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Update Your Sensory Bins With Playfoam® Pluffle™
- EI Editor Posted On Oct 21, 2019 | Educational Tips
6 Mesmerizing Sensory Bin Activities for Kids of All Ages
There are so many ways to play with Playfoam Pluffle, but one of the most rewarding ways to get the most out of the mesmerizing, feel-good fluffy stuff is to dig your hands right into a sensory bin! Sensory bins are great, multi-sensory experiences that develop fine motor skills, bilateral coordination (using two hands together), and hand-eye coordination in younger kids and can also be used as a fun way to practice everything from letters and numbers to math and more with older kids. And, of course, they’re a wonderful activity for calming and soothing kids of all ages, particularly for kids experiencing anxiety. Below are a few of our favorite ways to use Playfoam Pluffle as part of a tactically-satisfying sensory bin:- Playfoam Pluffle Patterns – Fill two mixing bowls with two different colors of Playfoam Pluffle. Using a spoon and a muffin tin, show your little one how to spoon the first color of Playfoam Pluffle out of one bowl and into the first muffin hole, then swap to the other bowl and hole, repeating to form an A/B color pattern.
- Playfoam Pluffle Fishing – Hide small objects, such as the acorns from The Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel Game!®, the bones from Shelby's Snack Shack Game® or colorful buttons in a bin full of Playfoam Pluffle, then use the squeezers, a pair of child-safe tweezers or a scoop to pull them out. The Helping Hands Fine Motor Tool Set™, is a fantastic set for little hands. Practice sorting the objects by color or size to squeeze in some early math skills.
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Photo Credit: @my_three_little_strawberries[/caption]
- Playfoam Pluffle-bet – Hide plastic or magnetic letters or numbers in a large plastic bin full of Playfoam Pluffle. Little ones can use their hands or a magnet to dig out a letter and show it to you – you can say its name and the sound it makes. Help older kiddos find the letters in their names, think of words that start with that letter, or set the letters out on the floor in alphabetical order as they find them.
- Playfoam Pluffle Tubes – Remove about ¼ of the Playfoam Pluffle from its tube, then add plastic toys like insects or fish, buttons, bells, etc. We added carrots from Hoppy Floppy’s Happy Hunt™ Game. Shake the tube to mix them in, then have your little one roll and twist the tube to find as many hidden objects as they can. Talk about what they’ve found using descriptive vocabulary and try counting them as the objects are discovered. Great for on-the-go fun!
- Playfoam Pluffle Funds – Bury some cash (use plastic coins and paper money if you’d prefer, like the those from our Play Money Coins and Bills set) in a bin of Playfoam Pluffle. Then, let your kids use their fingers, child-safe tweezers or our preschool game squeezers to make it a little trickier, to extract the money. Younger kids can count the number of coins they have; older kids can add up their value. Play against a sibling or friend to see who has more and who has less.
- Playfoam Pluffle Excavation – Hide different types of rocks, minerals, and fossils, like those found in our Complete Rock and Mineral Set, in a bin of Playfoam Pluffle. Use plastic tongs or tweezers to excavate each item from the Pluffle and a paintbrush or basting brush to clean them off. Can your kids identify the specimen? As a bonus, they may want to inspect their findings under a microscope.
Must-Have Craft Supplies and At-Home Craft Ideas
Who’s ready to craft? We are always prepared for a quick craft, art project, or hands-on DIY activity. To help you get crafty, we’ve put together a list of the essential craft supplies you need for your next craft emergency. Plus, we’re sharing some of our favorite ideas for quick, simple, at-home craft activities for when the inspiration strikes! Check them out:
- Scratch Paper—If your kids are just looking to scribble or draw, give your single-sided junk mail or home printer mistakes a second life as scratch paper.
- Construction Paper—A crafting staple, you’ll want to stock a variety of colors and sizes and save the cut-off scraps for future projects.
- Card Stock—Heavier card stock paper is perfect for making stick puppets and other sturdy crafts. Go for matte versus gloss, as markers smear on glossy surfaces.
- Foam Sheets—Soft and squishy, use cut-out foam shapes to give your 2D projects some dimension, attach them to magnet packs, or hang them from homemade mobiles.
