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Play Inspired Mum

Educational toddler activities that promote development through play!

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Category: Lunchbox Inspiration

Home / Lunchbox Inspiration
Lunchbox Lunchbox Inspiration Uncategorized

Lunchbox Comparisons: A Bento Guide

by Play Inspired Mumupdated on January 19, 2020June 16, 2019Leave a Comment on Lunchbox Comparisons: A Bento Guide

Choosing a lunchbox for your child can be an overwhelming experience so we have put this comparison table together to help make the task that bit easier for you. Lunchbox …

Healthy Homemade Lunchbox Snacks
Lunchbox Lunchbox Inspiration Uncategorized

Healthy Lunchbox Recipes

by playinspiredmumupdated on June 21, 2020January 18, 201916 Comments on Healthy Lunchbox Recipes

I am always on the look out for yummy, healthy lunchbox goodies that the kids will love. I love the idea of preparing and cooking our own foods. From this, …

Lunchbox Lunchbox Inspiration

Kindy Lunch 11th May 2018

by playinspiredmumupdated on December 19, 2019May 11, 2018Leave a Comment on Kindy Lunch 11th May 2018

This morning Miss 4 was very excited to get into our latest batch of freshly, homemade yoghurt. Sweetened only with a little pear purée, she was so excited to enjoy …

Lunchbox Lunchbox Inspiration

Kindy Lunch 10 May 2018

by playinspiredmumupdated on December 19, 2019May 10, 2018Leave a Comment on Kindy Lunch 10 May 2018

Our lunchbox today was put together by Miss 4 after numerous visits to the freezer. I am not a morning person at the best of times so try to stay …

