Play Inspired Mum

🦕 Dinosaur Painting 🦕

If you are looking for an easy painting activity, add this to your list.

Mr 3 and Miss 10 loved literally painting dinosaurs.

They took so much care with selecting their colours before carefully adorning their Dino’s with slick licks of paint.

Then what better way to clean up than a bubble bath!

Busy hands, laughing kiddies. It was a winner 🏆

🛰️Outer Space Sensory Play 🛰️

Take your play out of this world with this super simple sensory play idea 🚀

https://playinspiredmum.com/galactic-explorers-space-themed-flour-sensory-bin/

Our favourite at the moment are the ‘Winnie and Wilbur’ series.

What’s yours?

Top books for kids: https://www.hellowonderful.co/post/100-great-books-for-beginning-readers/

🫧 Bubble Pouring Station 🫧

Water play means gross motor strengthening meets experimental play meets cause and effect learning meets …. A whole lot of learning through play!

https://playinspiredmum.com/bubbling-over-with-fun-a-bubble-pouring-station-guide/

This is a simple play idea to add to your list … I mean… do it today because it’s brilliant!

🧵 DIY Baby Toy🧵

Make your own baby toy using an everyday household item; paper towel holder!

https://playinspiredmum.com/thrifty-threading-wooden-tubes-and-paper-towel-holders/

Learn about the benefits of threading play and how to set up yours for more learning through play 🌷

🍫 Chocolate Play Dough 🍫

Homemade play dough has never smelt so good!

Our chocolate play dough can be made in as long as it takes to boil the kettle and is soft, stretchy and glorious!

https://playinspiredmum.com/mastering-the-art-of-chocolate-play-dough-a-simple-guide/

What’s your favourite playdough activity?

Fine motor skills meets water play 💪

https://playinspiredmum.com/enchanted-silhouettes-a-guide-to-magic-writing-cloth-fun/

A fun way to strengthen fine motor skills AND relatively mess free water play 💦

💙 Cotton Sand 💙

Cotton sand has to be one of the most unique textures we have explored lately.

Trying to find the words to describe it… soft, mouldable, elastic but fluffy and static all at the same time?

It is amazing 🤩

Have you used cotton sand before? How would you describe this sensory sensation?

If you have a can of chickpeas in the pantry and a sprinkle of corn flour or cream of tartar, you have all you need to make….

Play foam!

https://playinspiredmum.com/taste-safe-sensory-aquafaba-foam/

It’s totally taste safe for mouthing babies and toddlers too!

🌈 Walking Rainbow 🌈

Use three colours and six cups to explore capillary action and creating secondary colours 🙌

This is a fun experiment to set up in the morning and watch as the day progresses ✨

🛰️ Space Sensory Play 🛰️

3,2,1 - blast off!

Flour and cheerios was the base of this sensory small world adventure.

After visiting , Mr 3 was all about exploring outer space 🪐

His astronauts were greeted by giant insect aliens and then emergency services were engaged 😅

What’s a simple small world you have set up lately?

🚧Construction Colour Explosion🚧

What started as a sizzling hidden colour explosion ended up as a slurry pit for a favourite front end loader!

Comment ‘Sizzle’ if you would like to learn how 🌷

🐷 Happy as a pig in mud 🐷

We have used sensory play as a mood regulator for years

Our taste safe mud recipe has been called upon countless times over the years.

Even now, Miss 10 still enjoys listening to the squelch of trapped air escaping beneath her hands.

Taste Safe Mud Recipe - Play Inspired Mum Disclosure: This blog contains affiliate links which I may earn a small commission from if you purchase through them, at no extra cost to you. Taste safe mud is a must have sensory play experience. While I am all up for a good splash about in the real deal, being able to provide a taste […]

Looking for an activity for bigger kids these school holidays?

How about homemade crystals?

https://playinspiredmum.com/how-to-make-sugar-crystals-rock-candy/

You probably have everything you need already in your pantry - and they are edible!

⚖️ DIY Scales ⚖️

Some early numeracy inspiration for your toddler!

This is a hands on, visual play idea to explore concepts of weight.

https://playinspiredmum.com/homemade-balance-scale-diy-toddlers-preschoolers/

Even my bigger kids love exploring this one!

Turn your shower gel into soap jellies with some gelatine!

https://playinspiredmum.com/diy-bath-time-soap-jellies/

A fun DIY that makes bath time, fun time!