- Crayons—The cornerstone of every craft closet! Keep your broken bits to melt into multi-colored circle crayons in a muffin tin—just follow these instructions from our friends at MakeandTakes.com!
- Markers—If you can count on your kids to recap the markers, this is one place you might want to splurge, as cheap markers can run out of ink quickly and often leave uneven strokes.Crayola Ultra Clean Washable Broad Line Markers are a great choice for younger kids; older artists might like the variety of Dual Tip Art Markers.
- Kid-Safe Scissors—Another splurge item, higher-quality scissors will open and close smoothly and easily and fit little fingers without pinching.
- Craft Sticks—Purchase a pack or save your Popsicle sticks—these are great for spreading glue and perfect for supporting puppets and making DIY picture frames.
- Acrylic Paint—Acrylics work well on paper, wood, and canvas (and can be thinned with water if need be). Make sure to purchase a non-toxic paint that complies with U.S. government safety standard ASTM D-4236.
- Quick Dry Clay—Sculpting with kids can be so much fun and a great tactile experience! Quick-dry clay allows kids to keep their creations and paint them when they’re dry.
- Playfoam®—For non-permanent masterpieces, Playfoam is the perfect choice. Unlike dough, this squishy, squashy sculpting substance holds its shape, but never dries out, so you never have to replace it!
- Washi Tape—Available in a huge variety of colors and patterns, the decorative tape is an easy way to add embellishments to a project without using glue.
- Ribbon—Save those last pieces of holiday ribbon! They're perfect for weaving crafts, garlands, magic wands, and so much more.
- Yarn—See some yarn in the sale bin? Grab it! Your kids can use it to add “hair” to their puppets and drawings of people or manes and tails to horses…whatever their creativity inspires!
- Beads—Plastic beads are perfect for stringing, gluing, or even melting into suncatchers (break out your muffin tins and follow these instructions from HappinessIsHomemade.net).
- Pipe Cleaners—String them with beads, use them to make butterflies, or add them as antennae to your kiddo's crazy creatures.
- Pompoms—These fluff balls are perfect for making everything from caterpillars to gumball machines. Just make sure you've got enough glue and are sticking them to a heavier stock paper.
- Stencils—Tracing and cutting around stencils are great ways to exercise those fine motor skills, so stock up on different shapes as you see them on sale.
- Cardboard Boxes—Save those delivery and shoeboxes! They’re perfect for making dioramas. (Pizza boxes also make great easels.)
- Cardboard Tubes—You can always have more of these! Save your TP and paper towel tubes and turn them into everything from telescopes to 3D self-portraits.
- Egg Cartons—What do snails, jellyfish, spring chicks, turtles, and dragons have in common? They all started out as egg cartons—just snip, paint, and embellish!
- Googly Eyes—As silly as they are, googly eyes bring every project to life.
DRILL DRAWINGS
Make awesome art for ages 3-5 using the kid-friendly drill and art supplies you already have!
Supplies: Paper, Design & Drill® Drill with drill bit, markers, tape.
- Choose a marker and use your tape to secure it to the drill bit.
- Attach the drill bit to the drill.
- Turn the drill on and get ready to draw!
- We're drawing a lion, so let's start with the mane. Set the marker down on the paper and activate the drill, creating a large, spiraled circle.
- Next, switch to a different color. Let's try green so we can draw some trees.
- Use your yellow marker to draw the outline of your lion's head, then color it in.
- Use a brown marker to draw trunks for the trees
- Use a black marker to add the lion's nose, mouth, and whiskers.
- Add googly eyes to finish!
Make Your Own Cardboard Ring Toss
Recycle those boxes into a DIY game! Michael Sheridan, another one of our Product Managers and spearhead of sustainability, came up with this recycled-materials ring toss game (that also practices math skills) for ages 4 and up!
Supplies: Cardboard box, scissors, marker, tape.
- Cut the short flap off a cardboard box.
- Mark five even lines about 3/4 inch wide and cut them out.
- Mark each cardboard strip with a number from 1-5. These will be the points for each peg.
- Fold the strips in different lengths so that 5 is the shortest and most difficult. 1 should be the easiest. You can skip this step if you have little ones who might have difficulty getting the ring on a peg.
- Tape the strips to the inside of the box at different locations. For example, two in the top row, one in the very center, and two on the bottom row.
