Sharla Kostelyk

I Spy Forest Animal Babies Sensory Bottle

Create an opportunity for kids to explore through play with this I Spy Forest Babies sensory bottle. It’s easy and inexpensive to make and can be used at home or in the classroom.

Kids will use their tactile, visual, and proprioceptive sensory systems. They can also practise counting skills, memory, visual recognition skills, and communication.

I Spy Forest Animals Sensory Bottle:

Supplies needed:

- 16.9 oz. bottle (you can use a sensory bottle or Voss type water bottle)
- white rice
- funnel
- forest babies buttons
- optional: hot glue

Directions:

Using a funnel, add a small amount of rice to the bottom of the bottle.
Place a forest baby animal button inside the bottle.
Repeat the above steps until all the animals are placed inside the bottle. By layering the rice and animals, they won’t all be in the same place. We included two foxes, a porcupine/hedgehog (hard to tell what it is!), squirrel, owl, and skunk.
Fill the remainder of the bottle with rice, but leave some space for the rice to move around. You can empty out rice if you feel the rice doesn’t move enough to allow the animals to be seen.
Replace the lid on the bottle.
If you want to secure the bottle, you can secure the lid with a hot glue gun.
Give the sensory bottle to a child to explore.

Kids can move and shake the rice around to find all of the forest babies in the bottle. You can also give them a cheat sheet so they know what they are looking for.

Ways to expand this activity:

Have kids draw the animals as they find them.
Set out books on forest animals.
Watch a movie like Bambi about animals in the forest.

As with all sensory play activities, adult supervision should be used at all times. Even if you have secured the lid with glue, it is still possible to get it open and the bottle contains small parts which are choking hazards.

Are you looking for more easy sensory play ideas to try? Join us for a five day email series on Sensory Activities and Solutions and get a free sample of our Sensory Play Recipes eBook.

Check out some of our other sensory bottles:

Astronaut Sensory Bottle Colour Mixing Sensory Bottle

Alphabet I Spy Sensory Bottle

The Put Away Scavenger Hunt

By Sharla Kostelyk

Moms…you are going to love me after reading this! It’s so easy to do and costs nothing. No planning ahead required. The Put Away Scavenger Hunt is my go-to for turning grumpy days around. We have been doing put away scavenger hunts for at least a decade now and they never seem to get old. I usually just do them on an ordinary day with my own kids to change the mood, but I’ve also done them in place of an Easter Egg Hunt or as a birthday party game. It’s always a big hit.

Our family really enjoys scavenger hunts such as our photo scavenger hunt, sensory scavenger hunt, or Opposite Day scavenger hunt.

The Put Away Scavenger Hunt:

Supplies needed:

random items you already have around the house
a prize. This can be candy, a full Easter basket, party treat bags, or something like staying up an extra hour at bedtime or getting a free pass on chores.

How to play:

To set things up, choose one item you will give your child to start with. In this example, it will be the spatulas. Set this item aside.
In the place where this item should go, place another item that doesn’t belong there. (In this example, a fidget toy was in the drawer where the spatulas should be.)
Continue to do this with items around the house.
In the place where the last item should go, put the prize.
To play, hand your child (or children) the first item to put away.
When they discover something in that location that isn’t where it should be, have them put that away and so forth.
In the last location, they will discover their prize.

To give you an idea of how this works, I’ve taken pictures of a sample Put Away Scavenger Hunt to walk you through.

spatulas handed to child
spatulas get put away in the kitchen drawer
fidget toy where spatulas should be
fidget toy put away in its place
keys where fidget toy should be
key ring put back on its hook
dishcloth where keys should be
dishcloth put in its drawer
decorative “R” shouldn’t be there
in the place where the “R” belongs, an expanding ball sits
expanding ball put where it goes
toilet paper discovered there

toilet paper put back in its cupboard
shoes discovered there
shoes replaced near shoe rack
decorative sailboat sits on the floor
sailboat replaced on dresser
remote control shouldn’t be there
remote placed back in the living room and some treats are discovered in its bowl!

