It is easy to get restless and irratable when you are stuck in a car or on a plane for long hours. The way to survive this is to have carefully chosen activities to keep your hands, bodies, and minds busy. The trouble is that there are so many options.

You have to pack things that are small so you can fit more and not be weighted down by a million toys.

You have to consider what your child’s interests are and what keeps them occupied the longest.

You have to come up with new things so they are fresh and exciting…

Is it just me or did some of the fun of trip planning just fly out the window? Hang in there. Help is on its way.

One of my kids is a huge fine motor person. They love puzzles and drawing and tinker toys. When we travel, I pack things that will keep his hands busy.

For the fine motor fans though, this is your list! Pick a few and give them a try on your next road trip or flight.

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Top 10 Fine Motor Ideas for Travel

1. Cross Stitch

We got this adorable book to review and we are IN LOVE. On our trip to Wisconsin earlier this month this kept my fidgety children happy for most of the flight. All you need is the Stichables book, some lightweight yarn, needles, and small scissors (note: needs to be under 4 inches to carry onto plane) for hours of fun!

2. Nesting Materials

There are plenty of variations on this material – the most simple and compact that we have used is a colorful set of curlers that our Minnesota pen pals sent us. I continue to be amazed with how many different ways my kids have used this basic material. We have colorful ones like these.

3. DIY Toddler Buckle Toy

This gorgeous busy bag is from Swoodson Says. This is such a fun way to keep little toddler hands busy and teach them important self-help skills at the same time. Find the directions here.

Also Read: 7 Tips for Surviving Lines at Disney with Little Kids

4. No Sew Button Snake

My kids loved this when they were toddlers. It’s another example of working on fine motor and self help skills. These are super simple to put together too. Twitchetts has great instructions!

5. Wikki Sticks

These things are awesome. These colorful little sticks can be bent and stuck together to form pretty much whatever you can imagine, but then they can also be re-straighted and made into something else. We love these for planes and restaurants. You can find a set here.

6. Map Drawing Activity

Maps and travel go perfectly together and this is such a fun way to get kids interacting with maps. You can learn more at Little Bins for Little Hands but I will be printing off a map for our next Road Trip and making one of these kits for sure!

7. DIY Foam Lacing Cards

My mind was kind of blown when I saw this post on Powerful Mothering. My kids loved lacing cards when they were toddlers and preschoolers but it never crossed my mind to make my own. Check out her brilliantly simple directions and then start investing in foam.

8. LEGO travel kit

If your kid likes to build and play with their hands, then one of these is a must. They make transporting Legos easy and give you a spot to build when you don’t have a table or floor. You can find a few different colors here.

9. Mini-Paper Airplanes Guide

Compact and simple, but a complete how-to guide for paper airplanes. Throw this little book and the short list of supplies into a bag and you have an easy activity to take anywhere. The directions are straightforward enough for a beginner, but there is enough variety to engage a more seasoned paper airplane maker as well. We enjoyed that they include a rating for each airplane’s speed, airtime, distance, acrobatics, and uniqueness. It was fun to test them all and see how they compared for us. Obviously your child can’t use this on a plane or in the car, but it is great for stops. We had our kids make a plane or two right before a stop and then when we had space to run they could test them out. This encouraged running around which was a great way to let off some steam. FIND ONLINE

Also Read: QUALITY, ENGAGING, AND CREATIVE ACTIVITY BOOKS TO BRING ON FAMILY TRIPS

10. Paint with Water

For anyone nervous about handing their kids markers or crayons on a plane or in the car, this is a fun alternative. My kids love, love, loved these ones from Melissa and Doug when they were toddlers.

Subscribe & Don’t Miss Any Family Travel Tips

Tucked into the lower level of the Casa de Balboa Building on the Prado in Balboa Park is the San Diego Model Railroad Museum. Don’t let the basement entrance fool you, at 27,000 sq. ft., it is the largest such indoor model train exhibit in North America, and one of the largest in the world.

Trains have been an interest in our house for a long time. My son fell in love with Thomas the Tank engine when he was about two and from there he dove into all things trains. By 3 he could tell you not just the name and type of every engine on the island of Sodor, but also everything from how a diesel engine worked to how fast a bullet train could fly down it’s rails. Whether you have a Thomas the Tank engine fan or a grandparent with a lifelong love of model trains or someone somewhere in between, the San Diego Model Railroad Museum has something for everyone.

Also Read: In Depth Look at Balboa Park for Families

San Diego Model Railroad Museum

If you have a train fan in your family, the San Diego Model Railroad Museum is not to be missed. It is wonderful for all ages – from toddlers all the way through grandparents. All train enthusiasts are welcome.

Basic Information:

San Diego Model Railroad Museum
1649 El Prado
San Diego, CA 92101

Check the website for current hours and pricing. Right now (Summer 2021) they are only open Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays 11am – 4pm. Note: there is a military discount and the SD Model Railroad Museum is included if you have the Balboa Explorer Pass.

Website: https://www.sdmrm.org/

Tips for Visiting with Kids

• Come early. Like all things, it is less crowded the earlier you go. There was a small line when we arrived shortly before opening but once inside, even on a summer day, it didn’t feel overly crowded.
• If you have kids over about 7 years old, I highly recommend the scavenger hunt. You can pick it up just inside the entrance, after you’ve paid. There is a little stand in front of the end of the first exhibit when printed scavenger hunts. It helped my kids slow down and really look at all the incredibly detailed miniature worlds.
• Bathrooms are located outside the entrance, down the hall from the Model Railroad Museum. I had my kids try before we entered.
• If you’re there with smaller kids who don’t have the attention span to check out every single inch of the museum, make sure you don’t miss the outside area with the tram and the toy train room. Both are at the back of the museum.
• In the toy train room Thomas runs around the bottom of one of the exhibits. He’s the perfect height for tots and there’s a button you can take turns pushing to make him go.
• The whole museum is very kid friendly with interactive elements and steps for kids to get up higher for a better view.

