Simple At Home Learning Activities for Young Kids of All Abilities

As the new school year approaches, there are big decisions that need to be made! Whether you choose in school learning, virtual learning, cyber school, or traditional homeschooling, it isn't a decision that is going to be made lightly. Thoughts about the upcoming school year have been keeping me up at night for weeks!

Truthfully, I don't want to be a homeschooling mom, but the reality is that I will probably have to be one to some extent this year. I have a child who has Down syndrome, and with it comes extra needs to consider. There are lots of options for the upcoming school year, but none of them are ideal for Liam. No matter what I choose, Liam loses. Our country is barely prepared to educate neurotypical students in a pandemic, so students who have extra needs just get lost in the process. 

I don't really think I'm poorly equipped for homeschooling. I already boost my kids' educations with at home learning activities. I just don't want the pressure of juggling four educations on my own again. Liam thrives in school, and virtual/online learning and therapy was a nightmare this past Spring. I quickly learned that he learns best through play and hands on activities, so I jumped ship halfway through virtual schooling, and went my own way with his education. Although no decisions have been finalized yet, I'm prepared to do that again this school year. If you're with me, maybe some of these ideas will help you out in the weeks/months to come!

Snack and Play Edible Rainbow Sensory Bin

As we headed into week two of social distancing, my kids were bored, lonely, and snacking non-stop. I am so thankful that we have books, streaming services, and FaceTime, but this situation that we're facing is scary and uncertain, and it just plain sucks! My older kids can usually find something to do, but my youngest two needed something to capture their attention - enter the "Snack 'n Play" Edible Rainbow Sensory Bin!

Sensory play is a big part of our lives. I believe my kids should be given opportunities to explore, so I'm always coming up with new ideas for them. They love sensory bins, so I always try to create 1-2 new sensory bins each month for them. Now that we're stuck at home, I'm changing them up weekly. We have done edible sensory bins before, but it has been a while. Last week was the PERFECT time to set one up and introduce Coen to edible sensory bin fillers!

Needless to say, it was an instant hit! The kids had fun playing, snacking, scooping, and color sorting. Sensory Bins do not have to be complex. It really can be as simple as throwing in dry cereal and marshmallows, and giving them tools so they can play. Just doing something out of the ordinary can make it extra fun! 

Arctic Sensory Bin for Indoor Winter Sensory Play

This post contains affiliate links. If you click through, and make a purchase, I will earn a commission. Everything I recommend has been tested by me or my family!

The calendar might say it's Winter, but Mother Nature is a bit confused! Our weather has been all over the place lately. Last Monday, it was 65 degrees and sunny, and on Friday, we woke up to 4 inches of snow. Just two days later, all the snow has melted, and it's raining and in the high 40's. No matter the weather, we decided to make the Arctic our theme for this month's sensory bins!

I'm sure you already know this, but we are big fans of sensory play here! So much that we actually have a sensory table in our living room, and allow the kids to engage in messy play. Play is such an important part of early learning, and there are so many benefits of sensory play. I would rather have my kids explore a sensory bin than sit in front of the TV or iPad!

This month, we have been talking about the Arctic and the animals that live there. Even when my kids are in school, I believe in learning within the home as well. In addition to creating an Arctic world for my kids to explore, we read books about Arctic animals (National Geographic Kids has some great options), and there are some fun documentaries on Netflix and Disney+ to help kids learn more about the Arctic!

Ocean Sensory Bin

This post contains affiliate links. If you click through, and make a purchase, I will earn a commission. Everything I recommend has been tested by me or my family!

Everybody seems to love Shark Week! Liam definitely loves sharks, so I put together this easy Ocean Sensory Bin for my littles to enjoy last week. It was a very busy week, so I didn't put as much detail into it as I usually do, but sometimes simple is plenty enough!

Liam happily scooped an poured for hours, and Lily even joined in! Baby Coen is starting to put everything in his mouth, so he had to skip this one. We put him in his UpSeat, sat him beside the bin, and gave him a baby-safe shark to teethe on!

