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Raina Kennedy

Inspire, Enrich, Create

DIY Pendulum For Kid Play

4/7/2014

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Pendulum Play is excellent for learning cause and effect, physics, spatial reasoning, experimenting with weight and size, language, vocabulary and teaches kids how to work together.  I made this pendulum out of PVC pipes, string and tennis balls.  After the initial excitement of knocking blocks down, the kids began experimenting with the the limitations of the ball and began building their towers more strategically.  This is a great way for kids to learn through play!  Very easy set up!
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Fall Themed Activities for Kids

11/2/2013

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Turkey trot and Turkey yoga. The kids have a blast going fast, slow, hopping, running in place like a turkey
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Have them form a turkey conga line and trot like turkey's along each shape taped on the floor
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Sailing The Mayflower water play. Have them try to blow the sails.
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I made these with craft sticks and wooden blocks. I would pre write the names of the kids on the sails and laminate prior to class. Ours flopped too soon during this play.

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Expedit shelf re-purposed into a Race Car

11/2/2013

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This took 15 minutes to make. It's the Ikea Expedit Shelving unit turned into a Race Car. Just cut up some construction paper and tape to the sides.
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Can't wait to see what other fun transportation themes we can come up with now the idea is born!
Looking for ideas on Birthday decor.  This decal took 20 minutes to make.  I covered it in clear contact paper so it could last several play sessions.  Still need to add his jet pack but love the way it's coming out.  My boys are totally into Turbo Snails right now.
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Turbo!
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An Indian Canoe for Fall Theme
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Tape yellow and blue paper to form the length of Expedit
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Turn over and draw zig zags with pencil
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Follow pattern with colored duck tape
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Sleep Tight Playdate

11/2/2013

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Also a good lesson for preschool age children
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Sleep Tight theme this week. I covered our hallway entrance with long black fabric. Here we did shadow shows and played with all sorts of fun light up toys.
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Catch a flying star. This is always a fun eye coordination activity. Hang the stars from the ceiling and have the kids swat with paper towel dowels
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Sheep Jumping over the fence. HAve the kids Baa as they jump. Create the fence on the floor with painter's tape
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As a craft, have the kids make wishing pouches. Each one has a star, moon and cloud.

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Magnet Fishing

11/1/2013

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Fishing for paper clips
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Fishing for pipe cleaners
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Fishing for magnetic letters
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This was my favorite fish. It gave us good letter learning time. We talked a lot about things named with each letter too. "J" is for John, Jack, Jump. This one lasted the longest.
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Also great for younger toddlers. She understood exactly what to do and loved it.
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So excited about her catch!
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Apple Playdate: Learn through Play

10/29/2013

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Our Apple Tree. The kids will pick apples during their dramatic apple stand pla
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Our Apple chute. The kids will take turns dropping apples into the basket while counting each apple.  The tunnels are made of clear ketchup bottles and black electric tape with magnets fastened to the back.

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Our apple stand came out so good! Its a lemonade stand converted for the playdate! It set the stage for some great dramatic play of buying and selling apples.


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Fun ways to teach about the seasons

10/29/2013

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We placed items that absorb and repel water to teach the need for rain gear in spring

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A fun demonstration of rain for spring

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Our season buckets. Here the kids learn about the items associated with each season.


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Water and Ball tunnels for your playarea

10/28/2013

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Our kids just love experimenting with gravity and water.  I made them these wall and deck activities with a quick stop at our local hardware store.
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Here's a magnet ball and tunnel system.  I picked up a sheet of metal and used base board frames to create the border.  The tubes are made of clear ketchup dispensers and fastened together with electric tape.  I fastened the magnets to the back and lined the tubes up in various ways to create a fun and interactive play.

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I call this tunnel system tulips and tunnels.  We combined the clear ketchup bottles with PVC pipes and connectors.  The tunnels are attached with grey plastic electrical fasteners. The tulips are attached with velcro so the kids can pick flowers


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Fun weather Station for your playroom

10/28/2013

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This is a fun and cheap way to inspire the topic of weather and how we dress for it.  Found the boy and his clothes at Learning Palace.
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 I covered all in clear plastic shelf lining and added rings to hold the string.

I made the clouds out of cardboard and painted them white.  The weather signs are from printouts off the internet and placed them in these cute little frames.  We use this everyday!

