Learning through Play

The home of easy to set up play ideas! Browse a range of activities that are simple to create and often use the stuff you already have lying around your house! These activities are all created with communication development in mind, so be sure to join in with your little one and foster some conversation.

On the Blog...

Indoor Camping

Here's a gentle reminder to pitch a tent indoors! Especially if you're not a camping person (like me!). Kids love enclosed spaces - even when it's not all that enclosed...

Connetix Creations

We’re loving these at the moment so I had to do a post about them. Magnetic tiles are fab for so many reasons:🧐 fine motor skills - holding and manipulating...

Dolls are for everyone

If you think dolls are just for girls then you’re very sadly mistaken. Men care for babies. Men are dads. Men teach children. Men work in kindergartens. Men are nurses....

Feed the birds

Auggie loves to throw things but it’s not always ideal - especially in the house! I wanted to do an activity that would let him practice the motor-planning and big...

Backyard Pond

One of Auggie's favourite things to do with his Nana and Granda was to throw stones into any body of water on their outings! My parents did a fantastic job...

Phone Home

I picked up this old school phone from a charity shop for $2 and it's August's new fave. This wasn't a random purchase - I've wanted one for a while...

Wipe Box Posting

Auggie has been sick this long weekend so we've been inside a lot. That has meant I've had to be on my game with keeping him engaged in resources he...

Beach Play Tray

Some simple sensory play today - sand. You can't get more classic than that. We keep a load of sand in a big plastic container and we tip it into...

Mud Pies

Messy play is incredibly important for development, so I like to provide August with as many messy opportunities as possible. Sunny days make it easy because we can wreak havoc...

Blow your own bubbles

Ok the secret is out, I absolutely HATE bubble machines! I'd hazard a guess that there's not one Speech and Language Therapist who would use one - they're fresh out...

Scent Bags

@navybabynz packages their toys in these gorgeous organza bags and I've been saving them for an activity! Today we picked lavender when I spied a big bush of it in the...

Mystery Bag

August is truly in the 'enclosure schema' of play. This just means that he's really enjoying hiding things inside of other things, putting blankets/clothes over his head and crawling into...

BYO Puddle

Yesterday in the park, August showed interest in a puddle and I couldn't let him explore it because it was just before naptime (in the pushchair) and I'd forgotten a...

Learning to care for others

If you think dolls are just for girls then you have a whole lot of learning to do. Dolls are an incredible tool for learning and they're for everyone. August...

Peg Play

For a little simple, quiet, calm activity this afternoon when August was getting a bit wobbly - I cracked out the pegs. They’re not the posh wooden ones you see...

Tea Party: Imaginative Play

You might have seen that we're all about having tea parties at the moment. It's not just an excuse for me to play with the wooden toy biscuits, I promise....

Fun with Mud

WHO IS BRAVE ENOUGH?! We stepped up the mess factor today and played in mud. EVERYTHING is washable so why hold back? We rugged up and headed to the deck...

They see me rollin'

We continued exploring the rotation schema this afternoon by rolling our ball-pit balls down the pikler ramp. I put the kinderboard at the bottom to catch them all. We're super...

Ice Painting 🌈

We did some icey painting today! It was a bit chilly outside but we had a blast - even if August preferred painting his feet than the paper. When he'd...

Pom Pom Whisk

Exactly what it says on the tin! I filled a whisk with some colourful pom poms to spark August's interest. He'd never seen pom poms before so it was all...