Summer Sensory Fun!

Warning: messy but fun!

Sensory activities are such a fun and incredibly important part of early childhood learning. The best part- there are SO many different ways to give kids opportunities to engage their senses during summer learning. These are activities that incorporate the senses- different textures, sounds, tastes, colors, etc. Basically we are looking for ways to stimulate their senses and give them opportunities to play with different materials!

Quick note on the importance of sensory activities for development:

• Helps children explore and make sense of the world around them.

• Aids in understanding cause and effect, and making connections early on

• Acts as a foundation for deeper learning in all areas as they grow

• Provides hands-on experiences that practice fine and gross motor skills (think scooping, pouring and grabbing different types of items)

• Can be calming and foster independence, creativity, and a love of learning

• Parents can help build vocabulary by describing how things look and feel. "This sandpaper is rough but the playdough is squishy."

Some fun summer themed activities to try at home! Just make sure your littles are supervised!!

1. Shaving Cream Art

   • Materials: Shaving cream, food coloring or paint, tray, card stock.

   • Place shaving cream on a cookie sheet or other tray, add food coloring or paint to make different colors. Press paper in the shaving cream to make marbled prints.

2. Garden Sensory Walk

   • Materials: Access to a garden or backyard.

   • Go on a scavenger hunt and look for different things to collect- sticks, leaves, flowers and listen for different sounds.

3. Scented Playdough

   • Materials: Homemade playdough (see our sensory activity page for recipe) with essential oils (lemon, mint, cinnamon).

4. Frozen Toy Rescue

   • Materials: Small toys frozen in ice, tools like spoons or salt.

   • Fill a small container with water and place toys inside. Freeze and then use spoons to rescue the toys from the ice!

5.  Ice Cube Painting

   • Materials: Ice cubes with food coloring, paper.

   • Use ice cubes, dip in food coloring and then paint on paper (for even more fun get a big roll of paper)

6. Sand Exploration Bin

   • Materials: Sand (kinetic or regular), shovels, small containers, shells, toys.

   • Bury "treasures" and have a dig-and-find activity.

7. Water Play Station

   • Materials: Buckets, measuring cups, spoons, sponges, water beads, or small toys.

   • Instructions: Fill a shallow basin with water or use a store-bought water table.

8. Fruit Smash Sensory Play

   • Materials: Soft fruits (e.g., strawberries, bananas, watermelon, kiwi), shallow bin or tray, Potato masher or spoon

   • Instructions: Place soft, washable fruits into the bin. Let your child smash, squish, and squeeze the fruits using their hands or tools.

Back at It!

After a 7 month break, we are back! The past few months have been busy since I had our son in the fall and went back to work in the winter. Working parents I FEEL YA! It's quite a balancing act and we haven't even added in playdates, birthday parties or extracurriculars yet. Woah. So I'm glad to be able to offer some awesome and simple skill building activities for your little learner, and take just a little bit off of your plate. I've been thinking a lot about what content to share, how to make it more accessible, less work, less materials, and more guided. I've been researching the newest techniques, what's happening in schools (including the shift away from the "workshop" literacy model) and listening to content to help me make this even better for you. Some things to look forward to are more activities, more books, a monthly spotlight on.... focus blog post and a digital shop full of printables and activities. Comment below for any ideas you hope to see coming up!

Back to School Tips and Tricks!

Summer is officially ending and students are either fully back to school or heading back this week. Along with that comes weekly schedules, setting alarms and extracurricular activities. Just getting everyone up and out of the house on time is an accomplishment in September! Here are just a few tips and tricks to make things a little easier from a former teacher's point of view!

1. Get into a routine for before and after school. Do this however works best for your family, but try to practice it before school starts so everyone knows what to expect. Little ones thrive on routine and knowing what's coming up. You can even find ways to get your kids involved in making their own choices about lunches, snacks, and getting ready for the day.

2. Communicate with your child's teacher. Hopefully teachers or schools have sent out some sort of communication by now... but if you still have questions make sure you reach out! This goes for letting them know about anything you need them to know about your child before school starts. This really helps set everyone up for success from the start.

3. Look out for beginning of the year paperwork. Typically the first few days of school comes with lots of paperwork! Our schools in the past used to do this by sending papers to be filled out home with students in folders. Other schools may send them digitally.

4. Have patience! Remember that everyone is getting back into the swing of things- parents, kids, teachers, bus drivers, school staff, etc. Have patience with yourself and everyone else as the new school year begins. It is such an exciting time but can be stressful and busy as we all know! Just remember that it'll take some time but in a few weeks everyone will be in a routine.

Here are some more resources for preparing for back to school:

PBS Parents Back to School Tips

Easing Kindergarten Transition Jitters