The Ocean Sensory Bin was a big hit, and was so easy to prepare! (Spoiler Alert: I bought a kit on Amazon Prime for this one!) Although I will eventually have to throw away the water beads, we can keep the ocean animals for later use!

Water Beads & Soap Foam Sensory Bin - A Sensory Play Experience for Kids of All Ages

It's the first weekend of Summer, the weather is beautiful, and we're so excited to be outside! The only problem is our hose is temporarily out of commision, so water activities are a no go right now. Cooling down with a Water Beads & Soap Foam Sensory Bin was a fun alternative!

My kids are obsessed with water beads! I don't really blame them. They really are fun to play with. There's a reason they put them in gel masks now! ;) Plus they are super inexpensive, and a little goes a long way!

We are big fans of sensory play, and I'm a proponent of letting kids get messy and learn through play. Play really does matter, and introducing sensory experiences at a young age is really important. Sensory play helps kids learn with all of their senses, AND helps them work on their motor skills! Water Beads are a super cool sensory bin filler, and even babies can play (with supervision). Supercharging it with foam soap makes this bin extra fun!

Glow In The Dark Space Sensory Bin

We currently have a tough decision to make. Initially, we signed Liam up for Extended School Year so he doesn't regress between the end of this school year and the start of the next one. Now we're reconsidering, because we have a busy Summer ahead of us, and we think Liam deserves the chance to just be a kid and enjoy Summer Break. I think his once a week speech therapy session, baseball, lots of outdoor play, and sensory bins might be the path we take this Summer!

Our sensory bins, kids activities, and posts about Down syndrome bring this blog the most traffic, but I stopped sharing all of our ideas due to the busyness of life (more coming on life with five kids soon)! I'm getting back into creating weekly themed sensory bins, and pairing them with books, learning activities, crafts, and an occasional outing. This weekend, our town had a huge Mars New Year celebration and NASA attended, so I focused on a space themed sensory bin for the week!

Like the majority of our sensory bins, this space sensory bin is easy to put together. I reuse a lot of our fillers and just mix and match according to the theme, and everything I use is inexpensive! And this sensory bin is extra fun because it glows in the dark!

Travel Trays for Kids + 10 Mess-Free On The Go Items

*I received the Nuby cups for an honest review.

With five kids, we log in a lot of travel time in the car! Although we only go on a few road trips each year, we spend hours in the car each week driving our kids to school and activities. Like most older kids, Dylan and Lexie are glued to their phone and iPod, but our little ones get bored. Keeping a well stocked travel tray in our SUV helps us avoid hearing the dreaded "I'm bored!!!" while we're driving or waiting during sports and activities!

I've always kept my car stocked with road trip activities and snacks, but I had to pack a separate bag that we could take out of the car when we arrived at our destination. We ended up with so much stuff in our car. Then I won a travel tray from Kenley Kids in a giveaway, and it was truly a game changer! I honestly wish I had taken the plunge, and bought one sooner!

Not only does a travel tray hold all of our on the go essentials, but it also stores easily in the car, opens up into a convenient lap desk for on the go play, and can be carried like a bag to and from the car! It also has elastic pockets and zipper pouches to store cups, snacks, and toys, a convenient protective holder for a tablet, and a removable storage wall. It is the best car seat accessory for kids of all ages, and my young crew loves it!

Hopefully I convinced you to make your life as a parent a bit easier, and buy one (or two or three) for your kids. But what should you put IN the travel tray? Here are 10 Mess-Free On The Go Items for kids...

Egg-cellent Easter Sensory Bin

Liam and Lily love sensory bins! We have a big collection of sensory bin fillers, and I try to rotate through themed bins twice a month. Sensory play is my secret weapon for those inevitable "I'm bored" moments! Our current Sensory Bin encourages egg-cellent Easter sensory play!

