Whether you are trying to survive the summer holidays or liven up a dull weekend, here are 10 Play Based Learning Activities kids will love. Tried and tested, and then tested and tried some more, these simple and fun activities provide lots of fantastic learning opportunities through play and fun.
1. Pom Pom Pick Up
What you will need:
- 1 Cardboard Egg Carton
- Paint or Markers to colour each hollow
- A set of tweezers
- A bag of multicoloured pom poms (you can pick these up in most discount stores or art & craft shops)
What to do:
Placed the mixed pom poms on the lid side of the egg carton. Using the tweezers, sort the pom poms to the matching coloured hollow. This game is great for fine motor skills, problem-solving and attention/concentration skills.
2. Mini Fizzy Volcanoes
What you will need:
- Cupcake tins
- Droppers or squirty water bottle
- Food colouring
- Vinegar
- Baking soda
What to do:
Place some baking soda in each section of the tin, along with a drop of food colouring (a different colour in each section). Using a dropper/squirty water bottle, slowly add some vinegar to the baking powder to create miniature coloured volcanoes. Have fun mixing the colours and adding more vinegar or diluting with water to see what happens. This is a great introduction to simple science, cause and effect as well as fine motor and language skills.
3. Oobleck (Gloop)
What you will need:
- 2 cups corn starch
- 1 cup water
- Food colouring (optional)
- Spoons & sticks to dip in gloop during play
What to do:
Mix up ingredients and get messy. Oobleck has an amazing consistency, between a liquid and a solid. It makes for excellent sensory play for kids (or adults) of any age.
4. Sticky Tape Animal Rescue
What you will need:
- A selection of different sized toy animals
- A selection of sticky tapes – masking tape/duct tape
- A table or tray
What to do:
Set up a scene where all of the animals have been captured (as pictured). Then get your tiny humans to remove the tape using their fingers (easier said than done particularly if you use very sticky tape). This is a great one for fine motor skills, concentration, vocabulary development…..and patience!
5. Water Beads
What you will need:
- Water beads (I picked up my water beads from Amazon, you can find them here)
- A basin or paddling pool/bath (depending on how many you want to expand)
- Water
What to do:
We did all sorts of games with our water beads. We enjoyed swishing our hands around in them, picking them up, sorting them into different coloured cups. Pouring them, scooping them. Even as an adult, water beads are amazing to feel and play with. In the end, I had a bright idea to fill up the bathtub with them and we all got in, it was epic!
6. Car Wash Fun
What you will need:
- A basin of sudsy water
- Dinky cars
- Some small sponges
- Cloths for drying
- Some white paper
- Paintbrushes
- Paint
What to do:
Get messy painting miniature cars, and driving them in the paint – creating tracks on the paper! Then have fun washing and cleaning the paint off using the sponges, soapy water and cloths. Incredibly simple, but will keep kids entertained for longer than you would think!
7. Cotton Ball Count
What you will need:
- A pencil and paper
- PVA Glue
- Cotton Balls
- Paintbrush
- A says
What to do:
Draw an outline of a sheep for each player. Take turns rolling the dice and sticking on the right number of cotton balls to your sheep. This is a great game for counting skills, numeracy, fine motor skills, attention, listening and turn-taking.
8. Rainbow Treasure Hunt
What you will need:
- A piece of cardboard
- Some colours (crayons, markers or paint sticks)
- Different coloured toys
What to do:
Divide a square of cardboard into a grid (as pictured) and get the kids to colour in each square a different colour. Then find a good spot on the couch, get comfortable and send them off in search of different coloured toys and everyday objects around the house to match the board. So simple, but it will take them ages…maybe long enough to drink a hot cup of tea!
9. Colour Card Peg Match
What you will need:
- Wooden pegs
- Scissors and glue
- Paint sample colour cards (from your local DIY shop) – makes sure to take two of each card
What to do:
Take two colour cards and cut a small rectangle from one and glue to the peg. Mix all the pegs in a bowl (with coloured squares attached) and let your tiny human search for the matching colour card for each peg. This game gets played with again and again in our house, usually before dinner when I’m trying to calm them down!
10. Frozen Number & Letter Rescue
What you will need:
- Magnetic letters/numbers of alternatively small toys like lego menu/dinosaurs
- Ice cube trays/small containers
- Water
- Salt
- Droppers/squirty water bottles
- Spoons
What to do:
Place toys in ice cube trays or small containers and freeze overnight. Once frozen, place on a tray or in the sink. Use salt and water along with any tools (toy hammer is often a hit in our house!) to retrieve the frozen toy!
If you enjoyed this post, you will find more play based learning ideas here.
For even more play based learning ideas, video tutorials and inspiration, you can check out the ‘Summer Fun’ & ‘Kids Activities’ highlights on my Instagram.
