Showing posts sorted by relevance for query sensory play. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query sensory play. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query sensory play. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query sensory play. Sort by date Show all posts

Play Based Learning Linky full of Sensory Ideas for kids

It's time to join the sensory play based learning linky party, "Play to Learn". Link up your creative ideas and visit your favorites. We're working to get this off the ground with Nikki at Spectrum Psychological.
Play to Learn Blog Hop Sensory Play based learning linky
<div align="center"><a href="http://www.spectrumpsychological.net/1/post/2013/02/play-to-learn-february-blog-hop.html" title="Play to Learn Blog Hop"><img src="http://www.spectrumpsychological.net/uploads/1/4/9/5/1495826/3711599.jpg?1358187461" alt="Play to Learn Blog Hop" style="border:none;" /></a></div>



Sign up for our free newsletter!
-->

Active Learning in Early Childhood Education

What is Active Learning?
If you're an early childhood education director, teacher, or a homeschooler of a preschooler, you will benefit ChildCare Education Institute's CCEI122: Active Learning in Early Childhood course. This course is a great way to get continuing ed course credit for any ECE program, but it is also a wonderful tool for parents of toddlers and preschoolers to educate themselves for homeschool learning. So, what is the definition of active learning in early childhood education?



This post contains Amazon Affiliate links, if you make a purchase,I get a small commission.


Active Learning in Early Childhood Education Classes

Wikipedia describes active learning as:
Active learning is a form of learning in which teaching strives to involve students in the learning process more directly than in other methods. Bonwell states that in active learning, "students participate in the process and students participate when they are doing something besides passively listening."

Sensory Play = Active Learning
As a childcare professional, I am well versed in sensory play and its connection to cognitive learning. Here on the blog, you'll find many sensory play activities and other movement games for early childhood educators. However, I wasn't aware of much of the proven science behind these preschool activities until I took CCEI's online professional development course CCEI122: Active Learning in Early Childhood.





Active Learning in Preschool Early Childhood Education

This course presents practical methods for integrating movement and active involvement across all curriculum areas, including art, language arts, mathematics, music, science, and social studies.
The course only takes about an hour of your time. Be sure to print out the handouts or save them as pdfs so that you'll have access to note taking and a record of some of the valuable ideas and knowledge base taught in the class. At course completion, you’re issued a certificate showing that you've successfully completed the 1 hr. course. Here's mine:

ECE Certificate online


Through the years, I've taken many continuing education courses. The courses offered by ChildCare Education Institute are by far the most convenient. The courses are also very informative. They not only include valuable information and recent studies in the childcare industry, but they also include sample activities that you can try with your own students.

ChildCare Education Institute® provides high-quality, online training courses and programs, applicable to those who work in an array of child care settings, including center-based care, Head Start, family child care, prekindergarten classrooms, after school environments and more. Over 150 English and Spanish training courses are available to meet licensing, recognition program, and Head Start Requirements. CCEI also has online certification programs that provide the coursework requirement for national credentials including the CDA, Director and Early Childhood Credentials. CCEI, a Council for Professional Recognition CDA Gold Standard Comprehensive training provider, is nationally accredited by the Distance Education Accrediting Commission (DEAC) and is accredited as an Authorized Provider by the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET).


● 99 percent of students say they would recommend CCEI to others
● Over 4.4 million online course hours completed  
● Graduated over 12,000 early childhood professionals from CDA and other certificate programs
● Web-based coursework, available 24/7/365
● 30 hours of new content added each year
● IACET CEUs awarded for completed coursework at no additional cost
During the CCEI122: Active Learning in Early Childhood course, I had many aha moments. There were so many things that I've done in my early childhood programs where I missed valuable opportunities to incorporate movement and music in daily lesson plans for language arts, science, social studies, math, and art. The course lists out many different ideas and further explains how these activities aid in cognitive development and increase brain synapses.