- From the remaining piece of cardboard, cut out two rings. If you have more than two players, use the flap from the opposite side of the box to make more.
- Let the games begin! Game ideas: throw the ring around the pegs. Play first to 10 or 20 to build their math skills while they play. You can also play where only odd or even numbers count.
Beautiful Bubble Art
This simple activity requires a few simple ingredients and will have you and the kids creating beautiful art in no time. It's truly fun for all ages to create your own masterpiece!
Supplies: Cup or jar, water, straw(s), food coloring (tempera paint or watercolor paint are alternatives) liquid dish soap, card stock or construction paper
- Fill a cup or jar about 1/3 full of water.
- Add a few drops of food coloring and stir. If you choose to use tempera paint, it may take some trial and error to get the right color saturation. My first attempt did not use nearly enough food coloring. I used watercolor paint on the second attempt and that gave much better results (see the final photo with blue bubbles).
- Once the color is mixed evenly, insert the straw, and gently blow bubbles. Be careful not to send bubbles flying all over the table!
- Bubbles should rise over the edge of the cup. Take your construction paper and press it to the top of the cup. This will leave a cool imprint on the paper.
- Repeat blowing bubbles and pressing paper with other colors (or the same color!) for a fun pattern!
- Try combining bubbles of different colors and see how the colors blend.
Rainbow Prancer Unicorn Horn Craft
Make a wear-with-flair Rainbow Prancer Unicorn Horn! What kind of unicorn are you? Show off your Prancer style in minutes, and be sure to share your dazzling creations with us on Facebook or Instagram!
Supplies: Fancy paper of your choosing (glitter paper, construction paper, or cardstock), washi tape or ribbon elastic cording, hole puncher, sticker gems, pom poms or other methods of bedazzlement, scissors, glue or double-sided tape, markers or crayons, our printable rainbow prancer horn template.
- Download the Rainbow Prancer horn template. Print out on your favorite fancy paper, color to best reflect your unicorn style, and cut out the shape along the dotted lines. Fold into a cone, then secure with glue or double-sided tape.
- Punch holes on either side of the cone as marked. Thread the elastic cording through and secure with knots.
- Embellish your Rainbow Prancer horn with washi tape or by gluing colorful ribbon around the horn.
- Bedazzle with sticky gems, pom poms, or glitter!
- Wear your newly bedazzled horn with flair, and proudly prance with a fellow Rainbow Prancer.
Stock up on your craft essentials and get crafting!
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3 Fun Family Game Night and Themed Snack Ideas
I love making memories with my family, so scheduling time to come together is essential. One of my favorite family traditions is our weekly family game night. It’s something fun we all look forward to every week. As a homeschool mom, I make sure we play educational games all through the week. But for family game nights, I like to step it up and add a few special touches. I have realized that adding things like snacks, fun prizes, and even a trophy will bring everyone to the table every week. Also, it is a wonderful way to get everyone off their electronic devices!
A regular family game night has a long list of benefits for you and your family, including:
• Reducing stress
• Increasing confidence
• Practicing problem-solving
• Enhancing vocabulary development
• Bonding family members
• Encouraging the use of imagination
• Reinforcing reading, writing and computation skills
• Improving communication skills
• Refining social skills
• Improving the brain’s ability to focus
• Applying life skills and good sportsmanship
• Adding positive memories through shared experiences
• Making more laughter, which has multiple emotional and physical benefits
Whenever we can combine learning with playing board games, I am all for it! That’s why I love using Educational Insights games in our homeschool as well as during our weekend family game nights. Your kids will not even realize that they’re learning at the same time. That’s a win-win in my book. We recently found three new games that incorporate learning with some of our favorite things like drawing, dice games, and word games. In this blog post, I have some fun and creative games to share that will have you and your family laughing, giggling, and enjoying the best time together. To add a little more excitement to the night, I created some fun snacks that correspond with each game. I cannot tell you how important it is to always have snacks at your family game nights. We will talk about that more later in the post.
The first game we played was Spindoodle™. I am always looking for games we can all play together and that is exactly what I found with Spindoodle! There were lots of laughs and excited screams while playing this game. To begin, the artist must roll the die to determine their drawing category. Then they draw a card and find the matching category item to draw. Next, they get to choose the speed setting for the spinning board. Bonus, the higher the speed setting, the more points the artist wins! Your team tries to guess what you’re doodling for points. The first team to earn 20 points and fill in their scorecard wins the game. Trying to draw while your surface is moving, and the timer is running out is more difficult than it sounds. I can see us playing this game at all our big family gatherings as well.
