Category: Activities for Kids

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Fun with Dyed Pasta

Dyed Pasta

Dyed PastaHas your child come home recently with a necklace made from lovely, bright pasta? That’s because we dyed some for the kids to use to help them practice their stringing, which is great for honing those fine motor skills. But, lest you think the only thing they can do with beautifully died pasta is put it on a string, here are some other ideas for fun pasta crafts.

For all of these crafts, you’ll want some nicely died pasta. For an excellent tutorial, check out this one by Julie Finn at Crafting a Green World.

Jewelry

Jewelry is the old pasta stand by, but you can do some pretty great things with the number of types of pasta you can find. Wagon wheels glued together can make really pretty tiaras when glued to a plain plastic headband, and bow ties make great center pendants on bracelets and necklaces. All you need is pasta and string! You can even decorate hair clips by gluing the pasta to plain barrettes. And, you can find some fun pastas like peace signs (made by Annie’s Organics – check the natural food section at Fred Meyer).

Transportation

Lasagna noodles make great bases for train cars, and rigatoni makes some pretty cool lumber to tote in those train cars. You can of, course, use wagon wheels for tires on all sorts of vehicles. If you want some inspiration, this pasta train from Parents is pretty cool.

Art

Gluing pasta on poster board or card stock is a great way for kids to create their own designs. And, you can always let them paint the pasta after it’s on the paper, instead of dying it ahead of time. Also, if your little one is learning their ABCs, alphabet pasta can be a fun way to reinforce those letters.

Garland

Just like stringing cranberries for tree garland, you can string pasta for pretty garlands to hang on your Christmas tree or around the house anywhere.

Picture Frames

Pasta can add fun texture to a picture frame. Glue pieces of pasta on a basic frame and paint over them, or used the dyed pasta for a different look.

If you’re the type that prefers to learn by watching, Parents has a video about pasta crafts with some other fun ideas too.

No matter which activity you do with pasta, your child is sure to love it!

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Fun Ways to Paint

There are so many fun ways to use paint. We’ve got tons of ideas for ways to use paint besides with fingers and brushes.

Here are a few great ways to play with paint:

  • Shaving Cream
  • Plungers
  • Golf Balls
  • Cars
  • Magnets
  • Ice
  • Helmets
  • Leaves
  • Stamps
  • Potato Mashers
  • Tiles
  • Pantyhose
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Building Skills – Clear Easel Painting

Paint Brushes

Paint BrushesClear easel painting is a great activity to do with your child to help them develop a range of skills.

Language Skills
A discussion of colors, shapes, and objects can be described by you and your child

Emotional Skills
Children express their emotions through paint

Cognitive Skills
Paint of clear plastic, wipe it off. Children can see through the easel.

Fine Motor Skills
Small details of painting with a small brush

Large Motor Skills
Large arm movements reaching high above the head

When you’re looking for an excellent activity to do with your child, consider clear easel painting.

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Building Skills – Crayon Melt

Crayons

CrayonsIf you’re looking for fun activities for you to do with your kids, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve got a ton of good ideas for building skills in your child. One great craft to do with your children is crayon melts.

Cognitive Skills
The heat causes the solids to transform into liquid.

Fine Motor Skills
Breaking small pieces of crayon with fingers

Sensory Skills

  • Warmth of the hot plate
  • Crayons feel silky and smooth
  • Wax is sticky
  • Noticeable smell when the wax melts

Language Skills
Discuss the changes of a solid to a liquid

Cooperative Skills

  • Share one hot pan
  • Take urns
  • Share space
  • Watch each other

Your child can learn a number of excellent skills by doing crayon melts.

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Building Skills – Art Lathe

Art Lathe

If you’re looking for an excellent way to build skills in your child, consider an art lathe.

Art Lathe
Social/Language Skills

  • Watching and interacting with each other
  • Children share their excitement and emotions verbally

Cognitive Skills

  • Seeing the patterns and designs gives children an opportunity for matching and counting
  • Children learn cause and effect placing the paint on the spinning lathe, then watch the design that it makes
  • Dropping paint causes a unique design to take shape

Fine Motor Skills
Children use the pincer grasp when holding the pen, pencil, or small paint

Cooperative Skills

  • Share the art lathe
  • Take turns
  • Watch and learn from each other
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Pumpkin Patches in the Sandy/Boring Area

Pumpkin Patch

Pumpkin PatchAre you looking for a great pumpkin patch to take your little ones to this fall? We’ve got a couple of recommendations.

