Invention Game

Here is another kid created activity that my children enjoy.  The invention game is to either create something from scratch from different materials or recreate something with items from around the house.  One of the first challenges they did was to make your own water bottles.  Then they had people vote which one they thought was the best overall.  The one on the left was an attempt to make an insulated water bottle with a cup inside a cup and LOTS of tape.  The one on the right was super simple - plastic cup with coffee cup travel mug lid.  


They have done this activity many times since then.  Some inventions they work together on i.e. a water fountain out of a cereal box and duct tape (amazingly it did work).  Some inventions they create a contest for such as using only objects out of the craft bin make a puppy dog.  This was interesting because the end results were all different - pipe cleaner dogs, wood block dogs, painted dog and a clay dog.  


There are so many things that children could invent using materials around the house.  Leave it very open ended to allow for problem solving. 

Birthday Claycakes

Children love to play pretend birthday party.  To start off this pretend party we needed to make the birthday "cupcakes".  I set out a tray with some play dough, cut up straws, beads, cotton balls and cupcake liners. 

After rolling the cupcakes into balls, we placed them into the cupcake liners and they were ready to decorate.  The beads became delightful and colorful sprinkles.  The cotton made wonderful icing but we also found another use...

Put a straw in the middle of your claycake.  Place the cotton ball (or rip off a small piece of the cotton ball) on the top of the straw.  Now you have your birthday candle ready to blow out.  Blowing the cotton ball off of the straw was excellent practice for little ones to strengthen the muscles around the mouth. 

After a many rounds (you know toddlers they love repetition) of singing "happy birthday to you" and blowing out the cotton candles, I give this activity a big thumbs up. 

Toddler Time: Nature Salad

Head outdoors with your toddler to create some nature salad.  Give the toddler a plastic bowl, large spoon, ladle or tongs.  Go exploring to find grass, large leaves, wildflowers or whatever your child can find in nature.  Mix it all up and you have a delicious nature salad.

If it is a warm day, add some water and change it to nature soup.  See if by adding natural items you can get the water to change colors. 

For an older child, provide some plastic plates to serve the nature salad on and play pretend restaurant.

Playing Pretend on the iPad

 

Want to learn how you can mark up pdf documents so that you can write on them on your iPad?  This is a wonderful way to turn our Pretend Play books into your own iPad apps to let your children take digital documentation just like some doctors do!  Plus, it combines the technology with good old fashioned playtime.  One more bonus, you do not have to print the colored pages.

Basically this free app allows you to mark and draw on the iPad with pdf documents. Here is how you do it:

 Step 1: On your iPad download the an app that lets you mark up pdf documents. There are few available.  Some are free and some are inexpensive ($0.99).  For the pictures above I used Neu.Annotate.  I have also used pdf-notes free in the past and that works well too.   

Step 2:  Email yourself a copy of the pdf document such as Pretend Play Doctor and Hospital.  

Step 3:  If you have just purchased it open up your download link on your iPad and you can select to open it up in pdf notes or Neu.annotate.  If you emailed it to yourself, click on the attachment and select to open it up in pdf notes or Neu.annotate.

Step 4:  Start playing around with the document.  You can write with your finger, write in text boxes, use stamps to make 'X' marks and erase.  There is a very small learning curve to figure out all the tools but it takes all of 5 minutes if you are familiar with the iPad already.

Step 5:  Open up your pretend doctor's office, emergency room, school or animal clinic and get started with your digital documents.

Check out all the Pretend Play packets

• Doctor and Hospital
• School
• Animal
• Secret Agent
• Candy Shop

  

Outdoor Puzzle Race

Here is a suggested activity for older children that combines physical activity with visual perceptual skills.  Trace around a bunch of small objects or toys on a large piece of paper or folder.  Place all the small objects plus a few extra that you didn't trace in a large container. 

Head outdoors or a large play space area.  Put the folder with the traced outlines at least 20 feet away from the container with the objects. 

Explain to the child that they will have one minute 30 seconds to try and match up as many objects as they can.  Only allow the child to bring one object at a time to match up. 

The kids enjoyed repeating this race over and over again to see if they could beat the amount of objects they matched up each time.  The record was 17 objects matched up in 1 minute 30 seconds.

My First Nature Collection

Yesterday, my toddler enjoyed gathering items outdoors for her first nature collection.  I have been saving clear plastic jars with lids and this one sure came in handy.  She loved collecting rocks and picking dandelions.  She would drop them each in the jar and close it up.  With the jar being clear, she admired the collection.  

Of course, after awhile it turned into a game of dumping all the rocks out into other containers and back into the original container.  In the end it was a temporary collection since she dumped it all out (which is the best kind - one less thing I need to keep around the house). 

Giveaway - Pretend Play Animal Packet

This is a great giveaway of a printed copy of  Animals Pretend Play pages from Growing Play.  I had to order a few test copies from a printer and now I can mail them on to one of my lucky followers. 

This printed packet includes 28 forms and signs to play pretend veterinarian, pet store, pet show animals and selling pet food.  Organize a pretend pet show, judge it and give out awards.  Open up a pretend zoo, sell tickets and plan animal shows.  

It has been printed on heavy paper so it would be great to laminate or slip inside page protectors to use over and over again in a classroom or your dramatic play area at home.   

Kids of all ages will love this packet to take playing pretend a step further.

You can preview a sample page here from Animal Pretend Pages.  

Here are some ideas for how to use the Animal Pretend Pages. 

• Pretend Play Animal Rescue 
• Pretend Play Box Veterinarian 
• Pretend Play Box Pet Show 
• Animal Hospital 

To order the download of Animal Pretend Pages or get more information on the packet go to GrowingPlay.com.



Follow the blog to keep informed on more giveaways of the pretend pages.  

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 Congratulations to Aimie the winner of the Animal Pretend Pages Packet.  Thanks to all who entered.  Keep watching for more giveaways.