ECE Certificate online

After taking the course, you’ll want to add more movement activities to your daily active learning activities. Here's a list of our most popular posts on early childhood games and sensory play ideas for preschoolers.
Circle Time Games for Active Learning in Early Childhood
Physical Activity Movement Games for Early Childhood
Marshmallow Movement Game
Sensory Tactile Alphabet Activity
Group Cooperation Games for Preschool and Early Childhood
If you're in need of continuing education for your career in early childhood, start here with our review of ChildCare Education Institute. CCEI offers many amazing continuing education courses for professional development in early childhood education. The extensive course list is sure to please even the most hard to please daycare providers and program directors. I encourage everyone involved with childcare and early childhood education to sign up for a course or two. It’s such a convenient way to expand your knowledge in early childhood education. Be sure to check it out!
Recommended:



Active Learning Tools







10 Fall Play Date Ideas

Keep Busy with Fun, Fall Play Date Ideas

It is fall, y'all. Fall is our favorite season of the year. No matter the season, we make time to get outside and play every day. Are you stuck inside? Bored? Get out and try some of these Fall Play Date Ideas. Enjoy!

Fall Play Date Ideas
Fall play date ideas don't have to be fancy... Just play!
The Voice of Play is an education and advocacy initiative of the non-profit membership association, IPEMA, formed to educate and promote the benefits of children’s free outdoor play and playgrounds. They encourage the scientifically proven physical, social, emotional, and cognitive benefits of play.

Outdoor play is free! Once a week, we visit a different local park and have unstructured play dates with a local homeschool group.

We are fortunate in that we have been able to live our dream life on a beautifully wooded, five-acre property. Everyday, we go for a walk, visit the fish and ducks on our pond, take a paddle boat ride, check out the creatures of the creek, and just play in the yard.

The best part about fall, of course, is the changing leaves. What fun to scoop some up and let them flow through the air! Rake up a pile and jump. It is simple. It is sensory. And, it couldn't be more fun if it cost money.

We wanted to share some pictures of how we play at home. For more fall play date ideas, keep scrolling down.

Fall leaf play.
Little ones enjoy the sensory aspect of leaves. They crunch, they crumble, and crack.

She made the leaves disappear!
What happens when you put a leaf on a slide? Play = Preschool Science.
Go on a hike to collect leaves for a science project.
Hide and seek is always a hit.
Climbing trees is cool too.
Monkey see. Monkey do.
I dub the Sir Fall.
Raking leaves is good exercise.

Leaves = Happy Kid.
We need to build a tree house.



*This post is sponsored by the Voice of Play. All words and opinions are my own.  #YearRoundPlay 




ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products. *We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Chitika, Google Adsense, Sverve, Izea, and Social Spark ads here. Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)


Creative and Sensory Play Blog Hop = Fun Activities for Kids



I'm co-hosting a new blog hop for those who love to PLAY!  Nikki who works with children with autism and adhd is a Neurofeedback Specialist over at Spectrum Psychological invites anyone who has a great idea for play-based learning to link up in this fun, new blog hop. When we pool talents, we can't help but find fantastic, fun activities for kids of all kinds. Play is the best medicine for children with sensory disorders and issues. So, grab the code, add your link, and hop around the wonderful, play based blogs.




Play to Learn Blog Hop
Grab the code.
<div align="center"><a href="http://www.spectrumpsychological.net/1/post/2013/01/play-to-learn-blog-hop.html" title="Play to Learn Blog Hop"><img src="http://www.spectrumpsychological.net/uploads/1/4/9/5/1495826/3711599.jpg?1358187461" alt="Play to Learn Blog Hop" style="border:none;" /></a></div>



Blog Hop Rules

Feel free to link up to 3 posts related to play-based learning.  Please leave comments on 2 to 3 other linked posts and only link posts you have written yourself, no other link ups or blog hops.  It'd be awesome if you could add our blog hop badge to your site, either on your sidebar or in a post.  Thanks for playing!



Follow Me on Pinterest Subscribe to Kids Creative Chaos by Email

Summer Messy Play Activities for Preschoolers

Fun In The Sun - 6 Tips For Creating A Mud Kitchen For Your Kids


Kids love mud! And as dirty as they may get, it’s time to advocate messy play so they can learn new skills the fun way. The fastest and easiest way to encourage your kids to get outdoors is to build them a mud kitchen.They'll be tripping over each other to get outside

Building your own mud kitchen is a creative, cost-effective way of enabling messy play for your kids while saving money on an expensive play kitchen

You can build your mud kitchen in your own way, and in the end, your kids will have the perfect environment in which to get their hands dirty anytime.


