Click here to learn more about the children's books that inspired these activities.
1.) Dice Clean Up Game-
My son loves all forms of games. So I knew a clean up game would be a big hit. He actually begs to play this at clean up time now. The game is super simple, all you have to do is roll the dice to determine how many items to pick up. When I play with my son, we roll two dice, and he adds them together. You can modify the game by using one dice at a time. The goal of the game is to take turns picking up the amount of items you roll, until there’s nothing left on the floor. The one that picks up the last item is the winner. I use jumbo dice for this activity. You can print them for free here.
2.) Window Drawing and Cleaning-
My children spend hours coloring and drawing. We first bought window liquid chalk markers to decorate our cars for covid birthday car parades. Since then, we still use them frequently to draw on windows. My kids also love using spray bottles, so it made perfect sense to have them spray the windows clean after drawing on them.
I mixed together a cleaning solution of, (recipes from bhg.com) 2 cups distilled water, 1/2 cup vinegar, and 10 drops of essential oil. My son can be sensitive to smells, so the essential oils help cover up the strong vinegar smell.
Another simple and fun activity we do with window markers and cleaning solution is "Sight Word Erase". I write a bunch of Nolan's sight words on the window, he traces them, and then erases them.
3.) Sight Word Sweeping: Dust Bunnies
We had such a blast reading, Rhyming Dust Bunnies, by Jan Thomas. I created this activity by designing printable dust bunnies (you can find them here for FREE) for my son to sweep up into designated taped areas. I’ve seen sweeping practice done in multiple ways, but I wanted my son to practice his sight words while playing. The game rules were adjusted while we played (Nolan loves creating his own challenges and “level ups” when playing made up games.).
To play, I put painters tape down and labeled them with sight words. The ones with the larger shaped area were worth 1 pt and the others worth 2 pts. The goal of the game, was to sweep as many dust bunnies onto the sight words before the two minute timer went off. One person would call out the sight words while the other swept the dust bunnies. Not only was it fun way to practice an important life skill, it was also great for sight word recognition, counting by twos and adding on when scoring.
4.) Muddy Farm Animals: Sensory Play
This is an activity is a hit in our house. With the weather getting warmer and after Hogwash, by Karma Wilson, it was the perfect time to have a hogwash of our own. Mud is a great sensory play medium that enhance motor skills. As an adult you may find mud gross and dirty, but it has so many amazing benefits, including:
building immune systems
reducing anxiety/stress
improving cognitive function
improving fine and gross motor skills
building a connection with nature
having tons of fun and learning to let loose
5.) Dramatic Play Laundromat
Who said doing laundry couldn’t be fun? My kids had a blast playing pretend with the pretend play laundromat I designed. We transformed our KidKraft Let’s Play Pretend Shopkeeper Stand into an adorable and fun laundromat.
I love watching my kids play pretend together and their imaginations soar. Through dramatic play their communication and language skills have both improved. I hope they always have a close bond and play together.
To set up the laundromat, I took cardboard boxes (large diaper or wipe boxes work perfectly) and transformed them into a washer and dryer using my printables for sale in my shop. (find them here)
The set includes
Everything you need to turn small/medium boxes into a washer and dryer (diameter of doors= 8 in)
stand up paper laundry detergent
stain removing spray
iron (all also included without stand)
Laundry mat sign
Labels or flashcards
Pretend receipt
Pretend price list
And a “How To Do Laundry" chart
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