Trains of all sizes. Fantastic details in the scenes around them. Interactive elements. Enthusiastic employees and volunteers. It is a really fun place to visit.

Terrific Train Ideas for Kids Who Love Trains

When my son was a preschooler he could not get enough of trains. We read all the train books. We rode all the nearby trains. He toddled around in his Thomas the Tank Engine boots and train engineer hat everywhere we went. If you have a kid in this phase, then a visit to the San Diego Model Railroad Museum is perfect, but what about when you get home? Here are some of our favorite ways to extend train play and learning after a fun field trip like visiting SDMRM.

Ideas from San Diego Model Railroad Museum

1. The San Diego Model Railroad Museum has a special page on their website for kids. It has storytime videos you can watch, coloring pages to print and more.
2. Thomas Fans! There is also a Thomas Page on their website that allows you to explore the Island of Sodor and More.

Literacy Activities

3. Read books about trains. This Ultimate List of Picture Books about Trains from My Storytime Corner is a great place to start.

4. Alphabet Train from Teach Beside Me

5. Freight Train Name Craft from Clare’s Little Tots

6. DIY Foam Train for Easy Bathtime Fun and Learning from Bambini Travel (also works with numbers!)

Math Activities

7. Train Carriage Counting Game from Rainy Day Mum

8. Transportation I Spy and Graph Printable from School Time Snippets

9. Chocolate Train Cookies from Inspiration Laboratories

10. Geometric Shapes Train from Mama Smiles

11. Train Track Card Game for Preschoolers from Preschool Powol Packets

Science, Technology and Engineering Activities

12. Transportation Playdough Mat from The Moments at Home

13. Transportation Sand and Water Play from My Bored Toddler

14. Fingerprint Train Ornament for Kids from The Educators’ Spin On It

Art & Fine Motor Activities

15. Freight Train Drawing Prompts from My Storytime Corner

16. Painting with Trains on Canvas by Play Trains

17. Build a Train from School Time Snippets

18. Train-Themed Unwrapping by Craftulate

19. Transportation Connect the Dots by Craftulate

Movement Activities

20. Easy DIY Paper Train Table for Kids from Toddler Approved

21. Polar Express Storytime with Yoga Routine from My Storytime Corner

You May Also Like:
50+ Kid Friendly Things to do in San Diego

We’ve jumped waves and played tag. We’ve built a sand castle or at least a mound that looks like a castle. At least one of us has been buried in the sand or made to look like a mermaid. What now?

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If you’re going to the beach every day for a week, or you live close to a beach and can go all the time like we’re fortunate enough to do in San Diego right now, having some other out of the box items that rotate into your beach bag can help extend days at the beach with your kids.

8 Things to Pack in Your Beach Bag

Obviously we have buckets and shovels. I also have a fairly obnoxious collection of sand castle building molds. But those get old – what else can you do at the beach?

These are the other more unusual things I rotate in our beach bag:

1. Plastic Animals (think building zoos, burying, pretending) We have these ones – the jumbo size makes them harder to lose.
2. Barbies (build barbie a castle, bury her instead of mom, all manner of pretend) I’m not a huge Barbie fan, but they are water proof. I leave the clothes at home so I don’t have to worry about those getting lost but you could go theme and bring Lifeguard Barbie or Beach Ken.
3. Construction Goggles (these put my kids in the building frame of mind. My kids picked these from our construction costume one day to go in the beach bag and they worked great. I imagine a plastic firefighter hat or other similar thing would spark creative play as well.)
4. Plastic Trucks and Boats (dig ditches to make roads and rivers!) This set of vehicles has made many trips to the beach with us, but anything plastic would work.
5. Kites and Streamers (so much fun on a windy day especially when the beach isn’t too crowded!) Kites, like these, are great but it does have to be fairly windy for kids to not get too frustrated. Streamers are fun even with moderate wind.
6. Funnels and Tubing (you need a bucket or two to make this work but my kids find this kind of STEM experimenting endlessly interesting) You can get these at the hardware store or order them online. You don’t need anything fancy – the wider the better though and make sure the tubes and funnels fit together.
7. Plastic Cooking Toys (more imaginative play. tea parties, picnics, making pretend food from shells and sticks…) I only bring the cooking dishes and maybe a couple of plates – not the food.
8. Water Spray Bottles (fun extra dimension to building sand castles but also just fun to spray. My kids like water play of any kind) You can get different sizes – if your kids’ hands are big enough I like the slightly bigger ones.

The key, I think, is to only bring one or two of these things at a time. If you bring a massive bag with all of it every single time you go to the beach you will a) break your back and b) it’s kind of like a toy chest.

Too many toys at one time will always be overwhelming and result in crazy kids, a huge mess, and a frustrated mom.

I typically bring some of our sand castle toys (a few molds, two buckets, two shovels) and then one or two of the things listed above.

Read Also: 15 Learning Activities for the Beach

It’s amazing what kids can come up with if you give them a few different materials and a big open, natural space to play.

On this particular sunny afternoon (photo above) my twins found zoo animals at the bottom of our beach bag. Bucket caves, stick zoo enclosures, and shovel slides were created and a lion and giraffe became unlikely friends. I even had some blissful moments to enjoy the view and my book.