Spooky Black Glitter Putty {A Year of Color}

If your kids are anything like mine, they probably love to make slime, putty and play dough! My crew is always adding glue, borax, cornstarch and flour to my grocery list, and sometimes I think it would be best to just buy it in bulk. I try not to complain too much, because at least they love science and experiments! We had yet to do a Halloween craft or activity this year, so the timing was perfect for this month's theme for A Year of Color!

Sensory Play: Jellyfish in a Jar Sensory Bottle

Sensory Play is all the rage these days! Sensory activities are great for children of ALL abilities, but it's a big part of our lives now that we have a child who has special needs. We quickly learned that activities that benefit Liam so much also benefit our other children!

A few years ago, my mom shared this sensory bottle activity with me. I put it off for so long, but finally tackled the project with my kids last Summer. It was so easy to do, and it was an instant hit! I originally shared this sensory activity in my Camp Mom activities posts last Summer, but I knew it was perfect for this month's A Year Of Color theme!

The color of the month is:

Jellyfish in a Jar Sensory Bottle

Supplies:

• Empty Water Bottle with the label removed (I like Voss water bottles)
• Water
• Food Coloring
• Scissors and Thread
• Clear Bread Storage Bags 

Directions:

1.  Fill the empty water bottle with water. 
2. Add a drop of blue food coloring and shake to disperse.
3. Grab the sandwich bag and make a jellyfish head by bunching the closed end together. (It should look like a ghost.) 
4. Tie a thread loosely around the "neck." The hole needs to remain slightly open right now so you can fill it with a little bit of water and air.
5. Make tentacles by trimming the end of the bag with the scissors. You can also trim the bottom a bit so it fits inside the water bottle.
6. Fill the head half full with water, blow in some air and close the hole tightly with the thread.
7. Drop your jellyfish into the water bottle, seal the lid tightly and watch it float around as you flip and turn the bottle.

The end result is really cool! My kids love moving the sensory bottle around and watching the jellyfish float. It truly is a mesmerizing sensory activity!

Visit my co-hosts, Little Dove Blog, Sunshine and Munchkins, and Thrifty Wife Happy Life to see their blue-themed activities!

Join us next month on October 20th for the next A Year Of Color link party! Next month's theme is:

An InLinkz Link-up

DIY $2 Chalkboard Cookie Sheet Travel Activity Tray for Road Trips

In less than 3 weeks, my family will be heading out on a road trip to Virginia Beach! Dylan, Lexie and Lily go back to school one month from today, so it will (sadly) be our grand finale for Summer Break. I'm already preparing for our trip, so I wanted to share one of our favorite road trip ideas with all of you: a DIY Chalkboard Cookie Sheet Travel Activity Tray!

I made these simple travel activity trays for my crew a few years ago, and they were a hit! They stay in our SUV year round. I originally shared the idea on my blog two years ago, but I figured I would expand on the idea, because it was just briefly featured in my simple road trip ideas for kids post. It's still one of my most popular pins on Pinterest, and gets re-pinned daily from my travel board!

DIY $2 CHALKBOARD COOKIE SHEET 

TRAVEL ACTIVITY TRAY

These activity trays are simple and inexpensive to make, are perfect for kids ages 1-10, and can be slid under the seats for easy storage!

SUPPLIES:

• Cookie Sheet ($1 at Walmart or a dollar store)
• Chalkboard Spray Paint (1 can will easily cover 4+ cookie sheets)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Thoroughly spray one side of the cookie sheet with chalkboard spray paint. Dry 3-4 hours.
2. Thoroughly spray the other side of the cookie sheet and dry 3-4 hours. 
3. Repeat on both sides. 
4. DONE!!!