This post contains Amazon affiliate links for your convenience.


Summer Messy Play Activities for Preschoolers

Photo: Jelleke Vanooteghem/Unsplash


Six tips to create your own mud kitchen


  1. Use What You’ve Got

Poke around your garage and see what you can recycle to save money on your mud kitchen. You can use wood, recycled pallets, and old timber for the construction. Old cookware and bakeware, utensils, and decorations can also be used to finish out the kitchen,

Remember, the idea is to ignite your child’s imagination, so your DIY mud kitchen doesn’t need to resemble a brand-new toy kitchen set. 


  1. Stove Tops Add to The Fun

While it’s great to leave some things up to the imagination, it’s a good idea to make your play kitchen resemble a real kitchen by creating a stove top. You can paint the burners on a piece of timber or wood, and you can even add broken or thrifted appliances to your outdoor kitchen to enhance its appearance. You can also use good, old cardboard to create a play stove.


  1. Bake Mud Cakes

The fun part of having a mud kitchen is that your kids get to play with mud and get as dirty as they want. All you need to make mud cakes is some sand or soil and water. You can use old cookware and bake ware to contain them and shape them like cakes and cupcakes.

Parents can get involved by showing kids how to create funky-shaped cookies with cookie cutters and molds or add colored pasta to the mud for added texture. This kind of sensory play is an important part of childhood development, but above all, it’s a whole lot of fun.


Pistachio Pudding Play Dough


  1. Set the Table

A mud kitchen is a fun way to teach your child table manners. Guide your preschoolers through setting a table and laying out the dishes. Show them the way to arrange cutlery and allow your children to bring some garden leaves to create napkins for a rustic table setting.


  1. Add a Sink

Since you’ve introduced messy play to your preschoolers with colored pasta and mud cakes, it’s a good idea to take care of the cleanup. The most logical way to do this is to add a sink to your mud kitchen! To create your sink, use a silver or grey bucket and fill it with water or a big flower put with the bottom plugged works nicely too.

Add a hose in the bucket so that there’s an accessible faucet. This is a great way to teach children how to clean up after themselves. Add some dish washing liquid and a sponge so you can wash all the cookware the kids used before bringing it back into the house!


How to Make your own Dish Washing Soap


  1. Dress For The Occasion

Every chef needs a chef’s hat and apron, so make sure to get these for your child. They will love it! Plus, the apron will offer some protection from mud splatter while playing. Rubber boots are a good idea too. Preschool age kids and toddlers love to wear galoshes!


How to Make your own Chef Hat

 

Have fun with your kiddos and their mud kitchen. You may want to wear some rubber boots yourself! Encourage your children to enjoy free and imaginative play, and you can bet they’ll learn tons of kitchen tricks in the process. Pretend play is the best way to learn!


Recommended Reading:

Pretend Play and Play Date Ideas from Adventures of Kids Creative Chaos

Fun Books about Galoshes from Amazon




Wordless Wednesday: Things to do with Peanuts: Sensory Play

Packing Peanuts are Fun for Sensory Play

Baby Shipment via U.P.S. Baby had so much fun, even though he looks serious. Careful though, playing with packing peanuts makes a fun, sensory experience for babies and toddlers. Make sure you stay close, peanuts are a choking hazard and with this many peanuts baby could sink and get frightened in the pile of peanuts.

 Things to do with Peanuts: Sensory Play
Baby playing in Packing Peanuts.
We never left his side, packing peanuts are a serious choking hazard.
Serious thinking while playing in packing peanuts.
"I feel like I'm inside a peanut avalanche."
Chillin' in Peanuts; now that's a fun thing to do with packing peanuts.
Chillin' in Peanuts; now that's a fun thing to do with packing peanuts.