  • Take the FREE 5-Day Activity Challenge and you will… 👉 Have simple go-to activities that help teach your preschooler the basics anytime, anywhere (without them even realizing it). 👉 Notice a better attitude in your home when you spend time with your child during the challenge. 👉 Keep your child engaged because worksheets aren’t the only way to teach writing, reading and math concepts. 👉 Actually do the activities because you have the right supplies and tools right in your home. 🙌 That's exactly what this FREE Learning Without Worksheets Challenge is all about. Link to more info is on our resource page in bio 🙌 #playchallenge #playchallenges #learningwithoutworksheets #activitiesforkids #funathome #learningthroughplay #playtolearn #makingmemories
  • 😆🤪😤 Emotional Playdough 😤🤪😆 We had some emotional fun with our fun little puzzle and some play dough! After matching up the emotional faces to playing boards, Miss 3 and I created Playdough faces on our activity sheet, before making the faces ourselves! Loads of laughs were had while pulling the faces 😂 Please let me know if you would like our homemade play dough recipe or links to these resources 🙏 #learningemotions #learningemotionsthroughplay #emotions #teachingemotions #readingemotions #playbasedlearning #finemotorskills #socialskills #socialdevelopment #toddleractivities #toddlerplayidea #wetafternoonfun #homemadeplaydough #woodentoys #gettingreadyforkindy #emotionalintelligence #playideas #playdoughfun #playdoughplayactivities
  • 👻 Taste Safe Gloopy Slime 👻 Isn’t slime amazing for sensory play? Even at three years of age, I am still mindful of what I give Miss 3 to play with as she does still like to sample this and that. This slime recipe is completely taste safe- even could be healthy! Teamed up with some loose parts, we made ghosts, monsters, insects, dogs and fish before just getting messy 😆 We are happy to pass on the recipe if you would like it for your little ones 🙏 #playinspiredmum #slime #tastesafeslime #homemadeslime #sensoryplay #sensoryplayidea #sensoryplayforbabies #sensoryplayfortoddlers #messyplay #messyplayideas #playideas #lockdownplayideas #learningthroughplay #playtolearn #halloweenactivitiesforkids #halloweenactivities #ghostsandghouls #playtime
  • 🌈 Elastic Bands on Cans 🌈 We had twenty minutes to spare before school pick up and Miss 3 was bouncing off the walls, while my energy levels were nil 😆 A walk to the pantry and then to the stationary cupboard and 💥 boom- crisis averted! Miss 3 actually moaned and rolled her eyes when she saw me present her with the little bowl of elastic bands and the can - hello threenager! When I asked her if she could stretch the bands over the can, straight away her hands got busy working out how to manipulate the elastic band around the can. Within minutes she had them all lined up before taking them off so I could have a turn. Did I get to finish my turn? Nope! Apparently she knew how to do it better! 🙌 As simple as it was- this activity was a hit! I applauded her for giving it a go even though she didn’t think she would like it and she was so proud! #playinspiredmum #finemotorskills #learningthroughplay #playbasedlearning #simpleactivities #simpleactivity #playathome #toyfreefun #perthmum #perthmblogger #cans #elasticbands #playtolearn #learningathome #toddleractivity #toddlerplayidea #playideas #playideasfortoddler #playideasfortoddlers
  • 🌳 Tap the Magic Tree 🌳 If you have been searching for a book to discuss season or colours then ‘Tap the Magic Tree’ is an absolute MUST! Both Miss 3 and Miss 6 have loved borrowing this book from our local library. It has been read multiple times per day to the point where Miss 3 can recite the story by heart 💓 With fun little instructions such as tap the tree, run the tree and blow the leaves away, the story is interactive and engaging. We created this little extension activity using watercolours and some cotton tips to create our own little season cycle with the tree from the book as our main inspiration 🙌 The girls loved dotting the leaves, flowers and fruit onto their trees and guessing what would come next. #playinspiredmum #seasons #sciencewithkids #mathswithkids #weather #learningaboutweather #tapthemagictree #bookishplay #finemotorskills #finemotorskillsactivity #finemotorskillsactivities #learningathome #learningthroughplay #paintingwithkids #homeschooltoddler #rainydays #familytime #readingwithkids
  • 🦊🐛🐬 Free Animal Poster Download 🐬🐛 A beautiful collection of resources to learn a few new animal names as well as phonetically correct abc sounds 🙌 q - queen bee u - unau - a two toed sloth v - vampire bat Animals make this activity so much fun! Learn abc sounds, match up the letters and animals, and perhaps learn a new animal or two along the way! Perfect for building vocabulary too! Love the poster? There is a busy book to match too! 🙌 Find the link on our resource page in bio 👍 #playinspiredmum #animalposter #freeprintable #freedownload #learningresources #printableresources #learningathome #homeschool #toddlerfun #preschoolfun #learningphonics #learningalphabet #animalplay
