Learning Through Play

It’s funny how kids are wired to touch everything they see. They spend a good amount of time from a very young age exploring their world through touch.

As parents my husband and I are in agreement that for our kids we are more than happy to limit the screen time and technology they get. 

We love books in our house, to the point that they are overtaking our house!  Every time the Lifeline Bookfest rolls around we head off and stock up and usually for each birthday and Christmas they are given books by relatives.

We recently set about creating some book inspired art. 

So, you're stuck inside because it's too hot, too windy, too stormy, flooded, snowed in, or something else (notice I left rain off, we love getting out in the rain, as long as its safe and not severe storms of course).

I'll be adding to this list so check back regularly!

As it turns out, my kids love sewing!  I only stumbled across it by chance when I got in a delivery of kids sewing needles and they both jumped at the chance to have a go. The first activity I did with them was actually paper sewing.  It's so easy to set up and a great starter for kids just learning.  Simply get some sheets of paper and using a felt tip marker make dots or small circles on the sheet where you want the children to poke the needle through, I used a mix of straight lines, zig zags and random dots on the page.  I used wool for our first attempts as I found h..

Playdough is such a fantastic medium for kids to play with, I can’t say enough about it to be honest.  This blog will run you through some of my favourite uses for playdough, and how playdough can help with and reinforce learning.  I also include my two 'go-to' recipes.

Do your kids complain of being bored?  Here are a few tips and suggestions on how to combat the boredom!!

My kids love foraging for items outside and going on scavenger hunts for nature based items. We use these outings to talk about a number of things.  Taking care of our planet, and why we don't pick flowers, leaves and such off plants and trees, animal habitat and what kinds of animals live where, why rain and sun are important to plants, and even basic stuff like talking about colours, shapes and textures. The kids usually take a basket each and fill it with treasures we've found lying on the ground during our walks. When we get home we either add items to existing collections (r..