Rainbow Fish Theme Sensory Fishing Activity and Craft for Preschoolers

Make a Rainbow Fish to the Rescue Sensory Pretend Play Fishing Activity for Preschoolers and Toddlers

Looking for fun, fishing activities? These aquarium crafts (fish in a bag) and make believe hoola hoop fishing ponds are perfect activities to try after reading one of the Rainbow Fish stories.

Rainbow Fish is a fun story about a school of sparkly scale fish who won't allow a little fish without the sparkle to play, similar to the story of Rudolph and the Reindeer Games. This is a great story to teach about inclusion and kindness. What theme for preschool could be more fun than Rainbow Fish?



Rainbow Fish Aquarium with Ziploc Bag craft for kids


Sharpies and Ziploc Baggie for Aquarium craft project for kids.



To Make Baggie Aquarium, You will need: 


Ziploc Baggies
Sharpie Markers
Blue Hair Gel
Blue Shampoo
Foamies




Fill the aquarium with foam fish or make a dino terrarium.


Fill the aquarium with foam fish or make a dino terrarium.


Color an underwater scene on the bag. As an alternative, you can cut out fishy shapes and insert them to slosh around in the goo. Fill bag with about 1/4 C. of gel for a sparkly, ocean effect. For bubbles add a small squirt of shampoo. (Little ones loved squishing and watching the bubbles appear.) Tightly zip bag and tape to window or mirror. Squish away your stress!


Ziploc Baggie Aquarium for Rainbow Fish Play


Gel is sparkly, add a little blue shampoo for fishy bubbles.




Kids Pretend Fishing Game Activity for Preschoolers and Toddlers for Rainbow Fish Theme





Creative Play Element Fishing Activity: Pretend a Hoola-hoop is a fish pond.



Companion Games and Activities for Rainbow Fish:


Rainbow Fish to the Rescue is a perfect story compliment.
Then using a sparkly piece of foam, I cut out a scale and taped 
it to "its" shirt for Tag.

It took the little one a few minutes to catch on to the game of
tag. (Some didn't want anything to do with the scale.) But it is
so much fun watching as they learn the game and start running
after each other.

Tip:  Miss Lora preferred the gel to the shampoo. It is thicker
and looks more like real ocean water but the little ones loved
the bubbles. 

Moral:  It's not about making the perfect craft, it is 
all about the process and the fun of experimenting!

We like to add a creative play element.

  • Hoola-hoop Pond
  • Pool Noodle Fish (Cut-up)
  • Pail for the Catch
  • Squiggly Pole to pretend 


Make Believe Fishing Activity for Kids


Cut a scale from sparkly foam and tape to shirts.


Best Rainbow Fish Ever


I adore this beautiful clay and sequin rainbow fish craft activity from Sun Hats and Wellie Boots.





sequin rainbow fish crafty activity clay from sun hats and wellie boots



Sequin and Clay Rainbow Fish Craft Activity.




Recommended Reading:





Rainbow Fish to the Rescue*

Sensory Play with Gummy Worms Game


Take a Field Trip to the Manatee Viewing Center in Florida













ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products.

*We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Tapinfluence, Google Adsense, SoFab, and Izea ads here. Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)


How to make your own DIY Edible Face paint Ideas & Recipes & Build Self-Esteem: The Thing About Monsters is

How to make edible face paint and recipes for Toddlers and Kids of all Ages

Remember, You Can do it with Creative Play and a Can-do Attitude. Recently, we did a post about Monster Trouble (Our first KCC Kids Video) check out the fun here. SCROLL DOWN to see DIY Face Paint Recipes for face paint/makeup, lip gloss, sensory play and Witchy Me.


Monster Trouble?
Face Paint for Kids
Face Paint Kit by Alex Toys.

In the video in the post, a sneaky monster is made with items from our costume trunk/creative play stash and Alex Toys Face Paint Studio. Not once, have we posted pictures or recipes of our homemade and edible face paints. During our creative play and messy classes playing with face paint has been a staple. So, read on to discover many ways to create self-esteem, a fun day of creative play, how to make less of a mess, and enjoy the little time you have with your littles and not so little ones.


