My kids are mostly screen-free, so I was extremely excited for Asia Citro’s book, 150+ Screen-Free Activities for Kids: The Very Best and Easiest Playtime Activities from FunAtHomeWithKids.com!
to be delivered. My 8 year old read it from cover to cover, book marking her favorite activities to try. She read her most favorite activities to her 5 year old brother, then they scoured the kitchen cupboards and art cabinets to see which activities we had available to make. Which was everything except the glow-in-the-dark ones according to the kids!
Small World Play and Learning
We started with the Small Worlds: Chapter 5 per my 8 year old’s request. I really like how each activity provided preparation times, appropriate ages, materials, and easy to follow directions. At the beginning of the chapter, there is also a section on playing with small worlds on a budget, which is one of the first blurbs I read! Small = Less Money!
Small World Play
We made our small world in a blue container from this Toy Organizer
. (The directions on how to set up the small world are on page 123-124 in the book if you want to make one too!)
I was a little worried that my 3 kids wouldn’t have enough space to explore in the small bin we chose to make our Frog World in. The kids all crowded around at first, but as the day progressed, the alternated turns at the world. It has now been out for 2 days and has been played with over 2 hours! They are scooping, pretending, and creating stories about pond life.
Small World Learning
We substituted water beads for the gems because that is what we had on hand. And, being that I like to put an educational spin on activities, I took a permanent marker and wrote the numbers 1-10 on our foam fish. These numbers turned out to be a hit for my preschooler who is learning to identify and put his numbers in order. My 2 year old also loved turning the fish upside down and “finding” the numbers by flipping them back over
The kids even surprised me this afternoon, by taking out a tin of frozen water out of the freezer. MOOOOOMMMMM – we can’t just make ONE small world the pleaded. And they made the Penguin World… Which was SUPER cold and SUPER messy. They had a blast (and baths afterwards!)
Kids are exploring a Penguin Small World this weekend, one of the many activities they bookmarked from the book 150+ #ScreenFree Activities for Kids
Next up on their list is Fish World, Dinosaur World, and Fizzing Foaming Car Wash. It is a book that has all 3 of my kids creating and having fun!
Here is a sneak peek:
I highly recommend it for families with children ages 0-7. We didn’t get to the paint section yet, but there are so many taste safe recipes for even the youngest of children!
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