Hands On As We Grow® |
- Mess-Free Simple No Dye Easter Eggs with Washi Tape
- HELP! My Child Doesn’t Want to Do Any Activities! 4 Steps to Follow
- 100+ Fun Learning Activities For Kids To Do At Home
- Sweet Sensory Play for Babies That Aid in Their Development
| Mess-Free Simple No Dye Easter Eggs with Washi Tape Posted: 03 Mar 2022 06:00 PM PST Click here to read Mess-Free Simple No Dye Easter Eggs with Washi Tape on Hands On As We Grow® Make simple no dye Easter Eggs using Washi tape, from Lisa, for a fun and mess free way to decorate eggs with your toddlers! We love coming up with new ideas to decorate Easter eggs. Dipping eggs into dye can be really hard (and messy) for toddlers. I wanted to find a decorating activity that they could all fully participate in and really enjoy. Keeping the mess to a minimum was also a high priority Mess-Free Simple No Dye Easter Eggs with Washi TapeAfter looking through my craft cabinet, I found a container full of washi tape and knew we could put it to use!  For this no dye Easter egg activity, you’ll need:
That’s it! I would recommend that you set up this activity on a flat surface, at child height. We used a low bench and it worked perfectly.  I set this activity up for my two and three year olds, but my older children joined as well and had just as much fun! Decorate Easter Eggs with a Fine Motor TwistTo make decorating easier for everyone, I ripped the tape in pieces ahead of time. I stuck each piece to the edge of the bench we were working on.  This allowed my toddlers to pick and choose what tape they wanted easily while still maintaining a sense of independent control – which we all know is very important for toddlers! They were very excited to start decorating and immediately knew what to do.
Peeling off the tape from the bench is a great fine motor and pincer activity for developing hands and fingers. It is also great hand coordination practice.  They were able to make use of both hands, holding an egg in one hand and using the other to place and stick the tape down.  Our tape did not stick perfectly as you can see, but we were focus on the process more than the end result. My toddlers were so proud of their finished product!  This was such an easy, enjoyable activity for all my children. They were able to mix and match different colors of tape. Then, they decided where to put the tape on each of their eggs. It was easy prep and clean up too! What are some ways you like to decorate Easter eggs without using traditional dye? |
| HELP! My Child Doesn’t Want to Do Any Activities! 4 Steps to Follow Posted: 03 Mar 2022 06:00 AM PST Click here to read HELP! My Child Doesn’t Want to Do Any Activities! 4 Steps to Follow on Hands On As We Grow® My child doesn’t want to do any activities! My child can’t sit still to do crafts. My child just destroys the activities we do. My child just doesn’t seem to want to do any of the activities I set up for him. Ever said one of those? If that’s the case… How in the world do you do activities with your child? First of all, there is nothing is wrong with your child. This is completely normal. There is somewhat of a learning curve with kids and activities. It doesn’t come naturally to many kids, nor does it come naturally to many parents. At least it didn’t for me at the beginning. I’ve gone through my phases of forcing my kids to do activities, because I thought that’s what they should be able, and want, to do. And let me tell you, it is not fun for anyone involved. And I always regret it later. Activities should never cause a fight. Since then, I’ve found the secret to doing activities with my kids. Let’s go through the 4 steps to follow when your child doesn’t want to do any activities that you encourage. What’s your reason?Let’s rewind a bit and talk about your reasons for doing the activities with your child. There’s absolutely no reason that you have to. It’s that you want to. And usually it comes down to wanting to spend time and create memories with your child. What is your reason? You can find my three reasons here. If you want to spend time and create memories, then what you’re doing with them shouldn’t really matter all that much, correct? If he wants to run around and jump when you set up a pipe cleaner threading activity, is that such a terrible thing? If he destroys the lines of tape you set up to do a jumping game, is that all that bad? Think about the big picture first and remember your reason for wanting to do the activity in the first place.  What about your child?Next, I want you to think about your child. I’ve put this in an email several times, and it’s also in the free activity planner that I send out, but I’ve never made it public. I realized that this is probably the most important thing you can do with your child, no matter what. But if you want to be successful with activities, you really need to do it even more when your child doesn’t really want to do activities! You need to study your child. Step back and watch them as they play. Ask yourself some of these questions about their free play, and even jot down notes in the weekly activities planner. These are just a few examples to get you thinking. What are they playing with? Make this a Sunday night homework and reflect back on the week, each week.  Then, choose activities based on your child.Sometimes, an activity might not seem really like an ‘activity’, but just play. Don't think you need to be extravagant with activities, especially when you’re first starting out. Simple is often best! Less is more (or however you'd like to say it). I say this for both you and your child. It makes it not as frustrating for you if your child doesn’t ‘go’ for the activity. But also for your child because its not as frustrating for them if they don’t understand what they’re supposed to do. Eventually, your child will be asking to do another activity and that’s when you can start making things more involved. But that likely won’t be the case at the beginning. Do not expect your child to be a certain way and wonder why they don’t want to do an activity; use the information from when your studied your child (above) to form activities around what they’re already interested in. And not just what objects they’re interested in, but how they play with the objects plays a huge part too! Incorporate the way they play into the activities and you’ll be golden. Reevaluate your expectations of an activity.Crafts are often the first thing you might think of when doing an activity. Crafts are also often not well-received by a child at first. Especially to our expectations. Let’s just be blunt about this, your 15 month old isn’t going to create a perfect wind chime. It just isn’t going to happen. Instead of focusing on a craft with an end result, focus on the process and exploration of the activity instead of the end result. Let them explore the materials and run around while doing it. The process is where kids learn and have a good time (and memories are made). Join in the fun while creating and doing activities, your kids will appreciate it and its a special moment together! Remember to keep it short. Most activities only require 15 minutes of your child's time. Adjust this to their appropriate attention span, you’ll learn as you do an activity, but this is a good starting point. Don't be disappointed if the first few times you try an activity, they don't make it through even the short fifteen minutes (or even five!).  And most importantly, just have fun! Let the kids have fun! Enjoy being a hands-on mom with me! |
| 100+ Fun Learning Activities For Kids To Do At Home Posted: 02 Mar 2022 06:00 PM PST Click here to read 100+ Fun Learning Activities For Kids To Do At Home on Hands On As We Grow® Make learning for toddlers and preschoolers more exciting with hands-on activities. Try out these fun learning activities for kids to do at home as you get ready for school. It’s almost time for kids to go back to school! Learning doesn't have to take place only at school, though. Have fun learning about colors, shapes, letters, and words with these fun educational activities you can do at home.  100+ Fun Learning Activities For Kids To Do At HomeThese are all easy activities that you can do at home with your toddlers and preschoolers. Which activities will you try first? Fun Learning Activities For Kids: Shapes Have fun learning about squares, circles, stars, and more with these fun shape learning activities for kids!
