whether they are using magnetic tiles , mag wands, marbles, horseshoes, chips , paper clips and so on, magnets provide so much opportunity for endless experimenting. They are intriguing, yet easy to master. Magnets help children increase their language skills by teaching them new magnet-related words, names, and shapes. As children attach and remove them from a metal surface, magnets help them develop their small hand and finger muscles, essential for learning to draw and to write. Magnets teach “cause and effect” and other important problem solving skills that are so essential for developing early brain connections. As children play with magnets, they will be adding and subtracting them from a surface. They’ll learn concepts such as more and less, on and off, and size and shape. Magnets are open-ended toys.  Children can manipulate them in various ways.  To further enhance magnetic exploration you can provide baking trays, steel sheets, or any surface that will attract the magnets.

Children have a natural desire to make sense of their world, to create order. Play is the greatest way for a child to process the world around them. This invitation combines two concept explorations to provide the best of both worlds with small world play and matching the animals figurines to printable images. Small world play is simply when you set an invitation to explore where children use items to engage in scenes from their own experiences, environments, books, pictures, fairytales, or to expose them to new ones. Since the pandemic has put a halt to experiencing zoos, aquariums, farms, and trips, small worlds are perfect for exposure to different environments. Many small worlds incorporate sensory play materials to enrich the experience and make it more realistic. In this sensory bin to create a small world farm I used recycled shredded paper, flat marbles, rocks , rice, wood rounds , farm animal figurines , and farm printable images. Many children will start sorting and matching things without even being taught. This is a beginning math skill. It may seem that a big chunk of early math is about learning numbers and quantity, but there's much more to it. By matching and sorting, children understand that things are alike and different as well as that they can belong and be organized into certain groups. Getting practice with sorting at an early age is important for numerical concepts and grouping numbers and sets when they're older. Combining an invitation to play in a small world sensory bin with a concept such as matching & sorting not only exposes the child at ease it is even more engaging since children learn best through their hands. Exciting news ✨I’ve become a creator on the awesome new free @KinspireApp, launching today on iOS & Android. Kinspire helps families discover and share screen-free activities to do at home. Kids & Parents can choose from 350+ activities like this Small World Play & Matching Game Sensory Bin earn prizes to build at home. We can all add our own activities and challenge each other to complete them. We all need balance with screens, right? I’m happy to share this new resource with you. Day 1 downloads are really meaningful, so please download the app today at KinspireApp.com or via link in @KinspireApp bio. #LetsKinspire

In the wordless book Wave by acclaimed artist Suzy Lee, a little girl's day at the beach is depicted in the stunning illustrations that create a vibrant movement of the ocean water crashing into waves on the beach. Wordless books may seem counterintuitive, but books without text can actually boost literacy skills. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but a great picture book is priceless. Wordless picture books help visual thinkers play to their strengths by boosting confidence through taking the pressure off. They incorporate context clues. A lot is left to the child’s imagination, the pictures simply guide their plot to ignite a storyline which is great for comprehension skills as well as story structure/sequencing. They become active participanta in the story telling. Whether you ignite questions or the child does, it creates an open dialogue exploring cause & effect to elaborate. This can also bring about acquisition of new vocabulary. To integrate this literacy experience into a sensory exploration, take a Ziploc Bag fill the bottom with blue tempera paint , middle with shaving cream, and top with sand. Next have your child crash the ocean water (blue paint) into a wave (shaving cream). Sensory bags such as this allow the child to explore, discover, imagine, create, and learn while engaging many of their senses to connect to the literacy experience. They are a great mess free sensory play that parents can appreciate and also in a COVID-19 classroom can be a great individualized activity.

The story "Little Tree" by Loren Long , is not only a great book to read on how and when leaves changes, the seasons, weather, colors, and more. It is a great book for opening up discussion about facing change, challenges of growing up and letting go. Since the world looks and feels different for many children this is a great way to connect how nature constantly changes and life does as well. Books related to the concept explorations are motivating and appealing to children. Information can be gained from these books in context of a story. The pictures and words can impart a lot of meaning and information to help the children learn more about at topic, interact, relate their own experiences, and guide the children's inquiry. To extend a literacy experience setting an invitation to create fall foliage with loose parts on a cardboard cutout tree is open ended, engaging, and deepen their connection with literacy. To set this invitation take recycled cardboard and cut it out like a tree. Next in a Tinker Trays place loose parts such a recycled bottle caps, translucent shapes , buttons , and wooden circles . Tinker trays are the perfect for limitless possibilities, foster problem solving skills, creativity, exposure to new materials, and decision making. Through this kind of free 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. Loose parts and free play in childhood develops the creative genius of the future. What I love most about invitations is watching how the different combinations of materials inspiring the child to create different things. This type of play enhances a child's free creative play, exposure to sensory elements, requires concentration, fine motor and hand strength building, and is relaxing and stimulating.