How to make edible face paint and recipes.
Sneaky Monster peeks out of the brush.


DIY Face Paint Recipe and Monster Face
I see you and your Monster Face paint.
It's hard to see, but he was modeled after the Connect a giant Monster kits above from Alex Toys. The Monster has a purple and green nose and red and orange eyes. This is a great kit for your older kids. Give them a mirror and a book of silly face ideas and let them go wild! Creative Play is a great self-esteem builder. Let them try out different faces, remove the paint with a little water or vaseline on a cotton ball, and be sure to tell them how great it looks. No buts or maybe ifs allowed.



Homemade face paint.
What's that you say? You don't want to have to clean up the mess? Put them in an empty tub the mess will clean itself, but make sure your little Max Factor helps. They might complain, but cleaning up after themselves teaches responsibility and independence. I can do it! Yes, you might have to tidy up- just don't complain about it.  You don't want your child thinking they can't do anything. If they can't even clean up after themselves they'll stop trying! So, count to 10, take a deep breath, and then say, I love how you are learning to clean up after yourself; it makes me so proud!

Do you want to be remembered as the Mom with the spotless house or the Mom who was so fun and positive? Your choice, you decide.



how to make your own face paint recipe
Crazy Blue Face Paint Fairy.

How to Make your own Face Paint (Recipe):

Cold cream, Food coloring, Cornstarch, Egg Carton.

Start with 1 C. of cold cream (Noxzema type)
Slowly mix in 1/2 to 1 C. cornstarch until it is a smooth, creamy consistency.

Divide into an egg carton or muffin tin.
Add 1-2 drops of food coloring. Experiment with more or less and color combinations.

Use cotton balls or paint brushes to paint a masterpiece on your face.

Most colors will wear off quickly or wipe off easily with water due to the cold cream. Sometimes, yellow requires a little petroleum jelly to remove all the residue. 

With experimentation you can get professional results with these ingredients. It does dry and get crackly. Some kids don't like this sensation others think it's cool.

Homemade Face paint and makeup recipes for Toddlers and Preschool.
Homemade Face paint and makeup recipes.

Make your own Edible Face Paint for Preschoolers and Toddlers:

Caregivers, do you need 20 minutes of me time? This is AMAZING. If you don't want to leave the little alone in the bathroom spread an old, white sheet or vinyl tablecloth on the floor. Cornstarch, food coloring or colored drink mix, water, white flour, big spoons, and mixing bowls.

Start with 1/4 C. of flour
Mix in 1/2 C. of cornstarch or powdered sugar (think icing)
1/2 to 1 C. Cool Whip (Readiwhip doesn't work.)
Sift with fingers to mix and enjoy the sensory aspects.
Slowly add 1/4 to 1/2 C. water stir with spatula
Water and cornstarch make an interesting science experiment so make sure to add the flour and Cool Whip first. Mix to a creamy icing consistency ~ Spreadable.
Divide into egg carton and add food coloring or Drink Mix powder (Kool-Aid) works best.

The little will have a blast studying their face and admiring their handiwork  Let them remove their shirt and paint tattoos on their belly or  bugs on their hands. This is a fun way to teach babies eyes, nose, mouth, etc.

The ingredient measurements are guidelines. Warm water vs. cold, warm house vs. cool all of these can affect the makeup- experimentation is key.

Mixing paint is great for fine motor skills and sensory learning.
Mixing paint is great for fine motor skills and sensory learning.


Kid’s Yummy Lipstick Recipe:

Petroleum jelly, honey, maple syrup, or non-imitation vanilla, unsweetened drink powder for color and flavor.

Put Petroleum jelly into microwave safe dish

Microwave the petroleum jelly for 30 seconds to one minute until 

warm, remove and stir.

Add Kool Aid and Honey

Mix well
Spoon into gift containers, refrigerate.

Changing Hair Color:

Experiment with Conditioner or Petroleum Jelly and unsweetened drink powder, & Baby Powder. Spray Aqua Net to set the color. May take several washings to wash out. We found a YouTube Video here.



Happy Halloween and Haunting  or Go break a leg!



Recommended Reading: