This is a demo store. No orders will be fulfilled.

Tagged with 'imaginative play'

Igniting the spark in your child starts here!
Our blogs are packed with learning activities, expert tips, and free resources made easy for busy parents and teachers.
BROWSE THE CATEGORY

Teach Your Kids to Be Earth Buddies

Did you know? The average American produces about 1,700 pounds of garbage every year, which means your personal annual trash pile weighs about the same as two large grizzly bears! Multiply that by a family of four and that’s a whole lot of trash filling our landfills, because although 75% of our trash can be recycled, only about a third is actually being recycled. In fact, more than 2.5 million tons of recyclable paper and paperboard waste end up in landfills every year, with packaging accounting for roughly a quarter of that total. More than 30 million tons of food waste also ends up rotting in the trash each year. Yup, our gross, grizzly-bear-sized trash piles are maxing out our landfills and polluting our environment. Luckily, there’s still hope – and our kids can help!

4 Family-Friendly Ways to Be Better Earth Buddies:

1. Pay attention to what you’re putting on your plate. Serve only what will be eaten, save the rest for another meal, and compost any uneaten food instead of throwing it in the trash. Kids can get hands-on composting experience with the Nancy B.'s Science Club® Garbage to Gardens Composting Kit, the only transparent composting kit designed just for them.

 

2. Become a conscious consumer. This means bringing your own bags to the grocery store (your kids can be responsible for remembering to bring them!) and a refillable coffee cup to Starbucks (when that’s allowed again), using a metal straw instead of plastic, and purchasing unpackaged items.

 

3. Research your city’s recyclable materials list and be sure to toss those items in the recycling bin, empty, rinsed, and dry. Our free, downloadable worksheet is a fun way for kids to learn about the different types of recyclables (while building fine motor and critical thinking skills, too).

 

4. Practice through play, like with the Design & Drill® Bolt Buddies™ Pick-It-Up Truck. Kids use a real, working, power drill to construct their own recycling truck, then play out their own community helper pretend play scenarios with the included sanitation engineer and his kitty cat co-pilot. Plus, all Design & Drill Bolt Buddies packaging does double duty as a playset, saving space in the landfill.

Teach Your Kids to Be Earth Buddies

Did you know? The average American produces about 1,700 pounds of garbage every year, which means your personal annual trash pile weighs about the same as two large grizzly bears! Multiply that by a family of four and that’s a whole lot of trash filling our landfills, because although 75% of our trash can be recycled, only about a third is actually being recycled. In fact, more than 2.5 million tons of recyclable paper and paperboard waste end up in landfills every year, with packaging accounting for roughly a quarter of that total. More than 30 million tons of food waste also ends up rotting in the trash each year. Yup, our gross, grizzly-bear-sized trash piles are maxing out our landfills and polluting our environment. Luckily, there’s still hope – and our kids can help!

4 Family-Friendly Ways to Be Better Earth Buddies:

1. Pay attention to what you’re putting on your plate. Serve only what will be eaten, save the rest for another meal, and compost any uneaten food instead of throwing it in the trash. Kids can get hands-on composting experience with the Nancy B.'s Science Club® Garbage to Gardens Composting Kit, the only transparent composting kit designed just for them.

 

2. Become a conscious consumer. This means bringing your own bags to the grocery store (your kids can be responsible for remembering to bring them!) and a refillable coffee cup to Starbucks (when that’s allowed again), using a metal straw instead of plastic, and purchasing unpackaged items.

 

3. Research your city’s recyclable materials list and be sure to toss those items in the recycling bin, empty, rinsed, and dry. Our free, downloadable worksheet is a fun way for kids to learn about the different types of recyclables (while building fine motor and critical thinking skills, too).

 

4. Practice through play, like with the Design & Drill® Bolt Buddies™ Pick-It-Up Truck. Kids use a real, working, power drill to construct their own recycling truck, then play out their own community helper pretend play scenarios with the included sanitation engineer and his kitty cat co-pilot. Plus, all Design & Drill Bolt Buddies packaging does double duty as a playset, saving space in the landfill.