Read About My Non-Beach Adventure Supplies

It is impossible to not smile while I watch my kids scamper in the waves. The sun warms my shoulders as I sit back in the sand. They run towards the waves and then away when a big one comes crashing into the shore. They roar with laughter and then run towards the water again.

This endless game is excellent physical activity and some pretty awesome sensory input, but is it more than that?

Are they actually learning anything at the beach or are they falling behind their peers bending over worksheets and IPad learning games?

If I learned anything from being at home with my kids it is that anywhere can be a classroom. A classroom, the actual physical room, is not needed. It serves a purpose to help organize large groups of kids, but it is not a key ingredient in learning.

Learning? Learning can happen anywhere. Even at the beach.

read also: 20+ Ocean Unit Ideas for K and First grade

What do you need to make the beach your classroom?

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Materials for Your Classroom

What to Bring Each Beach Trip

*Beach Blanket (this one is awesome!)

*Sand Buckets

*Sand Shovels

*Water + Snacks

*Sunscreen

Materials to Rotate

*Sand molds

*Kites

*Water spray bottles

*Plastic People or Animals

*Plastic Vehicles

also read:
8 Things to Pack in Your Beach Bag to Spark Creative Play

 Activity Ideas for Your Classroom

Literacy

• Beach Scavenger Hunt from Natural Beach Living
• Journal Writing: Journal about what you see or experience with your other senses at the beach. Doodle or write stories.

Math

• Sorting Seashells from Playground Parkbench
• Make Patterns with seashells

Science

• Beach Learning Activities from Little Bins for Little Hands
• Create a Ocean Nature Table back at home from Natural Beach Living
• 5 Ways to Explore Science at the Beach from KCEdventures
• Collect Shells, Rocks, Bugs and Look Closely
• Ocean Animal Unit from Bambini Travel

Creativity

• Make a Beach Collage from Crafty Kids at Home
• Create a Sand Castle or a Different Sand Structure
• Draw Pictures or Create Stories

Motor

• 15 Things to do with Kids at the Beach from Frog Mom
• Fly a Kite

But this is just a start. Some ideas to get the wheels turning. The real ideas will come from your kids.

What interests them?

What do they notice?

What questions do they ask?

And how can you take that further?

These are the questions that will create a classroom of curious, engaged learners – even at the beach.

Crisp white chalk lining green, the smell of freshly cut grass and the sound of cleats thunking a leather ball…aside from my beach the soccer field is probably my happiest place and I am hoping to pass that love along to my kids.

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Luckily we recently got a early sneak peek at the new movie ALEX AND ME and it has my kids extra pumped to kick around the soccer ball.

We have a weekly family movie night and this week ALEX AND ME was our movie. This new movie stars real life soccer star Alex Morgan as she coaches a tween who wants to make the local soccer team. It is probably as cheesy as you would expect, but we all really liked it.

The story is full of funny moments, inspiring themes, and lots of girls playing quality soccer. It is a predictable plot, like most family-sports-comedy movies, but enjoyable nonetheless. For kids who love movies about sports and soccer in particular or who adore Alex Morgan – this is a sure win.

In a former, non-CF, non-one-lung-short, non-mama life, I played a lot of soccer. Saturdays in that life meant waking up early and stepping out onto a soccer field. They meant shin guards and striped socks and worn cleats. They meant sweat and speed and tackles and I loved it.

In another life, I also coached.

I coached the littlest guys. Three year olds to about age 7 (the 7 year olds catch on a lot more quickly, if you’re curious) and I loved that too.

I’ve always loved sharing things that bring me joy with others, especially little guys who soak up new information like eager sponges.

ALEX AND ME reinvigorated the soccer bug in our house. My kids were outside the next day eagerly kicking the ball around and channeling their inner Alex Morgan. I’m excited to encourage their interest. If this is you too, you’re probably wondering where to start.

Obviously you could sign them up for a league, but if you just want to have a little fun first and explore the sport – you can start at the park or your backyard.

So, how do you teach a little kid to play soccer? 

What Will You Need?

One of the great things about soccer is that it doesn’t require much. Truthfully, you could start with just a ball and some green space. People all around the world learn this sport with just a ball and a little open space.

To really have some fun with games and get a better idea of the sport, I recommend:

1. Soccer Ball. Make sure you have the appropriate size for your child’s age.

2. Space. A park, the backyard, a nearby soccer field if you can find one. In a pinch, an indoor gym works too but the ball will roll much more quickly than it would on grass.

3. Shinguards and Cleats. If your child signs up for a youth league, these are a must. Shinguard protect those bones on the front of your legs from the inevitable kicking that will occur and cleats keep you from sliding around on the grass. Note: soccer socks are worn on the outside of shinguards (not underneath) to hold the shinguard in place. Simply fold over any additional length.

4. Cones. You can get by with using other things to mark the corners or designate areas for different games, but cones are easy and inexpensive.

5. Pop Up Goal. This is optional as well but I will say that the younger the kids the more difficulty they have with the abstract idea of cones representing a goal. These little pop up goals are portable and more reasonably priced. 2 is best, but even just one to practice shooting is great.

Teaching the 3 Basics of Soccer

There are three basic skills in soccer. Dribbling, passing and shooting which could all be summarized as ball control.

The stronger your control of the ball, the better you will be at all three. This is why you see people of all ages doing impressive juggling tricks with the ball.

It’s certainly fun, but it also increases their ability to control the soccer ball. This fun balloon game from The Inspired Treehouse uses the basic ideas of juggling a soccer ball with a balloon to give a child more response time.

