20 Busy Bag Ideas for Busy Little People | Part 1

Welcome to November at Teacher Types. I'm excited to be teaming up with fellow Early Childhood Educator and mum Alison from The Way He Plays to bring you 20 busy bag ideas over this month. Every Tuesday we'll post different 5 busy bags on both blogs for you to try. And we're linking up with Essentially Jess for #IBOT :)

The idea of busy bags is to be able to take them anywhere - doctors waiting room, long drives, flights, etc. We recently trialled a couple pictured below on a weekend away to the river. Busy bags are designed to be simple, inexpensive, little mess or fuss, easy to carry or throw in your nappy bag or back pack. I don't know about your little one - but the key with my little miss, is to always keep things different, new, ever changing and interesting.

- "Quiet blocks" - just your ordinary kitchen sponges (great for constructing and creating)

- Pom poms & a cardboard tube (great for fine motor and posting)

- Sticky post it notes with crayons (great for drawing and sticking)

- Pegs and paint chips (great for colour matching)

- Pop sticks with velcro corners (great for shape creating)

If busy bags are your thing - please come back again next Tuesday, when Alison and I will be featuring 5 more busy bag ideas.

Lauren :)

*** Please take note: as with any baby and toddler play activities, please be mindful of objects smaller than a 50c piece that may present as a choking hazard. Always supervise your little one, and of course, you know your child best :)

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20 Busy Bags Ideas for Busy Little People | Part 4

Thanks again to Alison who is here with five more busy bag ideas. I'm so looking forward to compiling them all into one great photo collage ready for Pinterest (see below)!

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Here we are again with another busy bag post! The weeks sure seem to be going quick! I had fun putting together these busy bags over the last week and am looking forward to sharing them with you.

These bags are perfectly suited to my 12 month old boy. They focus on developing his fine motor skills and for introducing and practicing new words for his language development. I also believe that they will grow with him and that he will continue to enjoy them as he becomes an older toddler and even a preschooler. The farm set will be used for increasingly complex dramatic play, the Mr Potato Head can have more accessories added to it, the magnets could be used for picture making and puzzles and the wallet may turn into a much loved possession, I know a lot of kids who would love a purse like Mum!

So let's have a look at the busy bags for this week!

1. Farm Mat Busy Bag

A variety of farm animals to play with on a square of material with a farm theme. You could use all sorts of animals depending on what themed pieces of material you can find!

2. Felt Mr Potato Head

Develop both fine motor and language skills as Mr Potato head is built. The great thing about this is that it can be done in any language, perfect for bilingual babies like my boy!

3. Magnets

The lid to a metal container makes a great base for magnet play, think gourmet biscuits and chocolates next time you are at the shops!

4. Wallet with Family Photos

Do you have a child who loves to play with your wallet and pull everything out? Now they can have one of there own! I found an old wallet and filled it with family photos for something sweet. He can recognise names and faces and even partially familiarise himself with new family members he will meet at Christmas!

5. Montessori Cylinder Blocks

I found that the tubes from the middle of garbage bag rolls are the perfect size for fitting our wooden cylinder blocks from our typical set of blocks. I put some (fancy) tape on the bottom to stop the blocks slipping right through and used a rubber band double wrapped to hold them tight together. This is a particular favourite for my 12 month old!



So there you go, 20 busy bag ideas for the busy little people in your life from Lauren at Teacher Types and myself!

Make sure to go back and read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 of our series and then be sure to pin your favourites for later so you don't lose the ideas! Or even better pin our collage to come back to them all and help it circulate around the pinterest world.

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Here's a reminder of where you can find Alison in the wonderful world wide web!

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December Round Up {Childhood 101 Guest Posts}

I have been so lucky and fortunate to have had the opportunity to write all year for such a brilliant Kids/Parenting Website - Childhood 101,  and I'm pleased to say that this collaboration is continuing in 2016! I thought it would nice for an end of year post to wrap up the 12 posts I've written over there... There's been quite a variety of posts, literacy, books, maths, sensory, things for toddlers, preschoolers and school aged children... I asked Christie (editor of C101) how my stats were, and my most viewed post was Busy Bags for Toddlers.