PLAY SUPPLIES:

• 1 box of chalk
• 1 box of crayons
• Travel Soap Box to hold the crayons
• Mini Chalkboard Eraser
• Coloring pages
• Magnetic clip to hold the paper in place (2 pack for $1 at the Target Dollar Spot)
• Cars
• Magnetic letters and numbers
• Storage bag to hold the letters
• Magnets

PLAY IDEAS:

{Letter Matching}

Write the uppercase letters on the travel chalkboard activity tray, and have your child place the matching lowercase magnetic letters onto the uppercase letters. This activity really helped Lily learn to recognize all of her letters, and now I'm doing the same thing with Liam!

{Counting & Number Recognition}

Draw 10 squares on the activity tray then draw counters (large dots) for each number inside each box. Have your child count the number of counters inside each square, then place the correct number on top of the box.

{Simple Chalkboard Play}

Draw a picture, play hangman or play tic tac toe!

{Magnetic Play}

Playing with magnets is fun and mess-free! (We love our Shape Mags for this! They are perfect for Liam!)

{Roads & Tracks}

Grab the chalk, draw a road and some parking spots OR train tracks, then play using toy cars and mini trains!

{Coloring}

Print out some coloring pages, clip a page to the activity tray using a magnetic clip, and color away! We love to store our crayons in travel soap boxes, because the cardboard box always gets crushed and the crayons break easier. (This is a great Back To School tip, too. Add it to your school supply list!)

A small, plastic, suction cup bath caddy suctioned to the window is perfect for holding crayons, markers and other small toys and supplies on road trips!

STORAGE:

When my kids are done playing, I simply place everything into a gallon storage bag, zip it up, clip the bag to the travel activity tray using the magnetic clip, and slide it under the seat!

These simple DIY $2 Chalkboard Cookie Sheet Travel Activity Trays get used several times a week. Not only are they perfect for road trips, but they are great for keeping my kids busy while running errands. I bought some new activity tray supplies for our upcoming family vacation, so they are already organized and ready to go!

What activities would you do with these trays?

You might also like:

The Road Trip Survival Kit Caddy for Kids

TUESDAY TALK

It's time for Tuesday Talk! Grab the button, link back to your hosts and add your blog post link on the widget below!

Beth at Our Pretty Little Girls | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram

Crystal at Hall Around Texas | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram 

Jessica at Sweet Little Ones | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram

Stefanie at Lexie Loo, Lily, Liam, & Dylan Too | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram

Stephanie at Wife Mommy Me | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram

Becky at BYBMG | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram

Lindsay at Lindsay's Sweet World | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram

Sarah at Sarah E. Frazer | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram

Justine at Full Hands, Full Heart

Christina at Waltzing In Beauty | Pinterest | Instagram

Meghan at The Adventure Starts Here | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram

Tina at Go Big or Go Home | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram

                                        Whitney at Polka-Dotty Place | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram

An InLinkz Link-up

The Flower Garden Sensory Bin

Sensory Play has always been a favorite with my kids! I'm a firm believer that childhood should be messy, and that kids should be allowed to explore and learn through different textures. I just prefer that the mess be contained, which is why I love Sensory Bins!

Sensory Play is especially important for Liam. After we received his Down syndrome diagnosis, I began researching, and I discovered that sensory issues can be quite common. I was determined to help him as much as I could, so I introduced sensory play and sensory bins when he was a baby. Thankfully, he's a BIG fan of messy play!

My girls love sensory bins, too. They get a lot of use in our home! I try to come up with at least one new sensory bin and sensory activity each month to keep things interesting, and they usually play with that bin for a few weeks before switching to a different sensory bin filler in our stockpile.

When I was brainstorming ideas for this month's theme (purple) for the Year of Color link party that I co-host, I decided to make a flower garden sensory bin using fake purple flowers that I recently bought. They paired perfectly with the black beans sensory bin filler that is part of our usual sensory bin rotation!

Flower Garden Sensory Bin

This fun sensory bin is very easy to set up, and is perfect for sensory AND pretend play! All the scooping, filling and pouring really helps strengthen Liam's fine and gross motor skills, too!