In a game however, the three main things you will do are dribble, pass, and shoot. These are all done with your feet because, aside from the goalie and throw ins, players are not allowed to touch the ball with their hands in soccer.

1. Dribbling

Dribbling is the act of moving the ball down the field with your feet. There are a lot of fancy dribbling moves that you can eventually learn, but first you want to get used to moving the ball with your body.

There are two main kinds of dribbling:

1. Close and Quick

This type of dribbling is used in games when you are moving the ball in an area near other players.

Before you start learning fancy moves, start by getting used to moving the ball with different parts of your foot. Roll it with the bottom of your foot. Tap it to one side and the other with the insides and outsides of your feet. Keep your knees bent and your body balanced.

One way to practice this is to dribble through an obstacle course. Set up some cones or toys to dribble around. Pretend the cones are defenders and you don’t want them to touch the ball but you want to go as quickly as you can.

Games such as Sharks and Minnows are also popular for practicing this type of dribbling.

2. Long and Fast

This type of dribbling is used when there are wide open spaces. If you are sprinting down the field with the ball and there is no one else near, you can kick it out further in front of you to move faster. Typically the laces of your cleat are used to kick the ball because they naturally fall in front of your body as you run and the toe of your shoe is far less accurate.

One way to practice this is to simple have races to different places. Race to cones, around a tree, or to a person and give them a high five. Be creative. The point is to work on kicking the ball ahead of you a ways and running after it to move quickly to a destination.

Games such as Red Light, Green Light also work on this skill.

2. Passing

Passing is using your feet to kick the ball to another person on your team.

Start by learning to pass the ball with the inside of your foot. It is common to see a lot of kids kicking the ball with the toe of their shoe when they are first learning. This feels more natural in some ways, but encourage your child to practice with the inside of their foot. In order to complete a pass you should:

*bend your knees for balance
*place your non-kicking foot next to the ball and pointed towards your teammate
*turn your kicking foot sideways so the big flat inner part of your cleat hits the ball
*swing your leg forward and kick the ball
*follow through with your leg towards your target

If you’re wondering why, the answer is simply that the inside of your foot is larger and therefore far more accurate and easier to control than your toe.

These ideas from The Inspired Treehouse tackle the idea of kicking with some basic drills. Often people simply practice passing through repetition with a partner. One of our favorite ways to practice is setting up some bottles, tall cones or bowling pins like you would in a bowling alley and bowl with the soccer ball – using the inside of your foot to kick the ball and knock down the pins.

3. Shooting

Shooting is quite similar to passing, the difference being that you are trying to avoid a person instead of give the ball to one.

Given that it is essential to get the soccer ball into the goal to win a game or score a point, this is an important skill to learn. The best way I had shooting explained to me was that you are passing the ball to the goal, but there is a defender in the way.

I think often we overthink shooting and goal scoring because we feel more pressure than when completely a pass, but the technique is quite similar.

Once again you will align one foot by the ball pointing to the target, you will use the other foot to kick the ball forward and follow through towards the goal. The difference in technique is that you want to put some additional power behind a shot that would be unhelpful to your teammate when completing a pass.

Shots are typical performed with either the inside of your foot, like described above, or with the laces of your cleat. The toe is still not a good choice.

Practice shooting by kicking the ball into the goal from different angles. Maybe set up cones in a few different places. Farther away. Closer. To the right. To the left.

You can practice on a big goal or a tiny pop up goal like they did on Play Learn Everyday. Either way make sure to celebrate a little after you score!

Then put it all together.

No skill is performed in isolation during a game, so make sure to work on putting them all together once you have learned the basics.

Dribble quickly to a goal and shoot. Pass back and forth between players until you get to a goal. Put a defender in the way that you have to dribble around to shoot on a goal.

Soccer is a fun sport. It encourages running and teamwork and creativity.

What more could you want? So, grab a soccer ball, find a spot of green and have fun!

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My preschoolers loved counting. Any excuse was a good one.

Help me count out spoons for everyone? Yes!

We can only check out 20 library books. Can you help me check how many we have? Yes!

Want to go for a counting walk adventure? YES!

If you kids are at this point, then these easy activities are for you. I am a huge fan of keeping things simple, so these are number activities that you can do with no prep.

When you get back from your counting walk or when you find yourself with some spare time to fill and an eager number counter – sit down and do one of these activities to encourage number recognition, counting with one-to-one correspondence and more preschool number skills.

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5 Preschool Number Activities

Many of them used our Counting Bears which are a wonderful hands-on math materials for Preschool and Early Elementary (You can find them HERE).

Here are five fantastically simple number activities:

1. Counting Bears: Sort and Count

To play you need some Counting Bears (see above) and a table.

Pour the counting bears on the table and have your child sort them by color. For more than one child you can divide the bears into groups or have the children work together.

When they are done sorting, ask “Which color of bears has the biggest group and which is the smallest?” Have them guess and then count to confirm.

2. Counting Bear Pattern Challenges

My twins thought this is fabulous fun. We have been working on patterns for a while and this is a fun way to practice.

Divide the bears somewhat equally between the people playing.

Have each person create the beginning to a pattern. We call this “creating a pattern challenge.”

When everyone is done with their pattern, have them rotate to the next person and try to continue their pattern.

To add some number work into your patterns, give limitations to your patterns such as; patterns much contain 2 green bears or must be 3 bears long.

3. Rainbow Scavenger Hunt + Count

To play, start with a clear table or large space on the floor. You will be creating a rainbow with your toys and other materials.