So here they all are (in order of most recent)

5 Christmas Busy Bags

Christmas Picture Books + Activities

Graeme Base Author Study Books + Activities

20 Super Sensory Play Ideas

Day, Night & Light Themed Activities

We're Going on a Beat Hunt - Small World Play

Wonderful Word Building Activities

Hands on Activities for Learning 2D and 3D Shapes

Awesome Autumn Activities

Busy Bags for Preschoolers

Busy Bags for Toddlers

Summer Time Activity Ideas

You can also find all the articles I've written elsewhere around the net at my "I've been featured" page.

I interviewed Christie from Childhood 101 in June this year - read it here. 

Thanks again for having my on the C101 team Christie! If you don't already follow Childhood 101 - you really should! Facebook | Instagram

Lauren x

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Keeping a Toddler Busy While You're Busy with a Newborn

Carol from My Bored Toddler is today's guest blogger and she has written the most perfect article for me right now! She shares some brilliant activities ideas to keep toddlers busy while mums and dads are busy with a new baby in the house. It's quite an adjustment for little people, and we have found that Miss M has done quite well. I can't wait to try some of Carol's ideas!

Thanks so much for being here today Carol!

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Having a newborn and a toddler presents a lot of challenges (that’s an understatement really!).  My children are just under 2 years apart so I had an almost 2 year old and a newborn so I’ve been there and done that. Along with the sleeping issues (not all toddlers sleep through the night – trust me!) there’s the issue of how to keep your toddler occupied while you’re busy with your newborn. Whether it’s feeding them, changing them or getting them to sleep, it’s important that your toddler is entertained as well. While all of these activities required supervision (of course) they were mainly independent activities that my toddler could do while I was with my baby.

Some of the activities that worked well for me were:

Reading

If you can master it, reading a story to your toddler while your newborn is feeding is a great way to make them feel special and included. While this isn’t going to work every time, it’s worth giving it a try. Audio books and children’s eBooks are also a great idea.

Sensory Bins

Sensory bins are great for toddlers and keep them entertained for a long time. There’s no need to have anything too fancy – young kids are happy with the simplest of things. Some coloured rice, water, pasta or cloud dough. These work great in a simple sand and water table, but if you don’t have that any large container will work. You can find some great simple sensory bin ideas here.

Dolls 


Toddlers love to copy what Mum and Dad are doing, and dolls are a great way to do this. The range of doll accessories is huge and they will love copying Mum and changing the nappy, wearing the doll in the baby carrier and pushing it in the pram.

Let them help

A great way to let your toddler feel included is to let them help. My daughter loved bringing me the nappies and getting out the wipes. I would also let her choose which outfit to dress the baby in and let her help as much as possible.

Stickers

Stickers are a great activity for toddlers and both of my girls have loved this activity. For the younger toddlers start with large foam stickers as these are easier to play with independently and then move onto smaller stickers. You can pick up stickers from dollar stores, department stores and craft stores and they are very inexpensive. They are also great for fine motor development.

Tablets and iPads

I know that there is a lot of debate about screen time and toddlers, but I have to confess that this was a huge help to me. There is a lot of research coming out that states that it is the quality of the screen time rather than the quantity that is important. That being said, I used to limit this to only the time when I was busy with the baby. It was used as a treat for my toddler and I was very picky about what apps she could use. You can find some of the great educational apps that I recommend here. If you have an iPad the ABC for Kids app is great! I used to carry my iPad with me when I was out shopping as it was a great way to keep my toddler busy while in the parents’ room with my newborn. 


Busy Bags 

Busy bags are simple independent activities that your toddler can do for 10-15 minutes. They are best used as an activity that is given to your toddler when you need them to be quiet and busy (hence the name!) rather than being put with their regular toys. This Toddler Busy Bag Pinterest board has a great collection of ideas.

Juggling a toddler and a newborn is hard. While the above activities are great, if you can get someone to help you out and play and entertain your toddler – do it!  They’ll enjoy the one on one attention and maybe, just maybe, you can take a nap with the baby!