Another to add to the list 📚

Are you wondering how to talk to your children about Anzac Day?

Here are some activities to commemorate our servicewomen and servicemen along with tips to discuss the meaning of this important day with your children.

https://playinspiredmum.com/anzac-day-activities-2024/

🚧 Construction Oobleck 🚧

Simple, messy and fabulous!

🦺 Fine motor skills
🦺 Experimental play
🦺 Cause and effect
🦺 Problem solving
🦺 Crossing midline
🦺 Vocabulary building

No fancy trays or toys. Just a baking tray some pebbles and all favourite trucks.

Sensory play has so many benefits. Follow your childs interests and embrace the mess as just a season in learning 😅 Outside… near the garden hose.

🐾🚜 Tracks Magic Writing Cloth 🚜🐾

Inspired by an idea from .photography, Mr 3 enjoyed exploring tracks made by his trucks.

https://playinspiredmum.com/magic-writing-cloth/

First he wet the wheels by rolling them on the damp sponge.

He then rolled the wheels over the magic writing cloth leaving black tracks in their wake.

🚗Road Trip with a Toddler 🚗

Are you planning a road trip with your toddler?

Here is a list of play resources to help make the journey more enjoyable for the whole family 💕

https://playinspiredmum.com/39-best-favourite-toddler-travel-toys-for-road-trip/

🧩 Toddler Activity Inspiration 🧩

Are you looking for some play inspiration?

Here is a list of some of our favourites

https://playinspiredmum.com/top-47-educational-activities-for-2-year-olds-at-home/

👌 Edible Sensory Play👌

Love the idea of water beads but little one still mouthing?

These are NOT water beads however they feel and act so similar and they are edible!

https://playinspiredmum.com/taste-safe-water-beads-for-sensory-play/

In fact, you could even make a dessert from the leftovers if you wanted too.

🐾🌱 Taste Safe Dirt 🌱🐾

Mix up in minutes and ready to play!

https://playinspiredmum.com/taste-safe-dirt-recipe/

We use ours for construction play, fossil digs, and sensory play small worlds.

How are you goi g to use your taste safe dirt?

🧻 Paper Pulp Sensory Play 🧻

That feeling when your kid runs around the house snowing toilet paper like it grows on trees 😅

Time to make a paper pulp sensory bin!

https://playinspiredmum.com/sensory-play-bin-with-paper-pulp-clean-mud-for-kids/

Even sensory seeking Miss 10 LOVED the noise and feel of this mixture.

Paper pulp has been added to our list of favourites!

🫧 Bubble Pouring Station 🫧

This is an absolute tribute to simple play being a winner.

A couple of bowls, whisk and measuring cups out of the kitchen, a sq**rt of dishwashing liquid and no kidding, this was active, meaningful play for over an hour.

The kiddies were whisking, pouring and experimenting.

They were pretending to make cakes, drinks and the BIGGEST BOWL OF BUBBLES they could 💙🫧

🤖 Robot Playdough 🤖

Inspired by Mr 3s current favourite book ‘Winnie and Wilbur Gadgets Galore’, we repurposed some old remotes to make robots!

A pat of play dough was the perfect core for our robots.

Mr 3 loved taking the remotes apart and exploring what we found inside them.

Truth be told he was more interested in putting them back together than actually making a robot however the one that was made turned out similar to that in his book. 💙

Do you have a little one that would enjoy this playdough play idea?

🦕 💦 Magic Writing Cloth Silhouettes 💦🦕

Handwriting practise!

Yes, you read that correctly.

Scrolling through each pic I hear you questioning where is the pencil and where is the writing 🤷🏻‍♀️

Well, that spray bottle is the perfect tool for developing fine motor strength which is vital for handwriting in time to come.

This cloth is amazing! The black shines when wet with just water alone. Yup! No black paint or ink here. Just good old water 💧

Learn more about the writing cloth here: https://playinspiredmum.com/magic-writing-cloth/

🚧 Getting School Ready🚧

This is Mr 3s last year before starting formal schooling next year.

With that in mind we are spending the year practicing schools to better equip him for kindy.

Using some Printables today he put together some construction trucks and then covered them in ‘dirt’.

🌸 Hand eye coordination
🌸 Bilateral coordination
🌸 Following verbal instruction
🌸 Respecting resources

I have lost count how many times we have done this this week. He loves gluing the truck parts in place!