Fall is just around the corner, and your child or the children in your class may have noticed a change in the leaves. Before setting up this invitation go on a nature walk, collect leaves of all colors (green, yellow, orange, red, and brown). When you come back open up a discussion about why leaves change colors or read a story explaining the science behind it. In the fall, because of changes in the length of daylight and changes in temperature, the leaves stop their food-making process. The chlorophyll breaks down, the green color disappears, and the yellow to orange colors become visible and give the leaves part of their fall splendor. You can further extend this invitation into process art. On a piece of recycled cardboard have your child glue the leaves in the order of the color changing process. You can guide them through this process. After that you can glue cotton pads and coffee filters along side the leaves. Provide your child with pipettes or jumbo droppers and Colorations liquid water colors . Let them paint the cotton pads and coffee filters into a fall foliage work of art. Children’s interest are definitely sparked when the activity unfolds itsself with multiple layers of learning. From going on a nature walk, to discussing or reading about what they gathered, to creating, followed by process art. They see the evolution of the process a leaf goes through in different mediums of learning. A provocation such as this 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. The power of creativity and laying the foundation for that creativity through the process of art is essential to children. "When children explore art ideas, they are testing possibilities and working through challenges, much like a scientist who experiments and finds solutions. Art allows children to make their own assessments, while also teaching them that a problem may have more than one answer. Instead of following specific rules or directions, the child’s brain becomes engaged in the discovery of “how” and “why.” MaryAnn Kohl

This is an excellent experience to develop fine motor skills, enhance hand-eye coordination, and practice one-to-one correspondence when counting how many stars were rescued. Take a tray or sensory bin fill the base with black tulle, place pre cut and painted + glitter recycled cardboard cut out stars, and place washi tape in a web like design, and lastly tweezers/tongs as the tool to remove the stars. When a child is invited to explore an invitation such as this it requires them to concentrate on keeping the tweezers/tongs in between the web and pull up gently so that they don’t drop the star or get it caught on the tape. By using tweezers/tongs to pick up the stars the child uses their finger muscles to squeeze the tweezers in order to pick up each star. This fine motor skill activity helps strengthen the child hands for pencil grasp. The child will have moments where they realize it isn’t as easy as they think it would be. Which will require the child to get focused and formulate new strategies on holding the tweezers/tongs together tightly while bringing the star back up out of the web. After they have rescued the stars, this is a great opportunity to practice counting through one-to-one correspondence, which simply means counting each object in a set once with one touch per object.

After getting good use out of the sensory bin with expired pasta for a week, I decided to use some of the pasta for a process art invitation. To do this you will need recycled cardboard, glue , pasta, tempera paint , paint pallet, and paint brushes . If your child is old enough a day before you can provide them with pasta and glue to design the cardboard. This is great for enhancing fine motor skills as they squeeze the glue bottle and place the pasta on the cardboard. Let it dry overnight. The next day invite your child or students to paint how ever they desire on the pasta. Children really enjoy unusual painting surfaces as it not only serves as a sensory experience but they have to be even more mindful and strategic with how they paint since it is a different element than what they are used to. Process art is a way for children to express and explore their own creativity and feelings towards the world. It helps them use their senses, express emotion, explore process and outcomes, explore color, and create aesthetically pleasing works and experiences. As children paint, both sides of the brain are engaged, strengthening the connection between two hemispheres. Some children chose to use all of the colors, some mix them, and some chose their favorites. It's always amazing to watch, to see how they create and how they express themselves. Freely letting a child explore and discover art builds their confidence, fosters their cognitive skills when they become aware of all the different ways to do art, make predictions and plan it out and problem solve. Physically painting benefits children, too! It strengthens their fine motor skills, utensil control and helps with pre-writing skills. "For children, process art is where we want to begin, introducing them to materials and techniques with an attitude of play and discovery". Art is a language and painting benefits children emotionally, mentally, physically, and spiritually.