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Carol is the owner of My Bored Toddler, a website full of activities to keep you toddler busy! You can follow her on Pinterest, Facebook. Twitter and Instagram.

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Ready Made Busy Bags {From Flying Sprout}

Yay welcome to my first product review for 2017!

Busy bags can be a life saver when you're out and about or travelling - and I love to make my own (sometimes rather haphazardly thrown together). But if you'd like someone else to do that for you (who also has a teaching background I might add) then look no further than Bianca from Flying Sprout.

So Miss M got busy testing them out - and I got to thinking about how they could be easily adapted to suit children of various ages and abilities with a few simple alterations.

*Kindly gifted for the purpose of this review
*Not sponsored

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20 Busy Bag Ideas for Busy Little People | Part 2

Last Tuesday's busy bag post was a huge success. I'm pleased to welcome Alison here today to share her next instalment of busy bag ideas.

Alison's blog - The Way He Plays is a lovely place with a focus on Nature and Sensory Play. Her little boy has just celebrated his first birthday, so if you have a little bub under one you'll find lots of fantastic play ideas (of course many of her ideas can be used for older children as well). My favourite post of her's is Spring Flower Playdough. I came across The Way He Plays via a comment Alison left on another blog, and realised that she was also from Adelaide. After chatting and connecting we discovered that we went to uni together. Small world! If you're from Adelaide too - you'll know what I mean about that kind of thing happening all the time ;)

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Welcome to Part 2 of our 20 busy bag ideas for busy little people! You can see the fabulous bags that Lauren made last week here in Part 1 if you didn't see the quiet blocks then you really must go and check it out, they were my favourite!

When choosing which busy bag to make it is important to think specifically about your child. You want the activity to be something that keeps them busy which means it has to be engaging to them as well as being developmentally appropriate. Choose something too tricky and it is going to frustrate them and cause the same behaviour you are trying to avoid. Choose something too easy and it is going to bore them, not keeping them very busy at all. Finding that happy medium will mean that they can play independently and let you get on with the things you want or need to do. Try paying attention to the toys and activities that your child is already drawn to and make smaller, on-the-go versions of these.

Mini Ring Stacker using a cylinder block, a sturdy lid and wooden curtain rings (great for hand-eye coordination)

Spice containers and pom poms or ear buds (great for the pincer grip)

Cars and a play mat (great for language development and pretend play)
This fantastic double-sided car mat is a free printable from The DIY Mommy which you can find here!

Surprise sensory boxes using match boxes and various materials (great for sensory exploration, guessing games and stacking)

Homemade Toy Puzzle, I simply took a photo of the toys sitting on A4 white paper and adjusted the colours a little on the computer to make the white a pure white for printing (great for visual matching)

These busy bags are designed to keep my 12 month old entertained on a long haul flight so I filled them with lots of exploration, manipulation and cars as these are the things he loves at the moment. I also needed to ensure they would get through security which is why I used paper mache craft versions of match boxes instead of just using and covering the real things!

Don't forget to join us again next Tuesday for 5 more busy bag ideas!

Alison :) 

*** Please take note: as with any baby and toddler play activities, please be mindful of objects smaller than a 50c piece that may present as a choking hazard. Always supervise your little one, and of course, you know your child best.

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Thanks so much for sharing your fantastic ideas Alison!

To follow with The Way He Plays you can find Alison here...

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20 Busy Bag Ideas for Busy Little People | Part 3

Welcome to 'Busy Bag Tuesday' and it's my turn again. Here are five more ideas to add to your collection. I must admit having a blogging schedule to keep up with this month adds a bit of pressure to my weekend! I wasn't as organised with my busy bags this time. But I made it and we are once again linking up for IBOT (and recently discovered 'Turn it up Tuesday').

Finger Puppets with Animal Flash Cards (great for imaginative play and matching)

I couldn't help include the extra photo showing both front and back sides of these gorgeous Eric Carle Animal flash cards (shop here). Older children can be challenged by matching the puppet to the letter it starts with (finger puppets were from Ikea).

