FunThingsToDoWithUrKidz

To play this game all you need is blocks and dice. The goal of the game is to see who can collect more blocks. The first person starts by rolling the dice. Then they add up the numbers and pick out that many blocks. then the next person goes. One child started building a tower while the other was just building a home for a elephant. To make this game hard try adding, subtraction, or multiplying the numbers on the dice.  You could also ask your child to write out each problem on paper to solve it.

Hands on spelling idea On big legos write the whole word your child needs help learning, then using the little legos to write out each letter. Place all little legos together in a pile and have your child find the right blocks to spell out each word. You can make this harder by taking out all big blocks and just give the small letter ones. Call out a word and have your child spell each word.  We used permitted marker to write on our blocks and that stayed the whole time we played and was easy to wipe off after but you could use labels and write on that then place on the blocks.  We like to do this every time we get a new spelling list from school and again right before taking spelling test. 

need~ pine cones washable paint fall spices (ex. pumpkin spice, cinnamon, nutmeg, and apple pie spice) For this activity we played around a little with different ways to make the pine cones scented. We mixed the spices with some paint and even tried painting first then dipping the pine cones (still wet from the paint) into the spices. In the end we ended up doing both. Once they are dried you can make different things using them. We made a scented pine cone bouquet with ours.  (seen here~ http://funthingstodowithurkidz.blogspot.com/2015/09/pine-cone-bouquet.html )

This is my kids version of a pine cone bouquet.  First she painted all the pine cones and even added some fall spice to them! After they dried it was my turn to hot glue sticks that we collected to each pine cone. Then it was back to her to place everything how she wanted too. When done we had a beautiful bouquet to give as a gift. 

This was just a simple bin to get into the feel of fall. We start by just placing everything in one of our water tables and examining it all. Trying to use all of our senses, we went threw each item. The cinnamon stick and pine cones were a good add for the sense of smell. Everything was good for sense of touch, sight and hearing. The only thing we didn't cover was taste but we could have if I made something with cinnamon. (maybe snack for after playtime?)  After that got old we added water to our table. This made everything fun again. :) Seeing what floats and what sinks.  Mixing everything up! This lead to us noticing that the cinnamon sticks were making the water change coloring. It went form clear to a reddish.  So many things to explore.  Look how pretty it looks...you know right before the kids came along :)  Have a good day thanks for reading!

What you need to make this sensory play idea~ Halloween mold water washable paint To make fill the molds about 3/4 full of paint then fill the rest with water and mix.  Once mixed place in freezer to set over night. Once frozen they are ready to be played with. I had no issues with them coming out but if you find that you do, run the tray under warm water. My daughter loved painting with them while my son liked crushing them up. As they melted it become even more fun as then the kids could paint using their hands. Making hand prints and spider were two of the big favorites. We even got in some color mixing practiced. 

This sensory bin included leaves, sticks, and fake skeletons. By adding real things found in nature we were able to including more then one sense.  The senses we included are~ Sight~ may different colors as the leaves are dying off for winter Hearing~The leaves crunched as they were played with Smell~ You could definitely tell fall was in the air Touch~ Everything in here felt different. Leaves were different from the sticks witch were different from the fake toys.

easy quick snack

With Halloween time quickly approaching we decided to make our first bin of the season today. We added some red scarves and black cut out shapes to make this bin and as my kids played we told scary stories and even used the items to act out some stories. 

This morning we went on our nature walk and grabbed some things along the way. When we went home we broke out the new play dough and started playing.   Both kids loved making their own things and stamping different things in the play dough.  Sadly the flowers did not work for stamping as much as the different leaves but they did rip some flowers apart and mixed it into the play dough to make some amazing  new play dough. 

Some times asking kids the same question over and over gets boring and old. You may start to receive the same answer over and over or you'r child may stop responding. Here are some different ways to ask to help open up conversation  between you and you'r child~ 1. Did you make a new friend today? 2. Tell me one good thing that happened today? (did anything bad happen?) 3. What was the best part of today? 4. Did you need help today? 5. What made you laugh today? 6. What did you do at recess? 7. Did anything make you mad? 8. Do you have a classroom job? (a classroom pet?) 9. If you could read minds what do you think you'r teacher was thinking today? 10. If you got to be the teacher for one day what would you do? 11. Did you read anything new? 12. Who do you sit next to today? 13. Was there anything you had trouble doing today? 14.  What was the best part about lunch? 15. What is one new thing you learned today? 16. Was there any thing you'r teacher taught...

I left my kids up to just playing, didn't give them any ideas and this is what my little one did.  She started building a house but instead of just pressing down the lego with her hands she decided to use a toy hammer. Placing each one lightly and then smashing them into place.  It was very cool to see her imagination working and it was also a great activity for hand eye coordination. Don't mind the pen art work 

Today for mommy/son fun time we made a car track out of shaving cream.  We added some extra piles of shaving cream to fill up the trucks and played.  My son loved driving the cars threw the piles of shaving cream and thought it was great to cover them completely.  Great for sensory play After play was done I turned on the garden hose and it became a easy "clean up river". (what my son likes to call it)