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August 31, 2013

Math Games and Activities {The Sunday Showcase}

Math Games and Activities featured on The Sunday Showcase


Paint Chip Number Recognition Punch from Reading Confetti


Recipe Equations from Enchanted Homeschooling Mom

Sock and Cup Toddler Maths from Muddy Toes and Creative Minds

Geometry Jump from The Pleasantest Thing


Fun Math Tools from Enchanted Homeschooling Mom

Vegetable Math from Fantastic Fun and Learning


Learning with Dice from Munchkin and Bean

Preschool Numbers and Colors Grid Game from Little Bins for Little Hands

Counting with Ten Apples on Top from Buggy and Buddy


Math Games and Activities from Learn~Play~Imagine

 Edible Nests and Math Fun

Paint by Number in the Shower









 For more ideas follow my Math Games and Activities board on Pinterest.

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Now it's time to link up your best child centered ideas!

The Sunday Showcase


If you are here for the first time please read this informational post for the full details.

Follow the Sunday Showcase Features board on Pinterest for more incredible ideas!

*Important*  Please note that by linking up you are giving us permission to use a photo (with proper link to you!) in our featured section! If you prefer not to be featured comment below or e-mail me.

Be sure and stop by and see the features from my co-hosts:


If you've been featured, grab a button:

The Sunday Showcase


August 29, 2013

Fall Finger Paint Recipe

Simple to make homemade finger paint recipe for fall.

Simple no cook homemade fall scented finger paints! These take about two minutes to prep and smell amazing. They dry glossy and gorgeous and are fun for all ages.

Fall Scented Finger Paint - Recipe for Play

I love creating new recipes for homemade paint including our favorite finger paint recipe, but sometimes simple and quick is the best.  These two ingredient baby and toddler safe paints could not be any easier to mix also make a great finger painting recipe.  For that reason I keep a can of condensed milk in my pantry at all times, so I have a fast and fun recipe for play ready to whip out when my boys are looking for something to do.  With fall rapidly approaching, we have been having fun adding fall scents to all of our favorite art recipes and creating new ones like our fall sticky paints.  

August 24, 2013

Making Learning Fun {The Sunday Showcase}

Ideas for Making Learning Fun featured on The Sunday Showcase

35 incredible ideas and activities to make learning fun and develop a love for learning in young children.

Spicy Apple Art with a Literacy Twist from Fun-a-Day!


P is for Plumber from Life with Moore Babies

Hundreds Chart:  Simple Way to Teach Numbers 1-100 from Playdough to Plato


3 Free and Easy Ways to Make Learning Fun from Enchanted Homeschooling Mom

Learning about Ocean Animals from Gift of Curiosity

Sight Words and Alphabet Fun with Gems from The Educator's Spin on It.


Guess the Shapes Activity and Scissors Practice from Crafts-N-Things for Kids

Learning about Trees with Wooden Train Tracks from Play Trains!


Free Police Printables and Montessori Inspired Police Activities from Living Montessori Now

DIY Abacus with Melty Beads from LalyMom

Tips for Creating a Print Rich Space from Growing Book by Book

Animal Texture Board:  Teaching Baby about Animals through Sensory Play from House of Burke


Hands on Math for Preschoolers - 6 Ideas for the Letter K from The Measured Mom

Color Mixing by Hand from Teaching 2 and 3 Year Olds


Number Importance and Number Sense from Crafty Moms Share

Disappearing Colors Experiment from We Made That

Vegetable Stand Pretend Play from Fantastic Fun and Learning


Activities for Making Learning Fun from Learn~Play~Imagine






















Earthquake Demonstration for Kids

 For more ideas for making learning fun follow me on Pinterest.

Follow Me on Pinterest


Now it's time to link up your best child centered ideas!

The Sunday Showcase


If you are here for the first time please read this informational post for the full details.

Follow the Sunday Showcase Features board on Pinterest for more incredible ideas!

*Important*  Please note that by linking up you are giving us permission to use a photo (with proper link to you!) in our featured section! If you prefer not to be featured comment below or e-mail me.

Be sure and stop by and see the features from my co-hosts:

If you've been featured, grab a button:

The Sunday Showcase


August 22, 2013

Fall Sticky Paint Recipe

The perfect homemade paint recipe for fall, fun and safe for all ages.

Recipe for homemade scented paint, capturing all the best aromas of fall! This paint is made from common household items and takes two minutes to prepare.