Simple STEM challenges that are quick and easy such as this invitation can help a child develop fine motor skills, gain an understanding of cause & effect, design plus test their own drop, & explore concept of gravity. To set up this activity you will need paper tubes , pom poms , tape, poster board /cardboard/wall or window, and a sensory bin /bowl/or Tupperware to catch the pom poms. For younger children you will have to set this up before hand, if they are old enough to do so themselves it is a great way to problem solve and build. Depending on your child’s fine motor skills you can also add handy scoopers , tweezers, or tongs as a tool to pick up the pom poms. My son (13 Months) simply used his hands. All children are different, develop at different rates, so give it a go and invite your child to explore and create a pom pom drop!

Major pantry organization leads to using expired pasta for sensory play! In a sensory bin you can simply place different sized cups, bowls, plates, measuring cups, and utensils and pour the pasta in the containers so the child can explore the different types. By setting it up in a sensory bin you are inviting the child to explore their senses through play. Sensory play is, quite simply, any activity that stimulates the senses. By giving children the opportunity to investigate materials with no preconceived knowledge, we are helping them develop and refine their cognitive, social and emotional, physical, creative and linguistic skill sets, simply through exploring. Stay tuned for the next blog post where we use the pasta for process art!

With the continuous unfortunate events in California surrounding the wild fires, children naturally are asking questions about it all. Invitations that shed light on what is happening in the world allows them process the events. It can also help gain perspective on how first responders save people, nature, animals, stores, and homes in danger. Providing experiences through play where you can share discussions and let a child find their own way to understand, may ease the worry, trauma, sadness, or trauma they are experiencing. In times like these children need experiences such as this to establish security, guidance, and safety. For this invitation with magnetic tiles as the burning buildings, a fire truck, geometric flames , and jumbo droppers as their fire hose created the small world play of wildfires. At the base of the sensory bin placing shaving cream and colors of fire with Colorations Liquid Water Colors adds a sensory element. This invitation not only explores role play it also a sensory experience as well, which children learn best through.

Fine Motor finger gym number one is six recycled pint size plastic berry baskets and number two is a kitchen colander. To prep this activity I sorted Colorations Pipe Cleaners from Discount School Supply by the colors of the rainbow. Next, I placed the six colors of pipe cleaned in each berry basket and then in the colander. Finger gyms are great for enhancing fine motor skills because a child is literally using their hands and minds to make this activity work. This invitation is an ideal challenge to be able to grasp objects with their whole hand or with thumb and index finger, in order to refine their fine motor activities such as lacing beads on a string, writing, cutting, etc. later down the line. Finger gyms teach children how to be patient and strategies about how they can succeed to remove the pipe cleaners. While this invitation may look easy and simple, it does take a bit of planning, problem solving and consistent thought process for the child to succeed. It teaches a child how to guide and use their hands and fingers so that they can grasp the pipe cleaners effectively and efficiently. As with many activities, taking the pipe cleaner out of the baskets or colander is easier than putting them back in, so this invitation can provides a natural grading of challenge as they grow and obtain a variety of skill levels. When and if they are old enough, putting the pipe cleaner in the colander or baskets encourages precise hand movements and higher level hand-eye coordination than lower level play skills such as stacking two blocks or placing pegs in a board.

I picked up these beautiful Strawflowers from the local farmers market specifically becuase they last so long and dry so beautifully. Most importantly they can be reused for many invitations, sensory bottles, art, and more! The invitation was set with Colorations Textured Rolling Pins that have 4 different textured patterns. The textures that come from the pins enhance the sensory play. You can make the Play-dough with the recipe below or use store-bought. Lastly, the dried Strawflowers were scattered loosely all around the tray to explore. Since my son loves tearing things apart, I let him take apart the flowers, then I guided and helped him roll in and bind the petals in the play-dough. This was a great way to practice fine motor skills all while exploring natural sensory materials. Play-dough is a staple in early childhood education. It is a powerful way to let a child use their imagination, strengthen the small muscles in their fingers, and encourage a chil's language +literacy, science, math and sensory skills. It is quite possibly one of most powerful props for learning. Play Dough Recipe: 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 Heat a non stick pan to very low, pour flour, salt, water, cream of tartar, and 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 or a Ziplock Bag and enjoy!