Learning and Exploring Through Play are sharing with you a fun Spring Bucket List for Kids and their Families.

So if you are looking for lots of things to do during this beautiful new season why not work through this bucket list?

1. Visit A Farm

The Farms have been closed during the cold of winter and now they start to open and isnt it just the perfect time to visit? From baby chicks to baby lambs there will be lots to see and do. Some farms are brilliant with young children and create a very hands on environment.
Some offer tractor rides and if you go over Easter they sometimes have Egg trails to follow while you are there.

2. Plant some seeds

Planning some beautiful summer colour in your gardens? Why not grow your own? Not only is it more rewarding growing things yourself its a great learning opportunity for children and they love nothing more than tending to them and watching them grow. If you're not keen on growing your own flowers be sure to give Sunflowers a go! They grow super quick. Have a Sunflower growing competition and get all of the family involved! Take lots of photos and why not submit some to your child's favourite television station? Lots of them show photographs during the school holidays!

3. Go on a Nature walk

Put on your welly boots and venture out whatever the weather. Each weather brings different sensory sensations. Download a Spring Scavenger Hunt and see what you can find. Take a basket and collect some Nature. You could use it to create Sensory Soups and Nature Tables when you return home. Why not use it to create Nature collages?

4. Enjoy an Easter Egg Hunt

Whether you invite friends and family over and host an Easter Egg Hunt yourself or decide to visit a location be sure to go Hunter for the Easter Bunny this spring.

5. Create a Spring Sensory Bin

Sensory Bins a great for hands on learning. Its a fun, contained activity that can be enjoyed again and again.

6. Explore Spring Flowers in ice

The Nature you collected on your Nature Walk freeze some of it in layers in a jelly mould for interesting sensory play.

7. Make a Spring Sensory Bag

Older children can have a go at creating one themselves but for younger children this is a great sensory activity done under supervision. We created one using water beads and daffodil gems.

8. Make some Easter cards

Do your children enjoy arts and crafts? This is a great opportunity to get out the craft materials and get busy. Thinking of painting? Why not introduce a new method of painting?
- Ice Painting
- Mess Free Painting
- Painting on Foil
- Shaving Foam Painting
- Printing using toilet rolls
- Daffodil Handprints
- Potato Tulip Printing

Loved ones will love receiving cards. Why not include a recent photo of your little one too?

9. Bake some cakes

Whether you want to bake cakes or make deliciously, chocolaty Easter Egg Nests your little ones will love helping out in the kitchen. Treats after dinner and for visitors with a cup of tea.

10. Make some bird feeders

Very simple and cheap to make. Create some bird feeders and encourage birds into your garden. Birds are working very hard to feed their young so providing food for them in your garden is a great way to support local wildlife.

11. Go for a picnic in the park

Don't be put off by that chill in the air. Wrap up warm and pack up the sandwiches, fruit and crisps and venture out for lunch outdoors!

12. Make Spring Playdough

Have you created home made playdough before? Very simple and cheap to make! Infact once you've made your own you wont go back to buying it already made. We have an easy peasy recipe thats creates perfect playdough!

13. Go to the Zoo

Most Zoos are open all year round (bar Christmas Day). A lovely family day out!

14. Plan and Create a Fairy Garden

Fairy Gardens are super cute and a fun addition to any garden. They bring magic alive for children and they will really enjoy creating one. We have lots of Fairy Garden inspiration on our Pinterest.

15. Jump in puddles

Wellies at the ready, get a splishing and a splashing. Here in the UK we have lots of rain and are sure to have lots of drip drop drip little April showers. Join in and get jumping with your little ones. They will love you taking part too!

16. Decorate Eggs

There are lots of ways to decorate Easter Eggs so no matter what age your children are, there will be a technique out there suitable for their age and stage of development.