One color at a time, have everyone hunt around the house, playroom, or classroom for items that match that color. For example, first you will send everyone to find things that are red.

When they come back, arrange them in a line or arch and then move onto the next color.

To keep the colors somewhat even, you may want to count how many things you find as you go. Otherwise, similar to the sort and count activity above, when you are done hypothesize about which color has the largest and smallest group and then count to determine.

You May Also Like: Finding Round Nature Hunt for Toddlers and Preschoolers

4. Number Book

Read a book with Numbers. This list of Counting Books is a great start. We read Have You Seen My Dragon by Steve Light.

As you go, have your child represent the numbers mentioned with their Counting Bears. This helps them start to tie the number to the numeral on the page.

5. Dancing Bear Pairs

My daughter essentially invented this game. She likes to pretend with the Counting Bears while we do activities with them and she was pretending a couple were dancing when it dawned on me this was the perfect way to introduce odd and even numbers.

To play Dancing Bear Pairs all you need are Counting Bears. If you wish, some number cards can also be used to continue working on Number Recognition.

To play, explain: that your bears are going to a dancing party and they all need a partner. Unfortunately, one of the bears at the Odd Party won’t have a partner, but if they are at an Even Party everyone will.

Let’s see what kind of party the Number 4 is. Have your preschooler find four bears, pair them off and then declare it must be an Even Party.

Continue with different numbers, both odd and even.

read also: playful preschool math activities

Ah Green. The color of grass and grapes and a whole host of things that don’t start with the letter G…but apparently that is what I have on the mind.

Working our way through the rainbow of colors, we are now on Green!

Below are some fun ideas for playtime, snack, and more. I also threw in some extra ways to practice numbers because that some how became the focus of our green colored day.

affiliate links are included below.

Books About the Color Green

Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
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This is a beautiful book full of different shades of green. The sparse words are perfect for young children, but the themes appeal to a much great range of ages. 2+

Little Green Peas: A BIG book of COLORS by Keith Baker
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From the author of LMNO Peas comes a darling book about colors. Bright colorful illustrations, repetitive text, and those adorable, playful peas.

Little Blue and Little Yellow by Leo Lionni
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Blue and Yellow are the best of friends. They play happily together until one day they get stuck together and neither family recognizes their new joint green personality.

Have You Seen My Dragon? by Steve Light
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This is one of our alltime favorites. The black and white illustrations are splashed with one bright color per page and the details encourage you to look closely. I’ve raved about it before, but for Green day is played a large role in our counting activities.

Green Themed Activities

Wear Green

Part of the fun of a color week is finding an item of clothing or two to wear for the day. We decked out in Green and then snapped some selfies before we headed out for the morning. (Cognitive)

Green Body Paint

Painting with the color of the day is a wonderful way to truly explore it. For green we did this with our whole bodies!

Green Grape Kabobs

Our snack for Green day was Green Grape Kabobs. You will need, bamboo skewers and green grapes. We froze ours in the morning by placing them in a tupperware in the freezer. At snack time we pulled them out and then threaded them onto our skewers. Consider adding some Purple Grapes and making patterns on your skewers for some extra Math fun. (Fine Motor)

Missed the Start? Begin with Rad Red Day.

My kids still sleep with a mound of stuffed animals around them. When I peek in on them before I go to bed I find they both stretched out on their backs dozing peacefully. Tucked under their arms and all around them are monkeys and giraffes and bears and bunnies with well worn ears and noses. An entire zoo right there in their bed.

Animals have been a huge part of their childhood so far. Most little kids seem fascinated by the world of animals.

also read: 20+ Unit Ideas for Kids Who Love Animals

We read endless imagination filled books about zoo animals and we tromp around the zoo in search of animals.

Since this is an interest that seems to follow children through childhood below are zoo animal ideas for every age baby through early elementary school.

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Zoo Animal Learning Activities by Age

Scroll down for zoo animal activities that are perfect for babies, toddlers, preschoolers and school aged kids!

For Babies: Zoo Animal Peekaboo

How to Make a Zoo Peekaboo Game

Materials:

• Laundry Basket / Table Top / Empty Wall
• Animal Picture Pairs (Make your own or order these – note the ones linked are not identical to the ones I used when they were babies. I wish I had saved them but hindsight…the ones linked are instead the ones I made and have used since they were toddlers.)
• Contact Paper
• Tape

How to Make:

Select a surface at your child’s height to place the game. I did mine on the bottom of a flipped over laundry basket, but a short table, shelf, or low wall space would work well.

1. Tape the full animal pictures onto the surface and cover in contact paper.
2. Laminate the closer animal pictures.
3. Tape one end of each closer animal picture on top of the matching pair.

That’s it! So easy, right?

Even better, this activity help develop the following skills:

• Interesting reason to practice standing.
• Fine motor practice as they work on lifting the flaps
• Practice with cognitive and language skills as they recognize, name, and even make the noise of the animal they find.

Extension Ideas:

Make another version with something else that interests your child. Some ideas include;

• Family members
• Household items
• Vehicles

4 More Zoo Animal Ideas for Babies

1. Make a Song Cube like this one with Animal Pictures
2. Read some awesome Zoo Animal Picture Books
3. Sensory Zoo Activity: Exploring Animal Textures
4. How to make a Sock Monkey (Craft for Mama, but what baby wouldn’t love playing with this?)

For Toddlers: Zoo Animal Photo Cards

Toddlers are OBSESSED with learning new words. “What’s that?” or just “That?” was one of the most common phrases in our house at this age. This is the age for books of real images that they can look to and point at all day – and also for photo cards.