Threading Straws and Pipe Cleaners (great for fine motor control)

Gem/Pebble Sorting and Counting with 'Montessori inspired' Number Templates (this one is aimed at older children)

Here's the blog where I found the number templates 1+1+1=1. They go right up to 10 - all you need to do is print, cut and laminate. I've also included an example of sorting and patterns that little people can be kept busy with! I'd suggest 3-5 year olds would enjoy this one.

Mini Sticker Books (simple yet effective if you don't want to carry around a large sticker book with you)

Fuzzy Felts (another 'quiet' one to encourage little imaginations)

Now I can't claim any creativity for this one because I just bought it from cheap as chips. But if you were feeling creative, you could buy some pieces of felt and cut out shapes yourself. And you'll notice my zip lock bag wasn't big enough to fit the felt board - oh well!

One little tip if you're planning to use busy bags for a long car drive, try using a medium sized oven tray as a 'desk' for your little person to put their busy bag items on.

If you've enjoyed the busy bag posts so far, make sure you check out our last one next week. I've got a couple more busy bag ideas that didn't quite make the cut - maybe Alison and I will do a 'Part 5' to this series ;)

Until next time
Lauren

*** Please take note: as with any baby and toddler play activities, please be mindful of objects smaller than a 50c piece that may present as a choking hazard. Always supervise your little one, and of course, you know your child best.

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10 Ways to Use Your Honey and Co Club Canvas Bag

You may have already heard of Honey and Co Club subscription kits - I've featured them here on the blog and Instagram from time to time, and they've made a great gift to give some of my friend's kids this year. I love how every month is a different theme and all the little goodies come in the loveliest canvas bags which can be used over and over again for so many things (and every month is a different funky pattern too - we've got a collection of 4 already!).

Today's post is giving you TEN ways to reuse your Honey and Co Club canvas bag. They come in so handy as you'll see...

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BEST Lego Duplo Play Ideas

This week, I was lucky enough to not only choose the theme for Early Learning 101, but I am their guest judge! When Amy and Nichole recently put a call out for theme ideas, the first thing that came to mind was DUPLO! The iconic toy which is likely to be in every household with an infinite number of play ideas; I knew it would make a great theme.

So here are some of my ideas, and I'll finish with the grid of the four winners from the #earlylearning101 challenge.

Miss M gets credit for this first idea - she decided one day to divide the lego base board into halves, so we could build our own creations on each side. We've even divided it into quarters before. This would be a great idea for siblings who need to learn to share the one DUPLO base.

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Learning 2D & 3D Shape {Childhood 101 Guest Post}

Today I'm over at Childhood 101 to share some suggestions of helping little ones learn 2D and 3D shapes in various hands on ways. Building my resources and ideas in this area is a focus for me at school at the moment, so if you have any other ideas or links, please leave them below.

While you're browsing around Childhood 101, here are some of my previous guest posts :)

Awesome Autumn Activities

Summer Activity Ideas

Busy Bags for Preschoolers

Busy Bags for Toddlers

Lauren x

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3 Ways to Use a Sensory Table {Guest Post}

I've always said that kindness and collaboration makes the blogosphere go round, and I'm so grateful that some fellow bloggers have offered to step in and write some fantastic guest posts for me over January and February while I get settled with a new bub and adjusting to be a mum of two! Today I welcome back Alison from The Way He Plays. She has an awesome new look website and we got to meet in person late last year at an Adelaide Blogger's catch up which was lovely :)
Thanks so much Alison and I'd gladly return the favour later in the year!

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First of all I'd like to say hi to all of Lauren's wonderful new readers! Some may remember that Lauren and I teamed up to write 20 Busy Bags for Busy Little People over a year ago now. I am excited to be back on Teacher Types for another guest post opportunity and am going to be sharing the wonderful world of sensory tables with you all!