Put Away Scavenger Hunt Tips:

For older kids, place items in a way that has them running all over. I put an item upstairs and the next one downstairs and the next outside and the next on the main floor and then next in the garage. That way, it’s more challenging, lasts longer, and gets in some exercise for them.
If you’re hiding large prizes like treat bags for a birthday party or Easter baskets, the dryer is a great place. Just put dryer balls in the second-last place and when the kids go put them away, they will find their prize. The garage is another area we’ve used to end the game if it was a larger prize.
Add some humour. My kids think it’s hilarious if I put a pair of underwear in like a kitchen drawer or something. Be sure it’s clean underwear of course, but this always makes them roar with laughter!
Toothbrushes, books, kitchen utensils, photo frames, pencils, candles, and oven mitts all work great for this game.
This scavenger hunt is a fantastic teaching tool as it helps kids learn where things belong and how to put things where they go. Think of this as a skills development activity for chores!
Kids can also participate in setting this up for siblings which helps with critical thinking as they plan ahead to which item will go where.
Adult supervision should be used of course and your child’s age and abilities should be considered when you choose what to hide where.

Let me know how your family enjoy this.

If you’re looking for similar activities, you can download our free printable Outdoor Scavenger Hunt. Just enter your email address below.

You may also be interested in:

Outdoor Sensory Scavenger Hunt

Photo Scavenger Hunt

Christmas Movie Bingo

By Sharla Kostelyk

Watching sappy, predictable holiday movies has long been a part of our Christmas traditions. Last year, we discovered that watching is even more fun if paired with Christmas Movie Bingo!My girls and I like to curl up in our pyjamas or our matching Christmas movie watching shirts in front of the TV. Add in some holiday baking or popcorn and hot chocolate and you have the recipe for a relaxing afternoon.

Those Hallmark Christmas movies can be a wee bit addictive! Often, before we know it, the whole day has slipped by.

The reason it’s so much more fun to watch with your bingo cards in hand is it makes the predictability of the movies even funnier.

Hallmark Christmas Movie Bingo:

Supplies needed:

Christmas Movie Bingo Cards (download yours here)
marker, bingo daubers, or holiday stickers to cover the game squares

Directions:

Download and print out the bingo cards.
As you watch holiday movies, mark all the squares that apply.
The winner is either the first person to fill five in a row OR you can just keep watching movies until you’re able to fill in every square on the cards.

So print off those bingo cards, pop some popcorn, get a mug of hot cocoa, and get ready to binge watch this season’s best!

Last year, my girls and I filled out all the squares on our cards.

That’s an awful lot of TV watching (!), but we sometimes made ornaments or iced cookies while we watched. One year, we rolled croquettes during the shows and the cheesy romance films were a great distraction for a tedious task.

If you want to give prizes to the winner, you can choose holiday themed treats like candy canes or holiday baking. And instead of yelling out “Bingo”, you can choose a word more fitting to the theme like “Mistletoe”!

Sign up to receive your free Christmas Movie Bingo and you’ll also receive our email series 5 Secrets to Powerful Family Connection.

If you’re looking for other family holiday fun, you’ll want to check these out:

Christmas Minute to Win It Games

Christmas Printable Activities

Christmas Games for Kids

Stretchy Superhero Slime

By Sharla Kostelyk

This stretchy superhero slime is great for inspiring imagination. It can be used for sensory play or made as a party favour for a superhero themed birthday. One of our daughters is a huge fan of all things superhero. She loves the Marvel and DC movies and comics. She is inspired by the thought of superpowers. We even had a DC themed birthday party for her last year.

So I guess it comes as no surprise that I’m talking about how to make superhero slime.

Superhero Slime Recipe:

Supplies needed:

6 oz. bottle Elmer’s Blue coloured Glue
1/4 to 1/2 cup warm water, as needed
1/4 to 1/2 cup liquid starch, as needed
Superhero confetti

Directions:

Pour the blue glue into a medium-sized bowl.
Use a fork to stir in 1/4 cup of warm water.
Add 3 Tablespoons of liquid starch and stir well for 2 minutes.
Test the slime. Add more water if too stiff, more liquid starch if it’s too sticky.
Continue stirring until the slime forms into a ball, then knead for 2 minutes, adding more water or liquid starch as needed.
Once the slime is stretchy and no longer sticky, knead in the superhero themed confetti.

As kids play with their slime, they engage their visual, tactile, and proprioceptive sensory systems. Getting enough sensory input is important not only for brain development, but for emotional regulation.

Slime can be stored in a resealable bag or airtight container when not being used.

As with any sensory play, adult supervision should be used both while making the slime and while interacting with it afterwards. Hands should be washed thoroughly after playing with this or any other slime.

Ideas for using this slime as a party favour:

Gift this in a sealed sandwich bag decorated with superhero stickers.
Or use special slime gift containers and attach a mini superhero figure to the top of the lid with a hot glue gun.
Set up a station to have the kids participate in making the slime at the party. This is best if the party is for older kids or teens.