  • 🌈 Letter R Writing & Watercolour 🌈 Miss 3 is showing more and more interest in reading at writing every day. Our lesson from ‘Playing Preschool’ involves us painting a beautiful ‘Rainbow R’. Miss 3 loved creating her rainbow, taking care not to go over the lines. To extend our conversations on words that start with an ‘Rr’, I gave her this handwriting guide to practise writing her ‘Rr’s’ with no pressure to comply. Miss 3 took so much pride in her efforts! Find links to both the printable handwriting guides (under printables) and ‘Playing Preschool’ on our resource page in bio 🙏 #playinspiredmum #letterrecognition #letterrecognitionactivity #handwritingguide #printables #toddlercurriculum #paintingwithtoddlers #watercolour #learningalphabet #letterwriting #playathome #learningathome #learningthroughplay #learningeveryday
  • 🦋 💙 Blue Hunt & Grouping 💙🦋 I sent Miss 3 on a blue hunt! She was running back and forth searching for all things blue! Once her basket was full we sorted by size and colour (slipped in a bit of phonic practise with some letters too) 💙 Another activity stemmed from ‘Playing Preschool’, a play based curriculum for toddlers and preschoolers 🙏💕 Grab the details on our resources page in bio or ask away below ⬇️🙌 #colourhunt #blue #earlymath #earlymaths #learningathome #toddlercurriculum #learningthroughplay #earlynumbersense #earlynumber #learningmadefun #colourrecognition
  • ⭐️ Play Dough ⭐️ With swollen feet that scream, yes there is less than two weeks before baby arrives, I was looking for an activity that involved sitting but could still really capture Miss 3s attention. Thank goodness for homemade play dough! Within a few minutes, I had a collection of textured wooden play dough tools and loose bits and pieces on the table. This kept us busy for close to an hour before school pick up 🙌 We made insects, fish, islands, towers, cookies and a scene from Miss 3s rainbow bus fairy dream last night 🧚‍♀️ Love these wooden stamps and textures rolling pins? I’ll link them on our resource page in bio. Tap the same link and search ‘play dough’ to find our homemade play dough recipe too! 🙏 #playdough #loosepartsplay #homemade #homemadeplaydough #sensoryplay #finemotoractivity #creativeplay #imaginativeplay #playathome #thirdtrimesterwithatoddler #playthedayaway #toddleractivity #loosepartsplay #looseparts #woodentoys
  • 🌈 🦋 Cotton Tip Butterfly 🦋🌈 Miss 3 took this paper plate painting activity very seriously. She loved using the cotton tip to decorate her beautiful rainbow butterfly’s wings 💕 Lots of fine motor work going on with this simple paper plate craft! #playinspiredmum #craftwithtoddlers #toddlercraft #toddlerart #createeveryday #finemotorskills #finemotoractivity #cottontipactivity #cottontippainting #toddlerlife #preschoolactivity #playathome #paintingwithkids #butterflycraft #perthmums #perthmumblogger #learningthroughplay
  • 🌈 🐠 Watercolour Rainbow Fish 🐠 🌈 We love The Rainbow Fish however it somehow made its way onto the back burner. Thankfully, a lesson in ‘Playing Preschool’ (play based toddler curriculum) has us revisiting this amazing book in one of the listed activities 🙌 It’s amazing how 6 months can have on comprehension! Miss 3 was really empathised with the characters compared to when we last read the book. I can’t even say how may times we have read The Rainbow Fish, in the last few days! She loves it! Anyways, we made our own rainbow fish! Using a quick hand drawn (please excuse my limited artistic abilities: Miss 3 didn’t seem to kind and I’m sure if you give it a go, your kiddly wink won’t judge either 😉😉) fish, some water colour paints and a few snips of aluminium foil, we recreated our own generous fun fish 💙🌈 If you would like more info on the ‘Playing Preschool’ curriculum, all the details are linked on our resource page in bio or feel free to ask away💕 #rainbowfish #therainbowfish #watercolour #toddlerart #toddlerpainting #createandlearn #toddler #toddlerplayideas #toddlerplay #learning #learningathome #playtolearn #bookishplay #bookishactivity #readingwithkids #literacy #prekindyathome
  • 🦆 Build a Duck Pond 🦆 It was such a lovely day today that we just had to set up some water play! I supplied Miss 3 with some loose parts, play tray and coloured water before setting the brief: Build Ducky a duck pond. It unexpectedly turned into sink vs float and translucent vs opaque experiment! I love how simple play ideas can really develop into deep, meaningful learning experiences! #playtolearn #learningthroughplay #playbasedlearning #playbased #waterplay #waterplaytime #spring #sensoryplay #sensoryplayideas #sensoryplayidea #sensoryplaytime #meaningfulplay #experientalplay #toddlerplayidea #preschoolplay #preschoolplayideas #playtray #looseparts #recycleandplay #recycleandreuse #loosepartsplay
  • 🌈 🖍 Monsters Love Colours 🖍🌈 ... and so do we! Inspired by this great book, we used our @crayon_rocks_australia to replicate what the cheeky characters got up too. Crayons rocks are such an amazing resource! Not only are the colours bold and true, they are designed to encourage fine motor skill development and the tripod grip that can easy transfer over to handwriting 🙌 We blended primary colours onto our page, just like the monsters, to create some of our favourite secondary colours! ❤️+💛=🧡 💛+💙=💚 💙+❤️=💜 #learningthroughplay #crayons #colourmonster #readingwithkids #bookishplay #colourblending #primarycolours #secondarycolours #colourrecognition #playbasedlearning #tripodgrip #finemotorskills #finemotoractivity #finemotoractivities #finemotorplay #toddlerart #playtolearn #learningathome #toddleractivities #toddlerfun #toddleractivity #toddlerplay #toddlerplayideas