At the beginning of the year we made our very own sensory table out of pvc pipes and a plastic storage container. It was quite simple to make and has been one of the best things we have done. It is used almost daily by our 2 year old who loves to play with it along with all our little visitors too. If you would like to make your own you can see our instructions here.

After filling the container so many times I have found that there are 3 main things we use it for; water play, sensory play and small world play. Today I am going to share with you some of the ways we have used it in each of these categories. Most of the time we use the box on the stand, but sometimes we put the box on the floor too depending on what we are playing with.

Water Play

The easiest way to make water play fun and exciting is to add food colouring to it. The water alone is generally enough to keep Master R busy but by adding the colour it becomes that little bit more special. We have also added these things to the water:

• cups, containers and watering cans to encourage pouring
• flowers, sticks, pebbles and herbs to make a 'nature soup'
• chalk so that it gets nice and wet for wet chalk drawings
• bubble bath or dishwashing liquid to make it bubbly
• bath toys which become exciting just because they are not in the bathroom
• paintbrushes to make water paintings
• water balloons which are fun to float, splash with and throw

Sensory Play

A sensory table is perfect for sensory play, it is named for it after all! Having the sensory materials confined to the box helps to contain the mess and being able to have the box up on the stand can allow kids to stay active and move their bodies whilst exploring what's inside. Some of our favourite sensory play creations in our table have been:

• rainbow rice and playdough, a fun combination of two great materials
• sand to create a mini sand pit before we got our big sandpit
• water beads with cups and spoons
• shaving cream and toy cars
• gloop (a mixture of corn flour and water)

Small World Play

Small world play is an exciting new adventure at our house. Master R has just turned 2 and is beginning to enjoy imaginary play. So far we have created two small worlds which have been thoroughly enjoyed.

For our insect small world we used small plastic insects, leaves and sticks from our garden and a small container with water as a pond. Master R's favourite thing to do with the insects was to play hide and seek with them under the leaves.

The farm small world that we created used medium sized plastic farm animals, green painted newspaper cut up for the grass, blue playdough for drinking water, dried beans for food and a barn made using an ice cream container, cardboard rolls and red paper. We played with this small world inside which is why I choose easy to clean up materials. Having the animals 'drink the water' and get playdough on their noses proved hilarious for Master R!

I also love Lauren's 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt' small world to follow along with the book. I look forward to creating it one day and love the way she brings the book to life in such a simple way!
If you don't yet have an area or table for these types of play at your house I suggest you make one fast! These ideas take very little time to prepare and they entertain kids for ages. Each of them lasted a good couple of days before they were changed for something new and going back and repeating old ideas works well too.

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As always, I like to share my guests social media accounts so you know where to find them...

You can find Alison here

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A Couple of Extra Busy Bags

Hello everyone! Remember last month when Alison (from The Way He Plays) and I posted 20 Busy Bag Ideas? Well I had this extra little one in mind and thought it should be shared...

You can find these containers just about anywhere and they're generally used for storing all of your craft bits and pieces. Miss M is just getting interested (well obsessed with) 'little things' and 'loose parts', especially the little gems (she calls them 'mini rocks' - bless!) She can't quite turn/twist the containers herself yet, but she certainly enjoys tipping, sorting and moving each item one by one from container to container. The kidney beans were also a big hit after some recent sensory play.

These 'Surprise Sensory Boxes' were Alison's idea - but I gave it a go myself and wanted to share my version. My little miss loves them. I'm teaching her how to slide the boxes out herself and it's go great for her language development - already she's learnt bumpy, fuzzy, soft, rough, smooth...

From L-R / top-bottom: Corrugated cardboard, sticky velcro dots, pipe cleaners, mini pom poms, cotton wool, sandpaper, straws, shiny paper, match sticks and scrunched cellophane. Make sure you glue everything down thought! I also thought these would be great to use at school during our 'five senses' unit for the sense of 'touch'. Thanks Alison for the idea!

As ever, please be wary of small items if your child is likely to put them in their mouth. I would definitely supervise my little miss with these materials, but am confident and trust her not to put them in her mouth - she seems to be over that phase.