READ MORE
6 Awesome Activities to Keep Easter Sunday Hopping
READ MORE

Inspire New Interests with Holiday Gifts for 5- and 6-Year-Olds

Your just-starting-school aged kiddo is doing some pretty amazing growing up! Before your very eyes, your little one is probably becoming more independent; getting better at drawing and coloring; discovering new hobbies (daily?); and getting really curious about the world around them. This holiday season, surprise your 5- or 6-year-old with super fun toys and games that also help them discover new interests and build their kid-confidence. The Experts at Play are here to help with this list of our favorite holiday gifts for 5- and 6-year-olds, including:

PaperCraft Fashion Parade – Your little fashionista will LOVE this oversized paper doll set featuring 24 dolls and 160 outfits to color, mix and match and you’ll love to see them building fine motor skills and expressing their creativity and individuality! Dolls and outfits come in a travel-ready, spiral-round book for fun on the go and easily stick (and unstick) to tables, walls, doors, and floors for a real-life fashion parade.

Design & Drill Bolt Buddies Fire Truck – Great for fans of first responders! Busy builders use a real, working, kid-safe drill to build their very own firetruck, complete with a hinged ladder and fire and water toppers, at the same time building critical fine motor skills! An included Bolt Buddy firefighter, fire chief, and Dalmatian dog pal are perfect for hours of imaginative pretend play fun.

Design & Drill Adventure Circuits – Inspire an interest in engineering, engage your kiddo’s natural curiosity, and encourage problem solving with a DIY circuit set designed specifically for 5-year-olds! Kids use a real, working power drill to drill, bolt, and connect circuits and complete 20 different missions. Kids will not only be totally engaged in STEM learning, they will also feel proud of their problem-solving skills after completing the missions!

Circuit Explorer Rover – Light up the learning this holiday season with a 3-in-1 circuit building, construction play, imagination building set! Kids follow the symbols to assemble the vehicle and connect its circuits all by themselves, then blast into STEM learning and pretend play fun with a Communication Station, rotating Radar Dish, Powered Space Rover, and free-wheeling Space Rover, both with light-up headlights.

The Playfoam Game – Family game night just got squishier! Encourage those social skills, foster creativity, and build fine motor skills and hand strength with The Playfoam Game! Fun for the whole family, players take turns racing against the clock to sculpt or guess a clue using squishy, squashy, non-toxic Playfoam.

GeoSafari Jr. Kidscope – Help your curious kiddo answer some of their most pressing questions about the world around them with this kid-tough microscope featuring 15 slides with 60 amazing images, 200 fun facts, 3x magnification, extra-large eyepieces, and an easy-focus knob. This introductory microscope was designed specifically with kids in mind and is the perfect gift to support STEM learning and scientific discovery. 

GeoSafari Jr. Talking Globe –Expose your tiny traveler to the wonders of the world and introduce them to exciting, new places without ever leaving home! With this talking globe, featuring the voice of Wildlife Warrior Bindi Irwin, touch the smart stylus to any spot on the globe to hear a cool fact, measure the distance between two locations, or just explore

GeoSafari Jr. Talking Wildlife Camera – Is your child an animal lover who can’t get enough of furry, scaly, and feathered creatures? Take a photo safari with Wildlife Warrior Robert Irwin! Kids can view 130 built-in high-def images and listen to more than 200 fun facts and quiz questions designed to engage curious kids in the amazing wildlife of the world.

Design & Drill Toolbox – Busy builders can experience the thrill of the drill, using a real, working, kid-safe drill and five manual tools to build patterns and pictures out of colorful bolts. They’ll also be building fine motor skills, practicing early STEM skills, and gaining an understanding of how tools work! When they’re ready for a break, all parts and pieces pack easily into the included tool kit ‘til next time. 

This holiday season, help the little ones on your list develop their interests, find new passions, and ignite the spark that keeps them coming back for more!