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Learn through play activities for spring

10/28/2013

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In a grand effort to give my kids the best foot forward, I have been introducing education fundamentals through play.  After reviewing tons of eduction sites, I came up with a weekly curriculum that is used in pricey preschools and day care facilities .  Now my munchkins can have quality mommy time and a great education without breaking the bank.  It's so rewarding to see the light go on and be there to experience it with them.  The effort and time to create these activities is minimal compared to the  rewards!  Give one a try!

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 Here are three of our favorite activities where the kids learn to sort colors, letters and numbers with spring related items.


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Large Picture frames Repurposed as Activity Station for Kids Playroom

10/28/2013

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Here's a fun way to organize your play area
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Picked up these frames and removed the glass.  For the magnet, I cut metal to the size of the frame.  You can pick up a sheet from Home depot for close to nothing.  I created the chalk board by using chalk paint on the back part of the frame.  The last one is a felt activity.  Just cut out some felt to the size of the frame and hot glue around the sides.

The buckets below catch all the objects suited for each station.  I change the felt out weekly to cover new topics of interest.  We use the chalk board everyday!

This is a fun, cheap and easy way to organize and inspire !



When we bought the house, this was originally the dining room.  The white molding separating the yellow stripes from the blue was already in place.  I created the book shelf above the frames by using L brackets to suspend a strip of baseboard from the wall.  Total cost was $5!
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Do it yourself-Felt activities your child will love

10/28/2013

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Do it yourself-Felt activities your child will love
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This interactive felt activity board is a great addition to any playroom.  Not only is it great as room decor but it also serves a rewarding purpose- educating your child.  Felt activities are a fun  way to learn colors, shapes, numbers, seasons, sizes, sorting and so much more!  This learn through play method offers a fun approach to mommy & me learning.  After you walk your child through the activity, watch them come back on their own to figure it out over and over again! 

Here the kids learn how to build a flower, match the bird color to the color of eggs in the bird nest, size up the frogs, build an egg and build a bunny.


Here are a few other ideas on how to make learning fun with your child.

Making a felt activity station:

You can buy a frame or use an old one.   I used some old frames to create these adorable felt activity walls for the kids.  Take out the glass, cut a large piece of felt and glue it to the backboard of the frame.  Now you have a fun activity station ready to go for the kids. 

For the felt activities: just pick up some clear contact paper, print out an image you want to create off the web, wrap in clear contact paper and attach velcro (rough side) to the back of the covered image.
I used these images to create a bird and egg color sorting activity
Cover all in clear contact paper and place rough side of velcro on back of each.
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Print 3 of these and color the eggs to match the color of the Bird
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Used this frog to illustrate sizes. Use your photo enlarging options to create large through small. We used this for our Spring semester
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Used this print out to create butterfly color sorting. Cut yellow butterfly in three sections. Same as blue, green and red. mixed all the pieces up onto our felt board and had the kids build the butterflies.
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This was my personal favorite for spring. I printed this out larger, cut all the pedals, laminated pieces individually and had the kids build the flower. I created the stem out of green construction paper.
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Another personal favorite. The kids really took to this one too. I ended up using colored paper to create the kite. I used this as a template
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Here's our bunny
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Used this as a counting activity. Printed out a large 7 and seven bee's, laminated, velcro'd and placed together on felt board
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Cardboard Fun!

10/28/2013

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Kids love cardboard boxes.  Next time you are about to throw one away, think about something fun you can make out of it.  Here are a few ideas on cardboard fun!


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For Thanks Giving, we wanted to have a unique playdate that had a different theme than making a turkey or leaves.  I invited our friends to come sail the Mayflower at our house.  As a craft activity, we had them make binoculars so they can spot Plymouth rock.  This construction took 7 rolls of duck tape, 7 large boxes and 21 hours.  A bit over the top but an amazing playdate!

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For class, I built the kids a castle out of cardboard.  This only took an hour.   The kids played with the castle for an hour. 


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Interactive Tree

10/27/2013

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Our interactive Tree area is taking on a realistic life of its own. 3 years trying to find birds that look real and are play safe. Just found the butterflies and green leaves  My favorite thing about this play area is that it suits all three kids perfectly. Charlotte just loves pulling the items off the wall (everything is attached via velcro). Brendan and Liam play together building the scene each day. So sweet to watch and play with.

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    Raina Kennedy

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