Give these a try with your busy little person.
Lauren

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That time we went to Sydney {and survived Little Man's first flight}

Hello friends!
We have just got home from our first 'family-of-four' holiday. We enjoyed 4 days in gorgeous Sydney, more specifically Darling Harbour. It was crazy busy with the kids, trying to juggle everything and keep everyone happy - but we made it and the fun times far outweighed the tantrums and grizzles ;)

There was so much fun stuff for kids to do over there that I couldn't keep it all to myself and had to share a few highlights and snapshots of our trip!

The kids are checking out the view

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Play Ideas From Your Kitchen Cupboard {Guest Post}

Sometimes I find the best play ideas are the simplest ones. The activities which don't require many materials. You don't even need to go to the craft shop. In fact you probably already have these items in your pantry, utensil drawer or kitchen cupboard. That's the theme of today's guest post by Amy from The Egg Box Parent. She has some fantastic ideas to share with you all today (and something for all ages!).

Thanks Amy! The floor is yours!

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My name is Amy I am mum to a very busy one year old. I have lots of qualification in early childhood and I am currently finishing my masters in Child Development. I have worked within early years my entire carer both in Australia and in the United Kingdom. My most recent role led me to work with some of the most disadvantaged children and families in Australia. Upon meeting these families it soon became apparent that these children needed to gain the same skills as any other child, without any toys, flash cards or printouts. Through this my Instagram page The Egg Box Parent was born. My philosophy leans heavily towards education. I believe that children do not need copious amounts of toys to help them achieve their developmental milestones and we already have all the resources we need to get them there. We all know that the favourite present at Christmas is the box the toy came in, I have embraced this and try to create as many learning opportunities as possible with what I can find in the cupboard at home.

- Musical pots and pans

- Tissue box scarves

- Fine motor with cotton balls

- Pasta in a tub!

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15+ Educational Christmas Gift Ideas

Hello everyone!
Well if you follow me on Facebook and Instagram (you're awesome!) and you've probably heard that I've been selected by the wonderful online kids & babies shop Finlee and Me. It is such an exciting step for Teacher Types as I prepare to take a year maternity leave from teaching and want to take my blog further out into the interwebs... I've learnt that collaboration is the key to getting anywhere in the online world, and I'm so grateful to have established this partnership with Angela and her business.

What does that mean for you? Well I've got the inside scoop (if you like) on absolutely brilliant and unique toys and products for your children - most of which you can't get in regular shops. I can share the educational benefits and our personal play experiences too. All opinions are my own, and this is not a sponsored post, I will however always disclose if a product has been kindly gifted :)

So without further ado - here are my top 15 educations Christmas gift ideas all available from Finlee and Me! If you're thinking of starting your Christmas shopping and want to avoid the Westfields - why not buy online?

Amazing Alphabets

image source - Finlee and Me. Shop here

The alphabet is everywhere! And it's never too early to start. Most kids love puzzles - and if they're learning the alphabet at the same time it's win win! This wooden alphabet puzzle is beautiful quality and would be a great for kids 2-5 years of age. Number puzzle also available!

We have letters all over our house - a foamy alphabet in the bath and magnet letters on the fridge just to name a few. Providing a print rich environment and immersing your child in letters, words and language can work wonders for their early development. Half the fun for little hands is sticking these magnet letters on to the fridge, and it's a set of 52 meaning you get a full capital and lower case letters. These are a gift for my nephew this Christmas {gifted}

Shop here!

Image source - Finlee and Me. Shop here

You can never go wrong with books for Christmas pressies. Maybe you need an extra item or two, a stocking stuffer, or you're buying for someone else's child you don't really know all that well. The Alphablock book is a winner {gifted}. Little readers peek through the cut out capital letters to reveal the pictured behind. The Countablock Number book is also available at Finlee and Me.

Beautiful Blocks

image source - Finlee and Me. Shop here

How stunning are these pastel building blocks? There are other colours available but these are my favourites! I believe that blocks should be part of every play area both at home or school. They are what we call an open ended toy - and the possibilities are endless. It's amazing to see where your child's imagination will take them. 