Bushue’s Family Farm
Bushue’s is a great place to take your little ones for pumpkin adventures.

They have a hayride that takes you out to their back acreage to gather pumpkins straight from the patch. It’s a bumpy, jumpy good time. They also have animals for petting, including pigs, goats, sheep, and a mini horse. You can make a dirt baby while you’re there and take him home and watch him grow. And, don’t forget the hay maze and the corn maze and take a ride on the pig train.

Bushue’s has activities that are totally age appropriate for the preschool set and is a ton of fun!

Liepold Farms
Liepold Farms is probably the best known and largest pumpkin patch in the area. Always a good time, Liepold’s offers a huge corn maze, tons of food to eat on site or take home, a kids play area with a corn bin (think of a sandbox with corn instead of sand) and both hay and corn mazes. You can also take a hay ride and there are plenty of great places for adorable fall family pictures.

There’s fun for the whole family at Liepold’s!

So, put on your mud boots, grab the family, and go have some serious pumpkin fun at one of our fabulous family pumpkin patches in Sandy!

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Building Skills – Paper Mache

Paper Mache

Paper MachePaper mache is yet another excellent activity you can do with your child. Paper Mache can teach your child a number of skills.

Large Motor Skills

  • Tearing paper
  • Stirring glue
  • Applying paper to base

Social Skills
Children talk about the progress of the sculpture, taking pride in their work through conversations

Emotional Skills
The labors that such a project take will connect child with finished project

Cooperative Skills
Children share materials. This is a group effort where children construct together.

Language Skills
Books and illustrations about final outcome promote language.

Sensory Skills
The texture of the glue, cold, wet, sticky. The roughness of the dry paper.

Cognitive Skills
The process of paper mache: The glue changes from a liquid to a solid state.

Paper Mache is a great way to work with your child on completing an interesting project.

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Building Skills – Tempura Ice Cube Paints

Paint Ice

Paint IceThere are loads of great activities to do with kids. Today, we’re looking at tempura ice cube paints. They help your toddler develop a number of skills.

Fine Motor Skills
Using finger to pick up and control ice cube

Social Skills
Expressive language used while interacting with you and other children

Cognitive Skills
Matching colors to cubes builds sorting skills

Sensory Skills
Things that are frozen feel cold to the touch

Language SKills
Gives children a chance to verbalize cause and effect of what is happening to the tempura paint cubes

If you’re looking for a fun activity to do with your kids, give tempura paint ice cubes a try.

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Building Skills – Dauber Painting

Dauber Painting

Dauber PaintingContinuing in our series of great activities for kids, we have dauber painting. Dauber painting is a great activity to do with your toddler because it encourages a number of skills.

Large Motor Skills
Using upper arm muscles to lift paints up and control movements down

Fine Motor Skills
Uses palmer grasp

Emotional/Language Skills
Children can talk about the colors and share the excitement of the activity.

Cognitive Skills

  • Learning about shapes as each circle appears
  • Counting
  • Connecting
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Building Skills – Box House

Cardboard Box

Cardboard BoxIf you’re looking for a great activity to do with your child, consider building a box house. There are a number of skills your child can learn from creative play with a cardboard box.

Fine Motor Skills

  • Building small pieces of furniture
  • Ripping small pieces of paper

Cognitive Skills

  • Develops abstract thinking
  • Using an imaginative family to represent a real family

Social and Emotional Skills

  • Acting out who is living in the box and what they are doing in the house
  • Provides release of emotions for children
  • Connects real family and imaginative family

Language Skills

  • Building a structure with others
  • Using cooperative language

Sensory Skills
Creating a space for living too small for a real person opens imaginative play.

If you’re looking for a good use for those old cardboard boxes and a way to entertain and delight your child, consider building box houses with them.