More ideas for matching games and other extensions are below but start with just the cards.

Materials:

• Zoo Animal Printable Photo Cards (use your photos or get these)
• Contact Paper

How to Make:

Use contact paper to cover the photos and make them more durable with all the inevitable drooling, mouthing, bending and general love that toddlers give all things

THEN place these cards in a basket or on a low table for your child to discover. When they do, let them explore. If they look to you or ask what something is, use simple words to talk to them about the cards. “You are looking at a giraffe” or “What do you see?”

This activity help develop the following skills:

• new vocabulary
• finger isolation when they point which helps later fine motor skills
• social skills as they engage you in talking about the pictures

Extension Ideas:

• Tell a story using your photo cards. Put them in a pile face down and flip over one at a time. “Once upon a time there was a lion and he went for a walk and ran into…flip over another card” It doesn’t really matter what your story is about. Keep it simple and just have fun.
• Matching game. Use the close up and far away cards to match. Make it hard and play as a memory card game.
• Match the card to a toy version of the animals. This picture to object matching is an important pre-literacy skill
• Make a book or photo cards of a trip you take to a farm, the store, anywhere that interests them.

8 More Zoo Animal Ideas for Toddlers

1. Learn this Hey Elephant Song (with printable visuals)
2. Sensory Zoo Activity: Exploring Animal Textures
3. Read some awesome Zoo Animal Picture Books
4. Dear Zoo Story Spoons
5. Zoo Animals Small World Play
6. Easy Zebra Slime
7. Animal Charades with Printable
8. Paper Plate Bear Craft

For Preschoolers: Zoo Animal Tracing

Drawing and tracing lines is a pre-literacy skill that works on building the fine motor skills needed to write letters and words. Bonus – kids seem to find dry erase markers fascinating and fun.

Materials:

• Zoo Animal Printable Photo Cards (use your photos or get these)
• Contact Paper
• Washable Dry Erase Markers
• Wash cloth or paper towel

How to Make:

Simply cover the zoo animal photos with contact paper.

Put the cards with the dry erase markers and wash cloth on a low table.

When your child is interested, invite them to use the dry erase marker to trace the animal.

Note: depending on the age of your preschooler “tracing” may look less like tracing and more like coloring on the animal. Go with it. 

Demonstrate tracing the edges of an animal of your own and then show them how to erase the marker with their wash cloth.

This activity help develop the following skills:

• Fine Motor grip
• Hand-eye coordination

Extension Ideas:

• Add more details to the animal picture. Can they draw some food for the animal? What does the animal play with?
• Play hide and seek with the animal cards. Hide the full photos around the room and give your preschoolers the zoomed in photos as clues / visual reminders of what to look for.

12 More Zoo Animal Ideas for Preschoolers

1. Host a Safari Themed Playdate
2. Animal Fashion Show
3. Bears Picture Books + Big and Small Animals Sort
4. Learn about Polar Bears with this awesome booklist
5. Zoo Animals Theme with Sensory Play and Printables
6. Zoo Animal Counting Mats
7. Zoo Animal Books for Children and even more Zoo Animal Picture Books
8. Zoo Centers and Activities
9. Edible Zoo Animals Sensory Bin
10. Zoo Themed Counting Clip Cards 1-10
11. Dear Zoo Story Stones

Note: Many of the toddler and school age activities above and below may also work well for your child!

For K & First Grade: Writing with Zoo Animal Cards

I love finding ways to make writing more meaningful for my kids and we did this as part of their animal study.

They each had an animal that they love and wanted to learn more about. We took cameras to the Zoo. They took pictures and I took pictures of their favorite animals. We also talked about some of the things we observed their favorite animals doing.

Back at home I set this up as a writing invitation using our photo cards and also included a photo they had taken at the zoo of their favorite animal.

Materials:

• Zoo Animal Printable Photo Cards (use your photos or get these)
• Contact Paper
• Paper
• Pencils and coloring tools

How to Make:

Laminate the cards and place on the table with the other materials.

THEN after your child has had some time to look at the cards and talk about them, as them to write about one or more of the animals.

Depending on your goals this activity will vary.

Kindergarteners might just draw a picture of the animal and work on using their best handwriting to label it with the animal’s name.

For slightly older elementary schoolers: If you are working on non-fiction, have them write a fact about the animal. If you’re working on just writing, have them write a story about the animal.

For my first graders doing an animal study, I asked them to write something they had learned and a question they still had. We used this question to go forward with their study.

This activity help develop the following skills:

• Communicating using words and pictures.
• Understanding the difference between fiction and non-fiction.
• Adding details, capitalization and punctuation to their writing.

Extension Ideas:

• Work on story telling. Give each child a card – or you take half and your child takes half – and go around the circle adding to a story using your photo as a prompt.
• Draw or build a habitat for your chosen animal. Where do they live? What do they eat? What do they need to survive?

8 More Zoo Animal Activities for School Aged Kids

1. Join Suzi’s FREE Wild Animal Passport Club for Kids
2. Make Chocolate Strawberry Zebras for Snack
3. Elephant Craft with Newspaper
4. Going to the Zoo Interactive Book for Emergent Readers
5. Jungle Animals Playset from Toilet Paper Rolls
6. Complete the Animals Kids Craft Activity
7. A-Z Animal Hunt
8. Zoo Scavenger Hunt
9. Zookeeper Training Unit Pack

Note: Many of the preschool activities above may also work for your child!

Get Zoo Animals Photo Cards

Z is for…

Looking for more ideas? Here are some more Z ideas from the A-Z Play at Home series.

