12 simple play ideas to save your sanity
Hello! How are you surviving? Running out of ideas yet? I know I am finding the days rolling into one and I am avoiding comparing what we are doing with what others are as I never quiet feel like we are doing enough. I want to talk the talk, and introduce simple no fuss ideas into our daily play to ensure we are not all going crazy. This week I have teamed up with some of my favourite accounts on Instagram to bring you some amazing and simple play ideas you can try with little to no set up and little to no props. Scroll through for some of the easiest play ideas and my top three are at the bottom.
Read Play Learn
Amy is the owner of Read Play Learn. She offers beautiful books and play-based toys for your little ones. Go and join her on Instagram @read_play_learn for simple play ideas and daily story time.
Washing the Dishes
This invitation to play is an all-time favourite in our home. Our little one would love to wash dishes at the sink all day if I let her. However in the spirit of saving water I set up her own dish-washing station.
It is probably one of the easiest play set-ups, only requiring a tub, water, dish soap, cloth, and dishes. When possible I set this one up outside. Simply fill your tub up with water, adding enough dish soap to make some bubbles. Then add your dishes and cloth. We often add a second tub with just water (no soap) and our little one loves to transfer the dishes, rinsing them and catching the bubbles (just like mummy and daddy when they wash the dishes).
Now it’s time to let the imaginative play begin. It doesn’t take long before most children are deeply engaged in this simple invitation to play.
There are two things I love about this simple play set-up. Firstly, children are able to role-play, often practicing new language in this low-risk and safe space. Secondly, it is something they often love engaging in independently, and for quite a while. This means either a chance for a warm cuppa for you or a moment to get some work from home done while supervising.
2. Fizz and Bubble Sensory Play
This simple sensory play idea is a wonderful invitation to play. We have used this many times over the years. Initially as a simple exploration opportunity and lately as a chance to experiment with colour mixing.
The great thing about this play set up is most of us will already have all the things needed in our kitchens. You will need:
Bicarbonate Soda
Vinegar
Food Colouring
1 bowl
2 cups
2 Pipettes (if you don’t have these squeeze bottles or spoons works too)
Spoon/scoop
This sensory play involves powder, liquid, a chemical change and colours! Who is ready to start? Fill your bowl with bicarbonate soda. Fill each cup with vinegar, adding a few drops of food colouring to each. if you want to promote the exploration of colour mixing, choose primary colours. Pop your spoon in the bowl and a pipette in each cup. Set out your muffin tin and it’s time to play!
This is a wonderful invitation to play. Sometimes our little one enjoys adding the bicarb first and then the vinegar, and other days she starts with squirting in the vinegar. Either way is absolutely fine. This is time for her to play, explore and discover. I always make sure she is wearing clothes that are ok to get dirty in (sometimes there will be some colour transfer from the food colouring). If little hands end up with some colour transfer from the food colouring we find it usually comes right off in a bath or shower.
Barefoot Play
Erin is an early childhood teacher and mama to her toddler J. She loves sharing easy ideas to help families encourage their children’s development - through play, respectful relationships and getting out in nature.
3. Nature Shape Hunt
Shape hunts are great ways to encourage children to look closely and observe the world around them. They are also learning the properties of shapes in the world (triangles have straight sides, a circle has a round side).
I’m a big fan of taking learning outside - this is a perfect activity to do outside. You can go shape hunting in nature - the shapes are not quite as clear cut as in man-made materials but still there.
Can they find a triangle in the trees?
A oval amongst the stones?
A circle in the tree trunks?
A hexagon in a seed pod?
For younger children you can draw examples of shapes onto a sheet of paper for children to be able to have something to refer to.
For older children you can discuss why some shapes are easier to find in nature than others - can they come up with an idea as to why that is?
As you look and discuss what you see your children will be building observation skills, spatial awareness, mathematical vocabulary; as well as spending extended time in nature which is a great mood lifter and sensory experience.
4. Peg Pull
This is simple to make with a few materials from around your home. Just put a few pegs on a box or container you have in your recycling.
This is a great activity for building fine motor strength and skills in young children. It encourages the development of the pincer grip where children control objects with their thumb and forefinger.
As children pull the pegs off they are learning how much force to use to pull the peg which builds their understanding of their body and how to control it properly. It encourages problem solving as the children work to complete the task.
This activity can be used for a range of ages;
Babies enjoy pulling the pegs off and the putting them into containers.
Toddlers can start to open and close the pegs to attempt to peg them back onto the container.
Preschoolers can peg the pegs into patterns or seeing if they can get all the pegs to line up in different ways.
Lil Zoe Plays
Ange is mum to one gorgeous girl, Zoe. Her account is full of simple DIY play ideas and invitations to play that are easy to do at home. Each idea is based on observing her daughter and inspired by the principles of Montessori and RIE. Plus she is one of the kindest people you could ever follow.
5. Sensory Bottles and Bags
Ange bringing you: The easiest Sensory bottle and Bag using the best two store bought (in my opinion) play materials ever...
These are two of the best Mess Free sensory plays you can give your bub.
I used in these ones two of the BEST play materials EVER. Im going to tell you now...ready? They are Pom Poms and foam shapes. (And if you’re feeling crazy...you can use some glitter. I wasnt feeling crazy when I made these but who knows how I will feel in the coming days!) theres so many versions of these, but these are two winning materials.
Put it in a bottle...put it in a bag....and voila! Perfect baby play. I’ve put these on the ottoman for standing practise...but littler bubs would have these on the floor. Great tummy time practise
These are good for 3 plus months!