SUPPLIES:

• Sensory Bin with a lid (An under the bed storage tote works perfectly!) 
• 8-10 lbs of black beans
• Several bunches of fake flowers (I just used purple for the theme, but get creative.)
• Small flower pots
• 2 garden shovels
• 1 garden rake
• Ziploc gallon bags for easy storage

SET UP:

1. Empty the beans into a clean sensory bin.
2. Separate the stems on one bunch of flowers, and cut each stem so they are only about 10-12 inches long.
3. Pull just the flowers off the second bunch (no stems).
4. Toss the flowers, flower pots and gardening tools into the sensory bin.
5. Have fun! 

NOTE: I highly recommend playing with this sensory bin outdoors. Those beans have the tendency to go everywhere! (I learned that lesson!) We also use THIS ROUND PLAY MAT all the time! It's perfect for pretty much everything, especially toys with small pieces. After the kids are done playing, I just have to pull the drawstring, and it turns into a toy storage/travel bag. We take it on vacation every year!

PLAY:

Here are a few ideas to get started:

*Rake the beans with the garden rake.

*Plant the small flowers in the bin.

*Fill the pots with beans and plant the flowers.

*Create different floral arrangements by adding different flowers to the mix.

*Take pictures of their creations.

*Pick up the beans with a shovel and use it to fill all the pots.

*Scoop up the beans with the pots, and pour into other containers.

*Dig into the beans with bare hands for a full sensory experience!

CLEAN UP:

When the kids are done playing, clean up is so easy! I just shake all the beans that landed on the play mat back into the bin, put the flowers in a gallon ziploc bag, and let the kids pour the beans into a few gallon bags. I place everything back into the bin, put on the lid, and store it until the next use!

If your kids love sensory play as much as mine do, this fun sensory bin will keep them busy for a long time. And that, my friends, is a mom win!

All of my kids have played with sensory bins filled with beans before, but they loved The Flower Garden Sensory Bin! It was so much more than just sensory play, so they played for hours. This is definitely and idea that we will be adding to our regular sensory bin rotation!

In case you are wondering, the "A Year of Color" link party with me, Little Dove, Macke Monologues, and Work It Mommy happens on the third Friday of the month. Each month focuses on one color and you can link up any post that revolves around that particular color: Fashion, Recipes, Activities for Kids, Crafts...ANYTHING is welcome! The link will be open for a month, so you can link up any time. We hope you will join us!

Obviously, it's NOT Friday. I'm posting a bit late this month, but with good reason. Lexie and Lily's dance recital was on Saturday, and the week leading up to it was unbelievably chaotic. We lived and breathed dance, and I didn't have time to do anything else. It was well worth it, though. I will be sharing that adventure on my blog tomorrow, and let me just say, it's definitely the start of a new journey!

Plan ahead for next month:

Stop by on Friday, July 21st, to link up your RED posts!

You might also like:

Rubber Ducks Sensory Bins & Sensory Play

Tuesday Talk!!!

It's time for Tuesday Talk! Grab the button, link back to your hosts and add your blog post link on the widget below!

Beth at Our Pretty Little Girls | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram

Crystal at Hall Around Texas | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram 

Jessica at Sweet Little Ones | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram

Stefanie at Lexie Loo, Lily, Liam, & Dylan Too | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram

Stephanie at Wife Mommy Me | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram

Becky at BYBMG | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram

Lindsay at Lindsay's Sweet World | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram

Sarah at Sarah E. Frazer | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram

Justine at Full Hands, Full Heart

Christina at Waltzing In Beauty | Pinterest | Instagram

Meghan at The Adventure Starts Here | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram

Tina at Go Big or Go Home | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram

                                        Whitney at Polka-Dotty Place | Pinterest | Facebook | Instagram

Link up for Tuesday Talk!

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Link up for A Year of Color Purple!

An InLinkz Link-up