Inspire New Interests with Holiday Gifts for 5- and 6-Year-Olds

Your just-starting-school aged kiddo is doing some pretty amazing growing up! Before your very eyes, your little one is probably becoming more independent; getting better at drawing and coloring; discovering new hobbies (daily?); and getting really curious about the world around them. This holiday season, surprise your 5- or 6-year-old with super fun toys and games that also help them discover new interests and build their kid-confidence. The Experts at Play are here to help with this list of our favorite holiday gifts for 5- and 6-year-olds, including:

PaperCraft Fashion Parade – Your little fashionista will LOVE this oversized paper doll set featuring 24 dolls and 160 outfits to color, mix and match and you’ll love to see them building fine motor skills and expressing their creativity and individuality! Dolls and outfits come in a travel-ready, spiral-round book for fun on the go and easily stick (and unstick) to tables, walls, doors, and floors for a real-life fashion parade.

Design & Drill Bolt Buddies Fire Truck – Great for fans of first responders! Busy builders use a real, working, kid-safe drill to build their very own firetruck, complete with a hinged ladder and fire and water toppers, at the same time building critical fine motor skills! An included Bolt Buddy firefighter, fire chief, and Dalmatian dog pal are perfect for hours of imaginative pretend play fun.

Design & Drill Adventure Circuits – Inspire an interest in engineering, engage your kiddo’s natural curiosity, and encourage problem solving with a DIY circuit set designed specifically for 5-year-olds! Kids use a real, working power drill to drill, bolt, and connect circuits and complete 20 different missions. Kids will not only be totally engaged in STEM learning, they will also feel proud of their problem-solving skills after completing the missions!

Circuit Explorer Rover – Light up the learning this holiday season with a 3-in-1 circuit building, construction play, imagination building set! Kids follow the symbols to assemble the vehicle and connect its circuits all by themselves, then blast into STEM learning and pretend play fun with a Communication Station, rotating Radar Dish, Powered Space Rover, and free-wheeling Space Rover, both with light-up headlights.

The Playfoam Game – Family game night just got squishier! Encourage those social skills, foster creativity, and build fine motor skills and hand strength with The Playfoam Game! Fun for the whole family, players take turns racing against the clock to sculpt or guess a clue using squishy, squashy, non-toxic Playfoam.

GeoSafari Jr. Kidscope – Help your curious kiddo answer some of their most pressing questions about the world around them with this kid-tough microscope featuring 15 slides with 60 amazing images, 200 fun facts, 3x magnification, extra-large eyepieces, and an easy-focus knob. This introductory microscope was designed specifically with kids in mind and is the perfect gift to support STEM learning and scientific discovery. 

GeoSafari Jr. Talking Globe –Expose your tiny traveler to the wonders of the world and introduce them to exciting, new places without ever leaving home! With this talking globe, featuring the voice of Wildlife Warrior Bindi Irwin, touch the smart stylus to any spot on the globe to hear a cool fact, measure the distance between two locations, or just explore

GeoSafari Jr. Talking Wildlife Camera – Is your child an animal lover who can’t get enough of furry, scaly, and feathered creatures? Take a photo safari with Wildlife Warrior Robert Irwin! Kids can view 130 built-in high-def images and listen to more than 200 fun facts and quiz questions designed to engage curious kids in the amazing wildlife of the world.

Design & Drill Toolbox – Busy builders can experience the thrill of the drill, using a real, working, kid-safe drill and five manual tools to build patterns and pictures out of colorful bolts. They’ll also be building fine motor skills, practicing early STEM skills, and gaining an understanding of how tools work! When they’re ready for a break, all parts and pieces pack easily into the included tool kit ‘til next time. 

This holiday season, help the little ones on your list develop their interests, find new passions, and ignite the spark that keeps them coming back for more!

READ MORE
Give the Gift of Confidence: Skill-Building Holiday Gifts for 3- to 4-Year-Olds
READ MORE