Combine play sand with cornstarch and you get lots of sand fun!  What is great about this mixture is that unlike regular sand, it cakes together when slightly damp.  Almost becoming hard, but smashes back into sand.  All of my kids enjoyed playing with there new “outdoor only” tub!  I will warn you though, they were covered in sand when they were done!  The “clumping qualities” exist on clothing too – haha.  This was messier than regular sand, it didn’t just brush off until it was bone dry (aka when …

It is rare that all three of my kids enjoy learning at the same time, usually a learning activity is a hit with one kiddo and a bust with the other, while the other is zoned out in the corner.  This measuring activity was loved by all! What you will need:
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Ruler
Assorted Gummy Worms
Bananas

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Activity to Teach Preschool Math Concepts :
Have the kids sort the gummy worms.  Which do they think is the shortest?  Which is the longest?
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Once they have found the shortest one measure it.  Can they find any …

Super easy and Super fun! This is a really easy edible art project! Instead of boring plain old syrup on your pancakes, why not paint them! What you’ll need: Food Coloring, Syrup, Unused Paintbrushes, & Pancakes! We used an egg carton to “hold the paint” as it doesn’t tip easily, holds small portions of syrup and, most importantly, is disposable! I love art projects with easy clean-up! Add 3 drops or so to roughly a tablespoon of syrup and have fun painting and …

Do your preschoolers use a ton of chapstick?  Mine do!  And I needed an alternative to help their cracking lips (gotta love winter weather) and something that I felt safe with them ingesting.  I was inspired after reading about a friend who mixed shortening and a juice mix to create a yummy edible lip balm.  We adapted it slightly.  We like a “harder” solution – here’s what we made, and my kids love it!
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What you will need make your own edible lip balm:

1/2 a cup of vegetable shortening
1 teaspoon of …

I got this idea from chatting with Kellie, from Chicks With Kidz, she had a great idea/suggestion to include my kiddos in making our own variations of trail mix.  We eat granola regularly for breakfast, but I have always been the one mixing it up!  With her encouragement my one year old now has a way to “help mommy” cook breakfast!  Thanks Kellie!  We are always looking for ways to include our kids in household chores and activities!
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How to make your own Granola Mix:
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Grab handfuls of any or all of …

Puppets are great for fostering pretend play! My three year old especially enjoyed having her puppet dolls walk and hold hands, have elaborate conversations… my son, as much as he enjoyed decorating his “man” all he wanted to do when he was finished was sword fight with his “puppet”.  Boys.   Want to know how to make your own stick puppets? Here is what we did!
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My son loves being a helper and was thrilled when he got to make lunch for us today! We are eating pancakes – yummy! How fun is it to mix breakfast with learning our letters! We have a set of cookie cutters that are in the shapes of capital letters (thanks Laney). Here is a tip that we use to decrease the likelihood of massive pancake batter spills while using cookie cutters to make pancakes in particular shapes, maybe it will help you!
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We used a dry …

We thought it would be fun to make our own buttons to decorate our travel activity bag.  Yeah, well, it sounded like a good idea.  They were really easy to make.  The kids had a blast making them with me…. BUT… I got the wrong type of clay.  I got the non-hardening kind.  well, they weren’t lying.  It has been a few days and they are still soft and pliable!  Here is a tutorial we made on how to make your own buttons, just be sure to get the right …

We had a girls dress-up tea party at our house this week and they had so much fun dressing up!  We needed the perfect accessory, edible bracelets!  I was inspired to make these adorable jellybean bracelets after reading the tutorial by Mrs D Lightful, love her blog!  She used stretchy string to thread her bracelets but we just used plain string, the kids absolutely loved them!
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Supplies needed to make the Jellybean Bracelets:

Thicker needle (I used a basting needle from quilting.  Loved it’s “T” head, it made threading so much easier!).
Thin …

I loved discovering Mindi’s site, B.A. Bookworm, we are bookworm wanna-bes over here and I love some of the ideas she has for ways to encourage reading in our kids!  She is an advocate for getting kids up and moving, rather than sitting in front of a TV (or computer – we love starfall and online educational game over here!)  All you need for these activities is a brown paper bag and some creativity!