Finding the learning in play
allows bubs to explore their senses by touching and looking
uses her pincher grip and heightens her fine motor skills while grabbing at the pom poms and foam shapes
often a calming sensation, and sensory bottles are often used in classrooms as calm down bottles because it is relaxing to watch thing float
the bottle is also good for bubs who are on the move as they roll!
where they are placed also has an impact, they can be put on the floor, table or even hung vertically off a wall. I’ve put these on our ottoman for standing practise...but littler bubs would have these on the floor. Great tummy time practise
Materials:
silicone bag from Kmart
bottle is a Voss bottle from Woolworths or Coles
pom poms and foam shapes are from Spotlight
Celebrate PLAY
Erin supports and empowers Mums in PLAY with her amazing PLAY Planners a MUST for all Mums with children at home. She is an advocate for play and she shares so many amazing play ideas that promote learning, connection, and imagination.
6. Laundry Baskets
Laundry baskets are a fabulous resource to have at home to use in play. Why? They are lightweight, easy to clean and versatile. Here are our three of our favourite ways to use the laundry basket in play at home.
1. Shoot balls into the basket - Place the basket in its standard position and source some plastic balls (we recommend the ones from a ball pit). Stand a suitable distance away from laundry basket and toss the balls into it.
2.Posting box with pom poms - push pom poms of different sizes into the washing basket holes. Empty pom poms from the basket and repeat.
3. DIY Cars for the ultimate drive in experience at home - Using recycled materials such as ppaper cups and paper plates (alternatively print car parts) to replicate car parts, secure to the laundry basket and children sit in it to enjoy a movie at home.
Erika’s Learning Resources
Erika’s Instagram and YouTube are filled to the brim of play based learning activities, including simple crafts and sensory play ideas. Each activity has a simple list of materials and directions for you and your child to follow to bring learning and joy into your home.
7. Muffin Tin Shapes
Fine motor skills, shape recognition, and color recognition are all parts of this game. Find a muffin tin, and add different shapes to it (search through those block sets you have lying around.
Then, put tape over each of the circles.
Lastly, invite your child to practice taking off the tape, and identify each shape.
If you don’t have shapes and have a younger child, simply just ‘freeing’ their toys from the muffin tin can be a great fine motor activity. For older children this also works well if you have some magnetic letters laying around somewhere too.
Suggestions: Add cups with shapes on them. Then, have littles take the shape out of muffin tin and match to the cups.
8. Fish Paper Plates
This is fun and simple craft! This activity helps with following directions, cutting, and colors.
Materials need:
Paper plate
Paint
Dot stickers
Scissors
Directions:
Get a paper plate and paint it blue.
Then, after the paper plate drys add dots to it. To build in speaking and listening skills, ask you child to tell you where to place the dots and then you have a go giving them directions. The trick here is you can not point but must just use directional language and listen carefully!
Lastly, add the tail, eyes , and any other features your child chooses.
9. Shape Sensory Bin
This activity helps with shape recognition, matching, and sorting. Plus using rice makes it just plain fun!
Set up - Fill a sensory bin with color rice (just plain rice works just as well) and add cups to the bin too. After, draw shapes for the cups. Then, tape the shapes on the cups.
Play - Have children identity the shapes and match them to the cups. To extend the play, have littles find shapes around their environment too.
My top simple play ideas
10. Pasta Threading
Inspired by Resolve To Play I set up this invitation to play as Little Ninja was struggling with the threading. Start by placing some playdough at on a tray or table, flatten it out to create a base. Then We used kabab sticks that I broke the end off or you could use some spaghetti and place this standing up into the playdough. Onto these we then threaded our Peg Play Designs bobbins and some pasta.
Learning here is all about fine motor and hand eye coordination. We also took turns as the beginning of learning sharing, with each of us taking turns in completing the activity. For us this always leads to independent play with the playdough and moves on from the threading.
For younger children:
👉 use rings instead of pasta to reduce difficulty
👉 use chop sticks as these are sturdier for little hands
For older children:
👉 use smaller beads to increase the fine motor difficulty
👉 create patterns in the beads or pictures of patterns to copy
11. Calligraphy Mat
What simple? Want an activity with zero clean up? This is one such art activity here, this calligraphy mat changed my approach to art with toddlers ... normally I avoid it ... For $6 off eBay we have hung it on the wall, the easel, stuck it to the fence and the floor
We have used our hands, paint brushes, paint stamps and here a spray bottle all just with WATER, no paint here I did this whole activity from the comfort of the couch 😱
And their is so much hidden learning
- fine motor building
- mark making
- cause and effect
- creativity
- problem solving (she was siting and trying to do this and worked out it was easier to stand)
For older children
- practice sight words
- letter formation
- draw with a range of utensils
- play follow the leader but with paintbrushes
12. Posting
All children go through phases of exploring shapes, objects and the “enveloping” stage, where they like to put things inside boxes, tubes and pots and then find them again. Posting activities develop hand/eye co-ordination and problem solving skills and are easy to adapt to make easier or more complex depending on the child, their age and ability.
This is what most shape sorter activities are based upon, however, this is easy to hack as a easy DIY. If I can do it, any one can!
For younger children:
Create a large opening and use easy to grip items, consider a formula tin and ball pit balls
Provide a smaller single opening and smaller items (be mindful of small parts and mouthing children)
For older children:
Provide multiple options for posting. Start with only 2 options and build up. A lot of shape sorters offer too many options for children as they learn this skill.
Provide opportunities to post and colour sort or matching to letters or numbers
