Glittery Playdough Made with Sunscreen!
Play Doh Lollipop Counting
Supplies:
Assorted colors of play doh
Craft Sticks
Numbers or dice
Directions:
Invite your child to form the lollipops with a small bit of play doh and the craft sticks.
Encourage your child to pick a number from the pile or roll a dice.
Whichever number they come up with, encourage them to roll out that many itty bitty tiny balls of play doh in a different color.
Decorate the lollipops with the small balls of doh.
Repeat with more numbers for a hands on math lesson that works in fine motor skill work too!
You can find all of my play doh ideas here
Reader favorites include:
Play Doh Pie Counting
Play Doh Pre-writing
Play Doh Stamping
Playdoh Meatball Math
Are you looking for a way to make early math engaging for kids? This play doh activity makes for a fun way to master early counting skills in a manner that kids are going to want an extra helping of.
Repeat as desired until you have used all of the dominoes or mastered your counting lesson. I know your kids are going to love this take on early math!
Find more epic playdoh activities here.
Favorites include:
Find more fun math ideas like these math games for kids.
Play Doh Flower Counting Activity
Find more play doh ideas here Reader favorites include:
Sunscreen Play Dough
Design Your Own Play Doh Ornaments
You can make your own white play doh, like in my super soft play dough recipe, just leave the food color out, or to make this activity really easy during a generally already packed holiday season, just buy cans of white play doh.
To make these design your own play doh ornaments you will need
Supplies
white play doh
washable markers
cookie cutters
bakers twine
A pen or stick to poke a hole with
Poke a hole in each ornament so that it can be hung after completion. I used an ink pen to make my holes.
Find all of my Christmas crafts here
Reader favorites include:
Button Tree Ornaments
Mickey Mouse Jingle Bell Ornaments
Sensory Bins: A Fun Way for Kids to Learn
Sensory bins are a fantastic way to engage young learners in open-ended, creative play. These bins, filled with interesting textures and materials, provide a stimulating environment for children to explore their senses of sight, touch, and smell. But sensory bins are more than just fun – they offer a wealth of developmental benefits for children of all ages.
Why Sensory Play is Important
Sensory play allows children to learn about the world around them through their senses. As they explore the textures, sounds, and smells of the materials in a sensory bin, they are developing important cognitive skills, such as problem-solving and critical thinking. Sensory play also helps to refine fine motor skills, those needed for tasks like grasping, pinching, and pouring.
In addition, sensory bins can be a calming and therapeutic for children. The repetitive motions of scooping, pouring, and sorting can be very soothing, and the focus required can help to improve concentration. Sensory bins can also be a great tool for promoting social interaction as children take turns playing and exploring the materials together.
Getting Started with Sensory Bins
Creating a sensory bin is easy and affordable. All you need is a bin or container, a filler material, and some objects to add variety. Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Filler Materials: Dry rice, beans, pasta, crinkled paper, play dough, sand, water beads
- Objects: Scoops, cups, spoons, tongs, toy cars, figurines, buttons, pom poms
Once you have assembled your bin, let your child take the lead in exploring it. There are no right or wrong ways to play with a sensory bin. The important thing is that your child is having fun and engaging their senses.
Sensory Play Ideas
Here are a few sensory bin themes to inspire you:
- Rainbow Disc Sensory Bags: These rainbow bags are easy to make and offer a colorful yet mess free sensory play option.
- Garden: Fill the bin with crinkled paper grass and add plastic flowers, ladybugs, and gardening tools for a one of a kind, kid friendly garden sensory bin.
- Pot of Gold Sensory Bin: Make this easy sensory bin for Saint Patrick's day to offer a hands on play experience.
Sensory bins are a fun and educational way to keep your child entertained. So next time you're looking for a creative activity, consider putting together a sensory bin and letting your child's imagination run wild!
You can find more of my sensory play ideas here:
Play Dough Multiplication Activity
Directions:
Roll the brown play doh to resemble a tree trunk
Flatten out a can of green play doh for the leaves
Select two wooden numbers and press them into the top.
Use the edge of a number to make the x symbol
Offer your child a selection of pony beads.
Have them press the correct number of pony beads into the dough.
To explain the concept to my girl I told her to count out the first number of the problem in beads, then to do it again and press them in.
