Easter Baskets That Bloom with Creativity!

Photo credit: @themotheroverloadEaster is upon us! This year give the gift of creativity by building a basket designed to inspire imagination, expression, and pretend play, including:

Art Supplies and Craft Kits

Art is a wonderful way for young kids to explore and express their own unique ideas and perspectives. Artistic creativity also fosters social/emotional skills, introduces early math concepts, and even encourages scientific exploration. What happens when you mix two colors? When you add water to paint? When you smash clay flat?This Easter, help your kids get creative by packing their Easter basket full of beautiful new art supplies and craft kits, like the reusable Color by Playfoam® Dragon and Unicorn. Provide the materials (check out our well-stocked craft closet post for a list of the basics), create a space where it’s okay for kids to get messy, then stand back and let them do their thing. Resist the urge to direct or interfere with your kids’ creative process. Instead ask them to tell you about what they are doing or what they’ve made.[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="615"] *NEW* Color by Playfoam® Unicorn[/caption]While younger kids enjoy the process of open-ended creativity – choosing a color, the feel of the paint on paper, the sound the brush makes – older kids can use the art supplies to create their own, custom versions of the Easter crafts on our Pinterest board![caption id="attachment_5409" align="alignnone" width="600"] Photo credit: redtedart.com[/caption]

Creativity Inspiring Basket Booty!

• Crayons
• Markers
• Stampers
• Playfoam®
• Watercolor Paints
• Clay
• Sidewalk Chalk
• Sketch Book
• Stickers

Building Sets

From blocks to bricks to construction sets, building play definitely develops STEM skills, logic, and problem solving capabilities, but did you know that it’s also great for inspiring imagination and creativity?This Easter, give the gift of the Design &Drill® Stem Garden and let your little builder place their stems, select and stack their petals to design and grow their very own spring gardens.[caption id="attachment_5410" align="alignnone" width="1029"] *NEW* Design & Drill® STEM Garden                                      Photo credit: @kayceesworld[/caption]Or maybe the bunny will bring the Design &Drill® Bolt Buddies™ Rocket so your kids can construct their own space craft and engage in hours of out-of-this-world imaginative play with the included astronaut Bolt Buddy and space dog.[caption id="attachment_5412" align="alignnone" width="2000"] *NEW* Design & Drill® Bolt Buddies™ Rocket[/caption]

Collectibles

Speaking of pretend play, collectibles are a wonderful way to encourage imagination and creativity! These pocket-sized cuties are totally portable and perfect for pretend play anywhere, anytime. And, when kids pretend, they are observing reality and imagining their own way to replicate what they see. This requires an incredible amount of creativity – re-purposing various objects to represent the props they need and playing various “roles”. Pretend play also helps kids develop empathy, learn to take turns and cooperate, develop language and communication skills, and foster self-confidence.*NEW* Playfoam® Pals™ Unicorn Magic (Sets of 2, 6 or 10)Pop a Playfoam® Pals™ Unicorn Magic pod into your little one’s basket and watch as a fantastical pretend play session unfolds. Kids open the rainbow case to reveal heart-sparkle Playfoam with four magical surprises hidden inside. Find the collective unicorn character, then use the non-toxic Playfoam to sculpt pretend play props for the unicorn friend. Also available in Playfoam® Pals™ Space Squad theme.[caption id="attachment_5415" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Playfoam® Pals™ Space Squad 2-Pack (Sets of 2, 6 or 8)[/caption]