17. Look at the life cycle of a butterfly

This is in my top 3 activities to do with children during Spring. Get out The Very Hungry Caterpillar Book and introduce the life cycle of a butterfly. You could visit a butterfly farm or have your very own butterfly farm in your home! I have done the butterfly farms with children ranging from Nursery 3 years old to Year 6 - 11 years old and it has been a fun activity that all children have enjoyed. The process happens before your very eyes and you get to release them into your own gardens!
You can also look at doing more fun Minibeast activities.

18. Take photos in the rain

Get the cameras at the ready and get snap happy! Perfect opportunity to get some good shots and update all your photo frames! Don't forget copies for Grandparents!

19. Visit the Library

A free service - the local library. Select some stories and read them together. Can you find any Spring books to bring home?

There we have it 19 fun activities for our Spring Bucket List for Kids and their families.

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Mess free finger painting is a fun activity for babies, toddlers and preschoolers. I personally love nothing more than watching the little ones getting messy having fun, but sometimes super messy play isn't always ideal.

Today Ellie shares with us a fabulous sensory board she created for her preschooler. Hours of fun, through lots of hands on sensory play. So if you are looking for fun for children in your home or setting, creating your very own sensory board maybe something you wish to consider....

We love painting here at Learning and Exploring Through Play and today I introduced a different canvas for Little N - Painting on Foil.

It was an interesting sensory experience. It made a crinkly noise as Little N painted with her hands and paintbrush. It gave an interesting hazy reflection and the colours came together effortlessly.

Content Coming Very Soon.

Here is our collection of our sensory play activities here at Learning and Exploring Through Play. If you are looking for sensory play under a particular category - select an option below. If not continue scrolling down to view all of the fun in one place...

Sensory Categories 

Playdough            Water Play            Sensory Bags            Tuff Trays            Sensory Soups

Shaving Foam       Ice                        Shaving Foam           Bubbles                Exploring Texture

Painting                 Light Table           Edible Play               Nature                    

Shaving Foam Painting & Mark Making


A delightful, messy sensory experience and a fun painting technique perfect for focusing on the process....

Continue Reading - Shaving Foam Painting and Mark Making















Cornflour Sensory Play

Add an interesting spin to cornflour sensory play by adding a fun element of experimenting and creating......

Continue Reading - Cornflour Sensory Play















27 Innovative and Fun Ideas for Water Play 


Continue Reading - 27 Innovative and Fun Ideas for Water Play 









Frozen Rainbow

We love water beads for sensory play!  They are tiny little balls that expand when hydrated in water. It takes around.......

Continue Reading - Frozen Rainbow

Today I am going to share with you a fun painting idea for kids. Whether you have children that are two years old or ten years old this activity will be enjoyed by all.
It can even be adapted so children who are reluctant to get their hands messy can join in too!
With 2 simple ingredients you can create a shaving foam painting invitation to play.

We used our Tuff Tray for today's painting activity and took it outside. I do prefer doing messier activities on this scale outside as I can let Little N do as she pleases and a quick blast of the garden hose and all the mess is gone.

You will need:
Shaving Foam (2-3 cans for a Tuff Spot)
Range of Paints
Glitter (optional)
Sticks/Pointers
Paper
Ruler

Please note: This post contains Amazon Affiliate Links.

We have been really enjoying Tuff Tray activities here at Learning and Exploring Through Play and today we have Joanne joining us sharing several Small World Tuff Trays she has been busy enjoying with her children.

Small worlds are great for hands on learning. They give the opportunity to be creative, to act out familiar and well loved stories and situations. They are also great fun to enjoy alone or with a group of peers.

We are always busy looking for fun crafts for kids and today we enjoyed a gift wrapping role play.

Nanny's Birthday is coming up very soon and Little N is very excited about giving her her gifts and spoiling her. So today, this activity fitted in perfect with Little N's interests. I actually have quite abit of small amounts of paper from birthdays, new babies and christmas that were perfect to use in this Tuff Tray!

We are very excited to share with you 27 innovative and fun water play ideas for children.

Water play is highly encouraged by the Early Years curriculum as it provides all round learning.