• • Zoom Car Play Box from Teach Me Mommy
  • Dear Zoo Story Stones from The Gingerbread House
  • Zoo Animal Picture Books from My Storytime Corner

We’re nearing the end of a fantastic month of alphabet fun with the 31 Days of ABC! All this month activities, crafts, books, apps, and more, all dedicated to teaching young children the alphabet have been shared.

Find more great resources in our series from past years: 31 Days of ABCs 2013, 2014, and 2016!

Don’t forget to follow our 31 Days of ABCs Pinterest board for even more great ABC ideas!

31 Days of ABC

Teaching the ABCs – October 1

A – October 2

B – October 3

C – October 4

D – October 5

E – October 6

F – October 7

G – October 8

H – October 9

I – October 10

J – October 11

K – October 12

L – October 13

M – October 14

N – October 15

O – October 16

P – October 17

Q – October 18

R – October 19

S – October 20

T – October 21

U – October 22

V – October 23

W – October 24

X – October 25

Y – October 26

Z – October 27

123’s – October 28

Prewriting – October 29

Books, Songs, & Apps – October 30

Printables – October 31

We celebrated Yellow Day with books, smoothies, and lots of yellow. Below are our books, snacks, and activities for a Preschool day full of yellow.

affiliate links are included below

Celebrate Preschool Yellow Day!

3 Picture Books to Read About Yellow

Yellow Ball by Molly Bang
Order Online

A little yellow ball gets left at the seashore and goes on an incredible adventure. We loved the illustrations in this one.

Yellow Square by David A. Carter
Order Online

This is an incredicble pop-up book. It is a beautiful feat of paper design that will amaze you.

The Little Yellow Chicken by Joy Cowley
Order Online

A twist on the tale of the little red hen. In this tale, the yellow chick is throwing a party but none of his friends are inclined to help.

7 Yellow Themed Activities & Snack Ideas

1. Wear Yellow

Part of the fun of a color week is finding an item of clothing or two to wear for the day. We decked out in Yellow and then snapped some selfies before we headed out for the morning. (Cognitive)

2. Lemonade Sensory Bin

Gather: A sensory bin, a towel, water, ice cubes, lemons, small bowls, wooden spoons.

Set Up: Slice the lemons into slices (not wedges) and let them float in the water.

Activity: This is a sensory bin that engages all of the senses, at least in our case. There was an abundance of ice cube and lemon eating. If you aren’t okay with this, make sure you are clear with your expectations. My preschoolers also poured and scooped, put things and out of the bowls, stirred, and generally enjoyed pretending to cook.

3. Yellow Art Invitation

Create a basket of Yellow art materials. Place this on your art table with some blank paper as an invitation to create. (Fine Motor + Creativity)

My basket included;

• yellow markers
• yellow colored pencils
• yellow crayons
• yellow stampers
• yellow gummed art tape
• yellow tissue paper.

4. Yellow Smoothie

Cooking with kids is a great opportunity to develop self help skills. In this case it was also a science lesson in color mixing. We discovered that orange + white = yellow. (Self Help + Fine Motor)

Ingredients:
1 Frozen Banana
1/2 Cup Frozen Mango
2 Oranges – Juiced
1 Cup Soy Milk
2 TBSP Peanut Butter

(Makes one serving)

Directions:
Put the banana, mango, orange juice, soy milk and peanut butter in the blender. Blend until creamy. We have this FANTASTIC blender that makes creating smoothies super simple. The ingredients are poured in, blended with a push of a button, and then poured in a cup. We make an assembly line of sorts and quickly create a simple breakfast. If you are using a large blender, simple add the above ingredients x the number of people. If the smoothie is too thick, simply add more orange juice and soy milk in equal parts.

5. Yellow Shake Snack 

This is another fun snack idea and super quick as well, but involves a bit more fine motor development.

Materials:

Yellow Fruits (we used pineapples and bananas, but there are a variety of options)
Mixing Bowl
Cutting Board
Sharp Knife (for adult use)
Butter Knife or Child Sized Knife (for child to use)
Mixing Spoon
Bowls or Plates to serve the snack

Set Up:
Back at home, prepare your area and wash you hands. For us this meant our kids ran to the bathroom to wash their hands, I quickly washed mine in the kitchen, and then laid out a cutting board and knives.

Activity:
After cutting a slit across the bananas near the tip, our children worked on peeling the bananas and putting the peels in the trash.

Meanwhile, I sliced the banana. At the time, I used a knife, although since then my husband got this nifty pineapple cutter at we highly recommend it.

Then they moved the pineapple from the cutting board to the bowl while I discarded the peel.

Then together we sliced the bananas. This is optional and depends on your comfort level, but with help (and close supervision), our toddlers were able to slice the bananas. Then these got added to the bowl and they took turns mixing.

Scoop the snack into bowls and go enjoy.

6. Yellow Duplo Challenge

Another activity for yellow day, and probably the favorite, was the Yellow Duplo Challenge. It sounds exciting and possibly complicated, but all I did was put our Yellow Duplos in a basket on the shelf and challenged them to see what they could build with just Yellow.

Color Week Projects

Rainbow Journal : Yellow Page

Continue the Rainbow journal today that you are using for the entire Preschool Color Week. You can find directions for starting one on our Red Day page. For yellow day, turn to the next blank page and have your preschooler copy the word YELLOW. Then have them use the basic of Yellow art materials to draw whatever they want on the facing page. (Literacy)

Collaborative Rainbow

This is the other project that will last you the entire Preschool Color Week. Today add to the Rainbow in the yellow space. Gummed Art Tape is hugely popular in our house right now so we added some Yellow today. (Creativity + Social Skills)

Want More Simple Play at Home Ideas?