Are you looking for other easy sensory play recipes to make at home? Join us for a five day email series on Sensory Activities and Solutions and get a free sample of our Sensory Play Recipes eBook.

Check out some of our other slime recipes:

Camo Slime

Unicorn Fluffy Slime

Textured Butter Slime

Lego Challenge for Kids

By Sharla Kostelyk

Lego offers so many learning opportunities. Playing with building blocks helps kids with math concepts, engineering, communication, as well as simpler things such as colours and shapes. Using Lego Challenge Cards is a great way to encourage this learning.Lego is something that I often incorporated in our homeschooling. Whether is was a tool for teaching how earthquakes work, practising letter recognition, including it in a sensory bottle, or just having the kids build and create with it while I read them their history lessons, it was a regular learning tool. We even occasionally had Lego shaped snacks!

My own kids’ enjoyment and learning thanks to creating with blocks is what led me to want to create this activity for other families to enjoy. These can be used as a boredom buster at home or to enhance skills in the classroom.

Lego Challenge Cards:

Supplies needed:

LEGO Challenge Cards (download here)
scissors
building blocks

Directions:

Download and print off the Lego Challenge Cards.
Cut them out.
Kids can then follow the prompts on the cards to create things using the building blocks.

I kept some of the cards open ended in order to inspire creativity. There are also ideas included to foster team work and communication and to encourage thinking outside the box.

Examples of some of the challenges:

Build a boat that floats.
Build your name in LEGO.
Build something blindfolded.
Build something in one minute.
Build something using 5 different sized LEGO.
Build a LEGO pizza.
Build a small tower and balance it on your head.
Build something by following the instructions of a partner.
Build something with just one hand.

There are a total of 24 challenge cards in this printable set. Each one is designed to keep kids engaged and thinking.

Learning Opportunities from using Lego Challenge Cards:

- following instructions
- reading comprehension
- colours
- shapes
- geometry
- building
- math
- engineering concepts (balance, gravity, weight distribution)
- fine motor
- hand eye coordination
- cooperation and communication (if playing with others)

Sign up to receive the complete set of LEGO Challenge Cards free and be entered in our 5 Secrets to Powerful Connection email series.

Check out some of our other LEGO themed activities:

LEGO Sensory Bottle

Earthquake Science Experiment

LEGO Letter Practise Activity

Opposite Day Ideas

By Sharla Kostelyk

Opposite Day or Backwards Day is a fun theme idea to do with your kids or in your school or classroom. I wanted to share with you ideas of activities, food, and even some hidden learning opportunities for your theme day.The official Opposite Day is January 25, but you can celebrate it just for fun any day you wish. Some people choose April 1st (April Fools Day) to celebrate.

My kids have loved our Backwards Days. In fact, sometimes when they were younger, if everyone was super grouchy, I would just declare it was Backwards Day and the mood immediately shifted.

There are so many silly things you can do. Even small changes like having spaghetti for breakfast and pancakes for supper is something kids find so fun.

Opposite Day Ideas:

Have supper for breakfast and breakfast for supper.
Wear your clothes inside out or backwards.
Wear your shoes on the opposite feet.
Put socks on your hands instead of your feet.
Wear pyjamas during the day and day clothes to bed.
Have an Opposite Day Scavenger Hunt.
Play Opposite Day Bingo.
Speak in opposites (“bad” for “good”, “yes” for “no”, etc.)
Eat dessert first.
Walk backwards.
Do everything with your non-dominant hand so lefties use their right hand and righties use their left hand.
Write your name backwards.
Draw upside down.
Try a role reversal where the teacher gets to be the student for awhile the parent gets to be the child once in awhile.
Sing song backwards.
Say the alphabet from Z to A.
Read a book backwards starting from the back to the front.
Hang pictures or artwork upside down.
Practise some mirror writing.
Call people by their last name first.
Any type of play backwards like backwards skipping, skating, or soccer.
Do an egg and spoon race or three-legged race but walking backwards.
Play backwards limbo (jump over the stick rather than going under).
Take pictures with the subject’s back to the camera.
Make upside down cupcakes with icing on the bottom.
Place an ice cream scoop on a plate and a cone on top of that to create an upside down ice cream cone.
Make sandwiches with the bread or bun on the inside.
Talk about antonyms.
Write a poem using antonyms.
Teach the kids palindromes.
Sleep with your head at the foot of the bed.