  • 🌈 ⚖️ Weighing Coloured Spaghetti ⚖️ 🌈 Miss 3s activity request revolved around some dried rainbow spaghetti. Teamed up with a set of scales and a variety of bowls, we worked at reading digital numbers while measuring 10g of pasta into each of the bowls. A focus was created on showing Miss 3 that while 10g May almost fill a small bowl, it would barely cover the bottom of a larger bowl. Once we completed the brief, she loved experimenting with different values and items- even her shoe was slipped off and put in the scales! #playinspiredmum #learningthroughplay #experimentalplay. #numberrecognition #readingnumbers #learningnumbers #digitalnumbers #mathswithtoddlers #playbasedlearning #colouredpasta #sensoryplay #sensoryplayideas #toddleractivities #sensoryactivities #sensoryactivitiesfortoddlers
  • 🐥🌼🍌 Yellow Hunt & Grouping in 5s 🍌🌼🐥 Miss 3 went on a yellow hunt! Her mission was to fill her basket with all things YELLOW! 💛 Our play space was turned upside down before we headed outside ( to watch a rubbish truck), where we found some yellow flowers and leaves 🌼 Once her basket was full, we counted to five together, then using our fingers before Miss 3 set to grouping her treasures in groups of five 💛💛💛💛💛 This activity explored loads of mathematical concepts; ☀️Identifying attributes ☀️Counting by correspondence ☀️Counting ☀️Grouping ☀️ Shape recognition ☀️ Size comparisons Another amazingly simple but engaging activity from ‘Playing Preschool’, a play based curriculum for toddlers! Grab the details via link in bio 🙏 #colours #yellow #colourhunt #yellowhunt #maths #toddlermaths #toddlermath #toddlerplayideas #toddlerplayidea #playwithtoddler #homeschooltoddler #playathome #playbasedlearning #toddlercurriculum #playtolearn #simpleplayideas #playtime #playroom #structuredplay #toddleractivities #playathomemum #learningathome #learningthroughplay #learningeveryday #learningisfun #learningfromhome
  • 🌈 🙌 Fine Motor Colour Blending 🙌🌈 We teamed up some fun with shapes and blending primary colours! Miss 3 loved predicting which colours she would make before her busy hands worked the paint across her paper plate frames. Once she developed the technique to blend the colours, those hands and fingers were busy manipulating the paints 🥰 Another activity inspired by ‘Playing Preschool’, a play based curriculum for toddlers from 2.5 years of age 💕 All the details are on our resource page in bio 🙏 #colourblending #funwithcolours #toddlerlife #toddleractivities #learningathome #prekindyathome #playbasedlearning #finemotorskills #bilateralcoordination #paperplatecraft #exploringshapes #shaperecognition #colourrecognition #playtolearn #toddlercrafts
  • ☀️ Colour Blend Paper Plate Sun ☀️ It’s the first week of spring and it has been overcast the entire time! When it rains, make your own sunshine! Inspired by our Colour Study Unit, we incorporated blending yellow and red to make orange! 💛+❤️=🧡 This easy paper plate craft ticked all of Miss 3s boxes; snipping, gluing AND painting 🙌 #sunshine #paperplate #paperplatecrafts #papercrafts #papercrafting #sun #springtime #toddlercrafts #toddlerplayideas #toddleractivities #afterschoolactivities #toddlerartsandcrafts #toddlertimeactivities #playtolearn #learningthroughplay #learningthroughplaying #colourblending #colourrecognition #colourrecognitionactivity #kindyactivities #perthmum
  • 🌈 Walking Rainbow Water 🌈 Mixing colours is fun, watching them mix themselves is fascinating - well it was for Miss 3! She loved watching the water travel between the cups, creating colours as it goes - just like magic! #playinspiredmum #walkingrainbow #colourrecognition #learningcolours #primarycolours #secondarycolours #blendingcolours #mixingcolours #learningthroughplay #observationalplay #learningthroughplay #homeschoollearning #toddleractivities #toddlerplay #toddlerplayideas #toddleractivitiesathome #toddleractivity #playideas #learningideas #learningideasforkids
  • 🚧 🌈 Construction Rainbow Soap Foam 🌈 🚧 Miss 3 requested some messy play once I finished reading some of the books she chose for the day. Continuing with our colour theme, we made soap foam! This tray only took 5 minutes or so to create all the colours. Teamed up with her requested construction vehicles, Miss 3 was excited to get messy! If you have a baby or mouthing toddler, a taste safe alternative why not give our Aquafaba Foam a try! Search ‘Foam’ via link in bio to find this soap foam and Aquafaba foam recipes 🙌🌈💕 #play #messyplay #soapfoam #playfoam #sensoryplayideas #sensoryplay #messyplayideas #bubbles #soapfoam #playtray #busyhands #colours #colourstudyunit #colourrecognition #colourplay #playtolearn #toddleractivities #toddlerlife #homeschooltoddler #rainbowfoam
  • 🐰 🌈 🚀’Rr Hunt’ 🚀🌈🐰 Miss 3 went on a ‘Rr Hunt’! We revised how to form the lower case and uppercase ‘Rr’ by tracing the letters in her A to Z Activity book before practicing the phonic. Using the books we curated to align with our ‘Colours’ study unit, we made two piles. One with ‘Rr’ in the title and a second without ‘Rr’ in the title. Even with 20 books to sort, Miss 3 loved the challenge and was even spotting ‘Rr’ in the text as we were reading during the afternoon 🙏 If you would like more information on ‘Playing Preschool’, a toddler friendly play based learning at home curriculum, please feel welcome to comment below or find details via our resource page in bio 🌟 #learning #learningathome #learningthroughplay #learningeveryday #learningisfun #learningphonics #letterrecognition #preliteracy #preliteracyskills #letterr #toddlerplayideas #toddlerathome #playinspiredmum #readingwithkids #colours #childrensbooks #lovereading #rainydays #grossmotorskills
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