These 10 innovative ideas enhance fine motor skills and pre-writing skills using rubber bands. In this blog, we explore various activities such as stretching rubber bands over blocks, wrapping them around popsicle sticks, rolling them over cardboard tubes, and creating intricate pictures across pins on a corkboard. These engaging exercises provide an excellent opportunity for children to develop their hand-eye coordination, finger strength, dexterity, and the foundational skills needed for writing in a playful and interactive way.

This cardboard hundreds board is one of our best ideas. We have found so many ways to use it, play with it and learn with it. Children love the size and learning about the number 100 by interacting with it. You can use this board to learn about numbers, play games or make many other interactive activities for children using it.

Make rainy days fun with these indoor game ideas. Children will love making and playing these easy, low-prep games. They are easily adaptable to suit your little players. Kids will have their favourites and are likely to play them over and over again. These rainy day games are great for kids who need to move and use energy even on indoor days.

We love using recycled items for play! Here are ten of our favourites that are always available for our Superstars to create and to play with. Using recycled items is a no cost way to stimulate children’s imagination in play. Add some recyclable items in your child’s play area and see your child’s imagination lead the way! You will be amazed by the creative thinking and problem solving that will unfold as your child is determined to make things work.

Use nature’s gifts for your next painting experience for some spectacular effects! This painting adventure is all about exploration and creating process art which means there is no particular picture or end product to create. We collected a few sticks, different shaped leaves, shells, stones and a couple of flowers for painting tools. Working together we explored different ways to make some amazing effects that only nature’s gifts can make! Check out the 8 ideas we came up with using nature to explore a new painting experience.

Did you know that you can use your magnetic tiles to set up games for kids to play? There are so many different ways to use these tiles to make the right shape and coloured board that you need for your game. We have five fun games that also promote learning for children. From learning colours to counting, there will be a game to suit what your child is interested in. Read our blog to find out more!

Have fun with maths using tens frames! There are lots of ways to explore and play with numbers using an easy to make cardboard tens frame. Children can work independently or collaborate with other children to count, add, compare and make patterns with numbers. Read this blog for more fun ideas on using tens frames for children to understand early maths concepts.

Learning about emotions couldn’t be more important than in these current times. Having children explore the concept of emotions and facial expressions is a playful way to encourage talking about their own feelings as well as identifying other emotions. Read our blog to find out more about a playful way to help children explore and learn about emotions.

Dinosaurs are a popular playtime theme among children. Many enjoy learning facts and information about these fascinating creatures that once roamed the earth. They also enjoy pretend play to act out their knowledge and ideas about these creatures. We have three easy ways you can set up a dinosaur small world to spark imagination and continue a budding interest in this exciting and mysterious theme of dinosaurs. Read along to get some new ideas for your own dino-enthusiasts.

Playdough is relaxing and soothing to play with. Playdough is easy to make, we have provided our very own playdough recipe card for you. We have also included some fun ideas of things to play with the playdough to stimulate and extend creativity, skills and learning. The feel of the playdough is a great sensory experience too. While kitchen play equipment is great for playdough, using toys and loose parts add more possibilities for creativity and learning.

Use empty yoghurt containers for something to build with that’s different. Stimulate your children’s play and offer other learning experiences by offering these as alternatives or additional to play with blocks and connecting equipment. Allow your children to add other items to their yoghurt container play such as loose parts and other toys. Yoghurt containers are easily bowled down which adds another element of excitement to children’s play. There are many other recyclable items that can be used to stimulate imagination and creative thinking so start collecting!

Obstacles provide opportunities for fun active learning. You don’t have to have all the gym equipment to do this. You can improvise and create your own obstacle course equipment by using some of the ideas in our videos. Children need to move to learn about their bodies and how they work. Obstacle courses are also great for children to learn action words and positional words. Obstacle courses can be set up both indoors and outdoors with whatever you have at home.

Marbles can be used for more than games and marble runs! Why not try this fun idea of rolling marbles through paint. Create an abstract work of art with two marble painting techniques. Use primary colours to demonstrate colour mixing in this fun marble painting activity. Place painted marbles straight on paper and roll around or roll painted marbles on a tray then place your paper on top to make a print. This activity is both fun and promotes motor skills. Read this blog to find out more about marble painting.

Pouring play doesn’t have to mean water! Try using counters or a similar loose parts for a new pouring play experience. Add bowls, spoons, cups, eggboxes and cardboard tubes to encourage different skills to be developed with this kid of play. Whether children are using the counters for pretend play or working on skills by scooping, pouring and sorting, they will be learning while they play.

We have a collection of easy experiments that will introduce your child to chemical reactions. Bicarb and vinegar combined cause “eruptions” that are sure to intrigue your child. These experiments are easy to do and can be further explored by using your child’s ideas to see what happens if a step is changed. Experiments develop language and ideas relating to science. They also develop thinking and knowledge that can be used when other experiments are done. Read this blog to find out more.

Indoor loose parts are perfect for rainy day play. Start collecting items that can be used and be amazed at the creativity that will unfold as your child starts playing. This is open ended play that provides endless opportunities to be creative. There are no expectations that something specific should be produced. The benefits of loose parts play are many including creative thinking, risk taking, perseverance and exploring different ideas. So get started with making your loose parts collections and soon you will see amazing creativity flow.

Outdoor natural loose parts provide an interesting play experience for kids. The sensory exploration of different textures offers an opportunity to talk and learn about nature. It also captures the imagination because it is something different from toys and completely open-ended. Children can create whatever they like with stones, sticks, leaves, flower, petals etc… The possibilities and benefits of this sort of play experience are endless. Read this blog to find out more.

Fairies are a true favourite theme for kids to play. Setting up a Fairyland small world can be simple and provide hours of fun. Set up Fairyland with your child or set it up as a play surprise. You could include a fairy house, fairy garden, wicked river, mystical forest and gnome’s cave. This easy fairy activity doesn’t need fairy toys, use the free download to print fairy cut outs to use to create your own Fairyland.

Create your own underwater world with this easy water play idea. Kids can use a jar for a small ocean or a container for a big ocean. Add stones, shells and sea creatures and some blue coloured water. Kids will love creating and then playing with their own unique ocean.

Painting is a favourite activity for kids. Mix things up with your painting and use a fork instead of a paintbrush. Kids will love trying out a new technique that is sure to challenge their hand-eye co-ordination and motor skills. Use our video examples and the free PDF templates to kick start your fork painting fun and then allow children to try some of their own ideas.