What areas of Development are covered through Water Play?

• Physical Development
• Language Development
• Creative Development
• Social and Emotional Development
• Science
• Numeracy

Please Note: This post contains Affiliate Links

Over the next several months we will be seeing lots more bugs in our gardens.
Here we share with you a huge collection of the VERY BEST bug fun for kids on the web!
From arts and crafts to sensory play, to hands on learning to printable's and resources - we have it covered!

The sun was shining today and the sky was blue, it was warm. What a beautiful invitation to play outdoors today!

All the little daffodils are starting to flower now and buds are starting to show on all the trees and plants. This is a lovely time of year as the garden begins to wake after a cold winter here in the UK.

I have really missed doing the super messy outdoor play with Little N so today was an opportunity to get out and enjoy our first outdoor messy play of the year.

We love water beads for sensory play!  They are tiny little balls that expand when hydrated in water. It takes around 8 hours for them to grow fully so I tend to put them in water and leave them overnight.


















Here is the colourful array of water beads that we prepared for this sensory icy rainbow. Once they were all fully hydrated we set about creating a rainbow. We used a metal biscuit tin, that is a great arch shape. I places the beads in to create a rainbow and left them to freeze over night.



















They looked great frozen and they provided a cold, wet, lumpy, bumpy surface - brilliant for Sensory Play!

If you are looking for great fun activities for kids this is towards the top of our list!
This is the first time we have tried this technique of painting and it provides a sensory rich experience that is just perfect for toddlers+.

It gives children the opportunity to explore colour mixing, patterns and feel the texture of the slippery, cold, wet paint. You can also talk about the science behind ice - discuss changes that happen and why. This activity is also great for developing fine motor and gross motor skills and control.

Hands on, learning through play....

You will need:
- Containers such as yogurt pots
- Children's water based paints
- Lolly Sticks
- Paper

















1. Squirt paint into your pot's with a depth of at least 1cm.
TIP: The more paint you use, the thicker and bigger the ice blocks will be. This will provide a firmer block that should stay attached to the sticks for longer.
















2. Put your lolly sticks inside the paint and put in the freezer overnight.

3. Cover a table if possible with paper. This will give a large canvas to truly enjoy and explore the paint.



4. Press around the edges of the yogurt pot to begin to ease the frozen paint blocks out.
TIP: If your paint isn't too thick, don't be tempted to wiggle them out using the sticks. This could release the stick out of the paint.

5. Time to start painting!

Our Experience

This ice painting activity actually worked a lot better than I was expecting:























Little N began painting by using the sticks. She swished them around and tapped them on the table. As the paint began melting it wasn't long before the sticks come away from the paint ice blocks.
It was then (if I am honest with you) that I felt a tad disappointed that they hadn't remained attached for longer but this was when the activity really got underway.














Little N picked the paint ice blocks up and became mesmerized as it started melting in her hands. The blocks were icy cold which gave a great sensory experience. This was when she really started to enjoy herself!

The Spring is almost here and you may have started thinking about your outdoor area and fun for kids outdoors. I don't know about you, but I really do miss having the garden as a daily play space! Gardening ideas for children may also be on your agenda. Today we are sharing with you a seed planting activity we recently did with Little N who is currently 2 years 4 months old.

Little N enjoyed the visit to the garden centre where we purchased some seeds. We really enjoy gardening, its passed down through the generations and there is nothing more rewarding than looking out to a beautiful, colourful garden knowing you have grow some of the plants from seed.

We had several packets of seeds that needed to be started now so we snapped up the opportunity on a cool but sunny day to get out in the garden and get them planted up!
























Little N started off by scooping out the soil from the bag. She began by using a scooper but it wasn't long before she started reaching into the bag with her hands and filling the tray with her hands. It was great to see her so keen to get stuck in. She kept looking at her hands covered in dirt and saying "Errrrrrrr, look at my hands, they are all dirty now" before laughing away to herself.

Once the tray had enough soil it was then time to scatter the seeds.....