The newest addition to our block bucket are these rainbow blocks {gifted}. Best played with near a window to get the dull visual effect of light pouring through the coloured blocks. Miss M and I enjoyed sorting by colour and then by shape, making towers and structures and as you can see - having a look through to see what the world would look like :)

Shop here

Grimms Rainbow

Grimms Rainbow Small - Shop Here

So you know how I can't resist a rainbow?? These are my all time favourite toy and product from Finlee and Me. If I could recommend just one present for your Christmas list it would be this. We have the small (pictured above along with the Grimms stacking cups) and it's just right for tiny little hands (1-3 year olds).

For older children - 4 and above, I'd recommend splurging and getting the large rainbow. There is just so much more they can do with more pieces. My blogger friend Nichole from You Clever Monkey has a fantastic post sharing 5 ways to play with this rainbow stacker. Have a look and you'll be inspired!

Grimms Rainbow Large - Shop Here

Imaginative + Pretend Play

Wooden Fruit Cutting Set - Shop here

For Christmas this year we're after some additions to Miss M's play kitchen. It's always a good idea to build on what you have instead of getting too much and over cluttering. Any good play kitchen isn't complete with out play food - so we got this wooden fruit cutting set {gifted}. It's so ideal for Miss M's age right now. She loves pretend play and I can just see her keeping busy cutting up the fruits and joining them back together, making meals for her teddies and dolls ('friends' she calls them)...

Family members are always asking for Christmas present ideas aren't they? Miss M's Nanna is getting her this cute as pie cash register to go with her play kitchen, play food, trolley, handbag etc... So much learning happens through play as young children act out their everyday life experience and make sense of the world around them.

Image source - Finlee and Me. Shop here

Invite a little magic into your child's bedroom or play room with these fairy doors. This product is on my wish list for when Miss M becomes a big sister, I think it'll be the perfect addition to her rainbow bedroom. The 'small world play' possibilities are endless with these little doors and accessories that come with it. Many parents say that these have helped their little ones stay in their own beds and sleep better through the night. Win win!

Image Source - Finlee and Me. Shop here (many colours available, pictured here with accessories sold separately)

Fine Motor & Music

Shop here!

Another fabulous Finlee and Me product is the Wooden Lock Activity Box {gifted}. If your little one is fascinated with keys, knobs, locks and latches, they'll be kept busy with this for ages! We have something similar for Miss M (I called it the Nuts 'n' bolts toddler board). But the lock box version is much smaller, more compact and you don't have to make it yourself! In this photo Miss M is giving it a little test run before we give it to her cousin for Christmas!

I've had my eye on this Melody Mix for a while now - I just think it's such a cool idea. So many musical instruments in one neat and tidy set! Young children LOVE music and noise and they can experiment with so many different sounds and actions with these instruments. Bang, scrape, tap, shake...fun, fun, fun!

Image Source - Finlee and Me. Shop here.

Activities for when you're on the go

Image Source - Finlee and Me. Shop here.

Ever heard of busy bags? They're an ingenious idea designed to keep toddlers busy when you're out and about and need something quiet, low mess and low fuss to keep them entertained (eg doctor's waiting rooms, flights, out to dinner etc). This fabric memory game is ideal! Playing independently, children can match up the pairs, or play with a partner.

Another easy to transport, busy bag type product are these drawing sets (many colours available). Velcro tabs make them easy for little hands to open and close. (Please note, note pad is included but crayons are not). What a nifty idea!

Image source - Finlee and Me. Shop here

Probably the quietest play product ever and one of my favourites are fuzzy felts. Numerous different scenes can be created with just one set and will encourage little imaginations, and best of all it's silent! There are so many other sets available at Finlee and Me, just follow the link under the image.

Image source - Finlee and Me. Shop here.

Well there you have it! What a huge list of ideas! I hope you've found something useful here, I tried to include products to suit a variety of budgets explaining their use in a variety of educational categories. There is so so much more at Finlee and Me that you just must have a browse around!

Who else has started their Christmas shopping early?

Lauren x

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