Fall Sticky Paints - Recipe for Play

I have to admit that all of the back to school posts in my FB feed are a bit depressing.  I'm not anti back to school.  I'm just not ready to admit that summer is coming to an end.  Summer is by far my favorite season.  Instead of being mopey and whiny about it I decided to embrace my favorite parts of fall:  pumpkin pie, baked apples, butternut squash with nutmeg, pumpkin spice lattes, and caramel apple cider.  Can you sense a theme?  Instead of putting on ten pounds this fall, I want to find ways to incorporate all the best scents of fall into our play, starting with a new homemade paint recipe.  Homemade paints are the best.  They tend to be super easy to make, and the possibilities are endless.  Here is a complete list of our favorite homemade paint recipes.  We've been playing with these new fall sticky paints all week now, and they are quickly becoming one of our favorite recipes for play.

August 20, 2013

What Causes an Earthquake?

A hands on demonstration for kids to see what causes an earthquake.

Earthquake science for kids - A super simple earthquake demonstration for kids.

Earthquake Science for Kids

We live in Southern California, so I am no stranger to earthquakes.  My older two boys have experienced a pretty big quake.  Lately JZ (6) has been asking me a lot of questions about earthquakes, and he really wants to know what causes an earthquake.  We love hands on science experiments, so I set out to find a way to demonstrate an earthquake to him.  I found this site to be a great resource in explaining earthquake science to kids.  My Google search found all sorts of awesome looking demos for older children and for high school science projects.  Eventually I came across this experiment and felt it was much better suited for the age of my boys.  

August 19, 2013

Math Games {Water Balloon Equations}

Gross Motor Math Games with Water Balloons

Water balloon equations - a gross motor math game

Who needs worksheets, when we can play math games?  Okay, we do worksheets sometimes, but mostly I try to make JZ's school work hands on and unique.  Hands on activities tend to stick with kids more than written work.  (Of course he does plenty of copy work to work on handwriting.)  For this reason we do a lot of active learning, combing a gross motor activity with an educational game.  A few favorites include gross motor phonics, gross motor addition, and gross motor skip counting.  Of course the best gross motor learning games include water balloons!

August 18, 2013

Rainbow Sand Slime

Recipe for Play - Rainbow Sand Slime


We love slime.  Love it.  We always have at least one batch of slime on hand, sometimes more than one.  We use a very basic, no cook slime recipe that only calls for two ingredients.  The base recipe is so simple, and then the possibilities for adding textures and colors and other goodies are endless.  One of the many reasons this slime recipe is one of our favorite recipes for play is that it lasts for months and months.  We love sensory materials that last, so we can extend their use and stick to a reasonable  play budget.  Since the boys had so much fun with our homemade sand paint I thought it would be fun to use the sand to make rainbow sand slime.

August 17, 2013

Preschool Activities

I have a passion for making learning fun and keeping preschool activities play based and open ended.


Preschool Activities to Learn the Alphabet

Fine Motor Alphabet Match

Alphabet Discovery Bottle from Preschool Inspirations

Water Balloon Letter Game from Reading Confetti

Alphabet Basketball from The Activity Mom

Alphabet Flower Hunt


ABC Ice Cream Match Gross Motor Game from Coffee Cups and Crayons

Alphabet Hop on Pop from I Can Teach My Child

Alphabet Maze from Hands on as We Grow

Alphabet Sticky Tray

Preschool Activities for Number Recognition and Counting

Race to Fill Up the Cup from Frugal Fun for Boys

Frog Counting Day from Rainy Day Mum

Math Games with Hallway Numbers from JDaniel4's Mom

Counting Popsicle Stick Puzzles from Powerful Mothering

Counting and Number Recognition Game from FSPDT

Pete The Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons- Counting Activity

Preschool Activities for Color Recognition and Sorting

Color Sorting Pom Pom Game from The Imagination Tree

Color Activities with Mouse Paint from 1+1+1=1

Color Mixing with Slime

Color Sorting and Making Patterns from Crayon Freckles

Caterpillar Color Sorting from Toddler Approved


Preschool Activities to Learn Shapes

Shape Sorting Activity from Mess for Less

Magic Disappearing Shapes from Gift of Curiosity

Sorting Shapes and Making Patterns from Sugar Aunts

Montessori Shape Activities from Rockabye Butterfly

Exploring Shapes with Blocks from Teach Preschool


Learning about Shapes Reggio Style from Wildflower Ramblings

reggio inspired learning about shapes - Wildflower Ramblings #preschool

Preschool Activities for Name Recognition

Name Practice Letter Hunt from Inspiration Laboratories

Water Balloon Name Game from Fantastic Fun and Learning

Make Your Own Name Train from The Educator's Spin on It

Salt, Glue, and Watercolor Art Name Practice from Happy Hooligans

Playdough Name Practice from Mama.Papa.Bubba.