Fun Learning Activities For Kids: Words & Letters Have fun practicing ABCs, phonics, sight words, and spelling names with these easy and fun learning activities for kids. No boring worksheets required!
Fun Learning Activities For Kids: Colors Colors can be found all around us. Have fun exploring and learning about colors with these simple color learning activities for kids.
With so many choices, which one of these at-home activities will you choose to do first? Share your favorite fun learning activities for kids with us! |
| Sweet Sensory Play for Babies That Aid in Their Development Posted: 02 Mar 2022 05:13 PM PST Click here to read Sweet Sensory Play for Babies That Aid in Their Development on Hands On As We Grow® You might be familiar with sensory activities and play for toddlers and preschoolers, but you might not be as familiar when it comes to sensory play for babies and what you (and the baby!) can do. So often worry about entertaining our toddlers with sensory activities but forget that our babies also benefit from sensory play.  Even at a young age, babies take in their surroundings and learn about the world around them. Activities such as sensory play are crucial for developing specific cognitive skills, fine motor skills, language development, and improving social interaction. To give you a better understanding of what sensory games look like for babies, I’m going to cover three easy sensory play ideas that I used on my own babies that really aided their development! Block TowersBlock Towers are a great sensory tool for babies. When babies start crawling, they love knocking over everything in their path. So, I decided to use block towers to engage my son in a little sensory play while also teaching him the concept of cause-and-effect. My son started to pick up on the fact that they fell every time he touched the block tower. Seeing the blocks fall only made him want to do it more!  He also loved putting them in his mouth while he was teething! He eventually realized that the blocks didn’t taste very good; however, the blocks helped introduce him to different textures! Simple activities such as block towers are a great way to introduce concepts like gravity, cause-and-effect, and improve focus. In addition, your baby will start picking up the blocks with their little hands, which enhances their fine motor skills to grasp the block. Similarly, your baby will begin understanding the sense of touch by feeling the block in their hands and using their senses to determine what and how they are used. Finger Painting with Baby FoodKids love finger painting because they love engaging in messy play (even though parents cringe at the thought of a messy child). However, finger painting is a wonderful sensory play experience, especially for babies. For example, your baby uses their little fingers to paint on a canvas, using their sense of touch. In addition, using baby food as “paint” allows your baby to taste the food and determine if it tastes good or not. Finger painting also increases your baby’s attention span because they’re having to focus on dipping their finger into the baby food and using it to make a masterpiece! Sensory play activities like finger painting are also a great way to introduce color to your little one!  I laid out butcher paper for my older son and left my baby in his high chair for this activity. Then, I took two tubs of baby food and dumped them into two separate pans. I gave one to my older son and one to my younger son. I also gave them race cars to make tracks in their baby food, which they absolutely loved! The best way to incorporate this activity is by introducing it during mealtime. Since your baby is already going to eat the food, they might as well have fun with it! Sound Sensory Play Activity for BabiesWhen we think of our child's senses, we often forget sound. However, sound is just as important as any of the other senses! This simple activity requires a few materials:
I put the rice and dried beans into the small plastic containers and lightly tapped them on the floor while my baby was on his tummy.  He immediately responded and was intrigued by the sound the containers made. I also banged the spoons together to create a different noise. Not only that, but I also verbally said what I was doing so that my baby would understand the process! The best way to incorporate an activity like this is through tummy time. Instead of having your baby watch a show or play with toys, you can do this fun activity with them! If you want to get extra fancy, you can pretend you’re using musical instruments and make it a concert for your baby! Benefits of Sensory Play for BabiesYour baby's brain is introduced to thousands of stimuli, each contributing to sensory development. Introducing sensory games as a form of early learning is an easy way to use those stimuli to engage their brains. In addition, using sensory materials allows your baby to use each of their senses, helping them learn about the world around them.  Using various items like a rice bin, a clear plastic bottle, sensory baskets, edible paint, and a sensory table are great ways to incorporate different materials in a fun way. This type of play is essential in the early stages of your baby’s life because it helps them develop other necessary skills as they grow into adulthood. For example, when your baby uses their hands to grab things or point, they use fine motor skills. As they grow older, your child will be able to use those foundational skills for things like drawing, writing, using scissors, and more! How to Incorporate Sensory Play Games Into Your Baby’s LifeYou can use the three examples above along with your baby’s favorite toys, little bins filled with a variety of textures, or cloud dough! Choose a simple activity that provides a little sensory stimulation every day to strengthen your baby’s development. Fun activities like these will help your baby associate learning with fun, which will help them in school and everyday life.  |
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