• 2 Fun Ways to Play with Yarn from Teach Me Mommy

Complete A-Z Ideas for Play at Home

Maps are everywhere and learning how to use them is a life skill we still use far more than I think many of us realize.

When we opened our Little Passports kit for the first time it was the large, colorful map that our kids were most excited about. Our twins quickly unfolded it on the floor, their eyes wide, as they asked me to help them find where we live and where their grandparents live. That map still hangs, well loved, in the middle of their bedroom wall 3 years later.

Below are our favorite ideas for learning with and about maps.

affiliate links are included below

8 Playful Ways to Teach Kids About Maps

GO places + learn about Maps

1. Learning about Maps on the Go

Maps are a natural learning experience to integrate into learning on the go.

Adults frequently use maps to find things, navigate to and through spaces, and more. Our son in particular has noticed this and loves to take advantage of maps at places like the zoo or nature trails to help navigate our way.

Some tips for using maps with kids:

• Point them out when they are displayed. Often they are placed at adult eye level and children might miss them.
• Grab an extra map for your child to hold and use when a paper one is available.
• Crouch down and help them read the map. Ask them where they want to go and then help them find the route with their finger.
• Continue as you navigate through the space if they are interested.
• Use direction words when you are driving or walking to increase familiarity with the vocab. “We are turning left” or “We need to go North to get to the library,” etc.

“I noticed about maps you have to look carefully to know where you are 
+ where you have to go.” – J. Age 3.

2. More Learning about Maps Through Adventure Ideas

Disneyland Maps Display from Crafty Mom in ME

Sketch an Outdoor Map with Kids from Frog Mom

How Maps Change Case Study from Boston Kid Friendly

READ books about Maps

3. Our Favorite Books about Maps

1. Follow the Line Around the World by Laura Ljungkvist

I love all of the Follow the Line books. This is a great introduction to a study about the world. Travel around the world and get little tidbits about places from Greenland to Mexico to New York. 3+

2. Follow That Map! A First Book of Mapping Skills by Scot Ritchie
This is my favorite kind of book – the ones that inspire adventure. This nonfiction book is full of information about maps, interactive, and inspires mapping activities – what more could you want? 3+

3. Henry’s Map by David Elliot
This is a story about a very tidy little pig. He comes up with a plan to make the farm yard more orderly, it involves a map. 2+

4. National Geographic Our World by National Geographic Society
After borrowing this from the library for a couple of weeks it is now on our wishlist. This atlas is such a great resource for young children. 3+

5. Me on the Map by Joan Sweeney
This book follows a girl from her room to her house to her neighborhood as maps show the world getting bigger and bigger. A wonderful introduction to maps and our place in the larger world. 3+

6. Mapping Penny’s World by Loreen Leedy
This book does a great job of exploring maps on different scales from a map of a bedroom to a map of the world. 3+

More Children’s Books About Maps

Map Books for Young Explorers from Brain Power Boy

Map Books for Children from The Jenny Evolution

PLAY and Learn with Map Activities

Obviously reading maps is one of the major skills children are working on acquiring when working with maps. Here are some simple ways we have been working on this skill.

4. Maps and Train Play

As I described above, with a little prompt our twins drew a map during the planning stage of a new track layout. They drew the track and then pointed out to me where they wanted to various spots such as stations and docks. Then we propped up the map on a ledge and referred to it while we built the track.

Sign Up for a Little Passports Early Explorers 12 month subscription.

5. Maps to Find Snack

This has been a favorite activity the past two weeks. I hide their snack somewhere in the house and then draw them each a map. When they come down after Quiet Time they use their map to navigate the house and find their snack. They love this activity and the repetition is offering plenty of experience reading maps.

This X Marks the Spot Treasure Map from Teach Me Mommy is similar!

6. Drawing Maps

With our twins this was a self initiated activity. One of the benefits of having art and drawing materials available to your child daily and having extending time for free play is that they are able to create how and when they want.

The above picture was taking during one of our afternoons. Our kids were playing with pretend animals and he decided to draw a map of their zoo.

Another example is the train map pictured below. I asked if they wanted to make a map of their train tracks before they created a new layout. Simple prompts and suggestions like that can encourage map drawing which is a wonderful pre-literacy activity.

7. Printables Pack

If you are looking for more preschool maps unit activities, a pack of printables that I used with my twins is available on Teachers Pay Teachers. It has a literacy activity, measurement activity, original song about maps, and more. For details or to purchase, click here.

8. Even More Play Ideas

• Maps Skills for Kids from Schooling Monkey
• Continents and Countries Olympic Sort from Planet Smarty Pants 
• 3 Free Puzzles to Make Learning Continents Fun from Books and Giggles
• Map Activities for Kids: France, England, Ireland from The Natural Homeschool 
• Travel Maps for Kids Printables from CraftCreateCalm
• Types of Maps from Artsy Momma 
• Using Maps with Art from Our Daily Craft
• Making a Salt Dough Map from Tales of Education at Home

Since we started learning more about maps we have been finding them more and more in our environment as we explore. The photo above is from the Mississippi Children’s Museum. My daughter loved reading the map of Mississippi, finding us, and placing all of the people around the state.

Download the Maps Printable Pack Here

Want More Simple Play at Home Ideas?

• Halloween X-Ray Hand Craft from The Gingerbread House
• X Marks the Spot Treasure Hunt from Teach Me Mommy

Complete A-Z Ideas for Play at Home