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Fun Crafts You Can Explore With Kids At Home
Are you spending your day with your kids at home? If so, then you might want to explore and plan some activities that you can enjoy together. There are lots of options worth considering here so let’s look at a few to ensure that you have a great time with your little ones, even if you are stuck in doors.
Clothing Design
First, you should think about designing clothing with your kids. This is a great way to get them to think creatively and ensure that they have something that they can use or enjoy. There’s no limit on the type of clothing that you can create if you have the right materials and equipment. For instance, you can use holographic vinyl to add wonderful designs to any item of clothing from t-shirt to jackets. If you’re not sure how to begin with this possibility, then you’ll find some great guides online.
Wood Work
Next, you should explore woodwork options. This is something that you can explore if you have older children as it might be too tricky for younger kids. You might think that this is going to mean investing in a lot of equipment and items but it doesn’t have to. You just need to get some wood to work with. You could also think about exploring upcycling ideas. This will allow you to create items from old pieces of wooden furniture and accessories that you probably have lying around the home. Again, there are some great YouTube guides for woodworking with kids at home.
Painting
You might also want to think about painting with your kids. This could be an activity such as repainting a room or you might want to let them get creative with arts. If you are interested in letting your kids stretch their artistic muscle, then you should make sure that you get a blank piece of paper or a blank sheet from a home depot store. You can spread this out over the floor and just let them go a little wild. You might want to explore possibilities such as finger and hand painting as long as you don’t mind cleaning them up afterwards.
Homemade Playdough
Finally, kids love playdough. It allows them to get creative and design anything that they can imagine. Whether that’s pretending to make food in a restaurant or styling an egg. You can buy playdough, but why not think about creating your own instead? This in itself can be a fun activity to explore with your kids. All you need to create your own playdough is flour and salt as well as a little time. You can also use food colouring to create play dough in a wide variety of different colours. It’s a little messy but a fantastic option for time with the kids.
We hope this helps you see that there are some great ways that you can spend time with your kids when you are stuck at home. Whether you want to get messy or just chill, we’re sure you’ll have a great time.
Finally, foster care kids love playdough. It allows them to get creative and design anything that they can imagine. Whether that’s pretending to make food in a restaurant or styling an egg. You can buy playdough, but why not think about creating your own instead? This in itself can be a fun activity to explore with your kids. All you need to create your own playdough is flour and salt as well as a little time. You can also use food colouring to create play dough in a wide variety of different colours. It’s a little messy but a fantastic option for time with the kids.
Chocolate Espresso Cookies
Deepen Your Chocolate Fix with Espresso Cookies!
Calling all chocoholics and coffee lovers! This recipe for Chocolate Espresso Cookies is the perfect meeting of your two favorite indulgences. The rich, dark chocolate pairs beautifully with the subtle kick of espresso, creating a delightful flavor combination that's both sophisticated and satisfying.
These cookies are easy to whip up, requiring just a few bowls and common pantry staples. They're chewy on the inside and crisp on the outside, offering a textural contrast that's impossible to resist. Plus, with a touch of espresso powder in the dough, these cookies will give you a little afternoon pick-me-up alongside that decadent chocolate flavor.
1 cup of melted butter
½ cup of dark cocoa powder
1 cup of granulated sugar
2 tablespoons of pure maple syrup
1 egg
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 tablespoon of instant espresso powder
1 ½ cup of all purpose flour
1 teaspoons of baking soda
A pinch of salt
For rolling:
½ c sugar and 1 teaspoon of espresso powder
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Add cocoa and maple syrup to melted butter.
Mix until well blended.
Add 1 cup of sugar, vanilla, and egg to the mixing bowl, and beat for 1 minute.
Add flour, baking soda , espresso powder and salt.
Stir until all ingredients are well blended.
Using a cookie scoop, form balls of dough.
Drop them one at a time into the espresso and sugar mix.
Roll each ball around until completely coated with sugar.
Place the dough balls 3” apart on the prepared cookie sheet and bake for 11 minutes.
Allow to cool for 5 minutes before removing from the cookie sheet.
Tips for Success:
- Don't overmix! Overmixing can lead to tough cookies. Once the dry ingredients are incorporated, stop mixing.
- Chill the dough (optional): Chilling the dough for 30 minutes to an hour can help the cookies spread less and create chewier centers.
- Play with the chocolate: Feel free to experiment with different types of chocolate, such as dark, milk, or white chocolate chips, or even chopped nuts.