Reading the instructions and setting up this game are super easy. You just need 3 AA batteries, and you are good to go! It is a game for 4 or more players but can be adapted for fewer players if you choose. Storing this game is also simple, as everything fits easily back into the box after play.
I wanted to keep the spinning theme going, so I filled a spinning tray with tons of snacks I knew everyone would love. I started by adding our favorite hummus and pita bread, carrots, peppers, and almonds on one half of the tray. The other half I filled with licorice, popcorn, and chocolate candies. You could create a theme for your snack tray like a certain color food or different types of cookies or fruits. Whatever you do, just make sure you don’t overthink it. This should be fun and easy for you or the kids to throw together on game day!
The next game on our list was Dice of Fury™. This fast-paced game is math craziness – but in a good way! Each player must quickly complete each math challenge with their dice set and grab Steve (a large die with a face) first to win the round. There were lots of giggles and screams on this one. We all loved it!
To accompany this game, we snacked on a fun cheese and cracker tray. I cut cheese into cubes and added dots with a food marker to make them look like dice. They looked so good! I also added crackers, grapes, apple slices, and cookies. It took me only a few minutes to put this together with items we already had on hand.
The final game, and my favorite, is Wordical™. If you have word game lovers in your family, they will really enjoy this game. Each player receives five cards. Then you roll the vowel dice. You have to come up with a word using the vowels from the dice to try to score the biggest word. Player with the highest point word wins the round! The setup for this game takes seconds and will have you playing before the snacks hit the table. Wordical is a simple game, but once you start playing it is definitely addicting to keep going and making bigger words. I love that my kids are practicing their spelling, learning new words, and having fun all at the same time. We will definitely be adding this game to our weekday game-schooling line up.
For this game I made an Alphabet mix. I chose my kids favorite letter cookies, added chocolate-covered raisins, marshmallows, mini peanut butter cups, chocolate cereal squares, peanuts, and chocolate chips. Serve these in individual cups or bowls to make it easy to snack while playing. I try to grab cute baking cups from my local home-goods store to serve some of our treats in for game night or even a regular Tuesday afternoon for fun.
To help you get started with creating your own fabulous game nights, here are a few planning tips:
Make It a Priority
Get everyone excited with a digital or paper invitation. I like to leave ours on the kitchen table the morning of. Family night is valuable, but sometimes it can be difficult to get everyone to the table.
Set the Rules Before the Game
Games can bring out the best or worst in people. Create a few rules everyone can agree on and display them during the game. Help younger ones understand the importance of taking turns and being a good sport.
Let Everyone Participate
Plan on playing only one or two games. You don’t want the evening to become dull for anyone. We want all ages and levels to be able to participate every week.
Always Have Snacks
Have something ready or order from your favorite restaurant. When you stop playing to eat dinner or grab a snack, you can easily transition to the next game.
Give Away Some Prizes
I always try to have a few fun prizes or treats on hand for the winners and losers. Try to grab a few things the next time you’re at your local discount or dollar store. Gift cards, a favorite candy, or small toy can be good options for different age groups.
Always Plan Ahead
Make a list of board games, made-up games, and even video games so you always have ideas ready for your next family game night. Give each member of the family a turn to pick the game or games for the following week. You can also create a fun way to determine what game to play next.
Family game night creates lasting memories because it fosters a sense of belonging. In the busy hubbub of life, it is so nice to have tech-free, face-to-face time with your kids. Creating a family game night tradition won’t be something you’ll regret because the years you have with your kids at home go by in a flash. Laughing together strengthens the bonds. I am sure that once you start a regular family game night and incorporate the tips mentioned above, your kids will be asking you when the next one is!
Meet the Author
Diona lives in Ohio with her husband and three beautiful kids. She has homeschooled for 11 years so far and enjoys the freedom and creativity it allows her family to enjoy together. She enjoys crafting, dance parties in the kitchen, coffee, and winning on family game nights!
Website : www.alldayeverydaymom.com
Instagram : @alldayeverydaymom
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