Teaching Name Recognition with Toy Cars from Buggy and Buddy

Toy Car Name Activity for Kids~ Buggy and Buddy

More Hands on Preschool Activities

Toilet Roll Activities from Mamas Like Me


Learning the Days of the Week from B-Inspired Mama



Learning Prepositions from Lesson Learnt Journal


Learning Symmetry with Legos from Fun at Home with Kids

A fun and simple lesson on symmetry using LEGOs and a sticky-winged butterfly from Fun at Home with Kids

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August 13, 2013

Kool Aid Sand Paint

Scented Sand Paint - Recipe for Play

Homemade Sand Paint Recipe - Create textured and scented paint for a multisensory art experience kids will love! Paint on foil for vibrant print making and added textures.

We love adding texture to our homemade paint.  We've made sand paint before by adding play sand to tempura paint.  When I saw Play Create Explore's scented sand paint recipe I was inspired to create one of my own!  You know how we love making scented recipes for play with Kool Aid right?  A few of our favorite Kool Aid paint recipes include puffy paint, finger paint and watercolors.  I really enjoy mixing different materials to create new textures and therefore new experiences for my kids, so I got to work creating a new scented paint recipe.  The great news?  This one is so simple!

August 11, 2013

ABC Eruptions

Prewriting Activity with Erupting Sidewalk Chalk Paint

ABC Eruptions - An exciting prewriting exercise with erupting sidewalk chalk paint. This is so cool - no vinegar needed!

You probably know by now that I have a slight obsession with sidewalk chalk paint.  It is just so stinking fun!  We make our own sidewalk chalk paint with this simple recipe or this cornstarch free version.  We have also made it scented using squeezy bottles and in a rainbow of colors.  Today I am going to show you have to make eruptions with sidewalk chalk paint!  I combined it with a simple prewriting exercise.  It's been awhile since I have shared some of the fun activities I do with J-Bug (4) for preschool.  Lately he really wants to write.  He is always asking me for "school work" which in his mind translates to worksheets since he sees his big brother writing every day.  Instead of pencil and paper work, I've been coming up with fun prewriting exercises for him to help him write letter correctly and do his strokes in the correct order.  These ABC eruptions are my favorite prewriting exercise yet!

August 10, 2013

Science for Kids

30 Science Experiments for Kids


30 hands on science activities and experiments for kids

My favorite subject to homeschool is science.  I love the hands on experiments and demonstrations I get to do with the boys.  Whenever we start a new school year, the first thing I do is read through the science curriculum we will be doing.  Over the years I have shared quite a few hands on science ideas for kids.  Here are my favorites.

August 9, 2013

Natural Watercolor Paint from Fresh Flowers

Homemade Watercolors from Fresh Flowers

Homemade natural watercolors made from real flowers - This experiment is amazing!

Today is the final post of Science Fun for Kids week!  On Monday we studied weather, on Wednesday we focused on liquids, and the theme for today is flowers.  The timing was perfect, because JZ (6) has been studying flowers in science.  His first grade science curriculum is made up of Usborne books with hands on experiments.  His curriculum for last week included using flowers to make dye.  Since we love making homemade paint I thought I would take it a step further and see if we could use flowers to make our own natural watercolors.  

August 8, 2013

Homemade Paint Recipes

Recipes for Play - Homemade Paint

The ultimate list of homemade paint recipes - 45 awesome ideas!

We love painting and making our own paint.  I enjoy experimenting with different ingredients to come up with new recipes for play.  The best part about homemade paint is that it is usually cheaper than store bought paint.  Also, the sky is the limit when it comes to homemade paint!  You can use whatever ingredients you want, make a variety of colors, texture the paint how you choose and more.  Be sure to check out my collection of edible paint recipes safe for babies and toddlers.  Here are our favorite recipes for homemade paint: 

August 7, 2013

Walking Water Experiment

Dyeing Cotton with Kool Aid using Walking Water


We're back with more Science Fun for Kids!  On Monday we shared weather experiments for kids.  The theme for today is liquids.  One of the coolest water experiments is the walking water experiment.  I've seen this done in many ways including with color mixing.  I wanted to demonstrate walking water for my boys with our own special twist on the experiment.  It just so happened that we all needed crazy socks for a theme day at VBS that week.  We only have plain white socks.  Sure I could have made a quick trip to Target, but I thought it would be more fun to try a walking water dyeing experiment using Kool Aid.
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