Great Ideas for Play

March 2nd is a special day, as today we say “Happy Birthday” to Theodor Geisel, or as he as better remembered, Dr. Seuss! In his honor, Random House and the National Education Association (NEA) have recognized March 2nd as “Read Across America Day,” encouraging all to take time to read to a child.

The friendly reminder to adults to read to children emphasizes that we all need to find time to “unplug,” relax, and read, every day! Naturally, though, there are new, technology-savvy ways to learn. You’ll be impressed by this collection of Dr. Seuss-themed apps that are fittingly on sale today!

Here at Growing Tree Toys, we have a fun variety of books from soft baby books to Klutz books that will encourage your kids (and you!) to take a break to read and learn. Kids can even become “authors” themselves with our Create Your Own 3 Bitty Books Kit!

For more about Read Across America Day and reading in general, visit the NEA Read Across America website or see more about the fun of Dr. Seuss at Seussville.com.

Have a computer? is your sound on? Then check out these awesome, free tools from around the web to help teach the fun of music at home, or anytime!

Now, I think any age group would find this quite exciting! From the Exploratorium in San Francisco is the Science of Music Dot Mixer, where anyone can become a DJ! You literally drag and drop colored dots onto the screen, the more you drag, the more beats that are mixed together. They recommend using headphones for the full effect!

More from San Francisco – their Symphony also wants kids to have fun with music on their SFS Kids site. There you can find their Music Lab that teaches the basics (literally, the staff and the notes), harmony, rhythm, tempo and so on. When you’re all set, you can use the “Composerizer” to put together all you’ve learned! Very neat.

We see why this interactive opera of Hansel & Gretel won a “Best In Class” Interactive Media Award! Before you customize your opera, you can go “backstage” and learn more about opera and its terminology, fairy tales, different vocal ranges, and more. They do such a great job in relating to what kids understand, like equating the “melody” to “happy kids jumping.” Your child’s name will even be customized on the program!

Technology is well-utilized in this collection of children’s singalong songs. For each song, say Row, Row, Row Your Boat there are videos that demonstrate the song in action. You can also view the song’s lyrics (gently down the what?) and even download the sheet music in several keys.

For more fun with music that can be had at any time, browse our Musical Toys!

Hansel & Gretel images are from the Classical KUSC Kids site, while you can see (and more importantly, hear!) the whole Dot Mixer experience courtesy of the Exploratorium site.

A daunting aspect of any new hobby is how all the parts and supplies will be organized. This definitely holds true for crafting endeavors! It is very worthwhile to have an organization plan for all of your craft supplies, and thankfully, it is easy to do with inexpensive items or things you may have on hand.

A very efficient way to organize is with clear containers, and the smaller the better. (My favorite is a set of 5 shoebox-sized ones that often go on sale for $1 or less a piece.) This way, you can be very specific about the container’s contents, like wide ribbon or scraps of cardstock. It’s also a great way to store your projects in progress or supplies you temporarily need in one spot, like for the holidays. Use plain labels and colorful markers to label what is inside, and then it’s easy to change if you decide to switch out what you’re storing.

I also like to reuse containers and boxes rather than buying new. Standard shoeboxes are perfect for like items such as yarn, ribbon and felt. Oatmeal containers hold pipe cleaners and writing implements, and are primed for decorating. (A craft project in itself!) Random items like drinking glasses and Ziploc bags can also make for easy and handy organizing.

See easy, stylish, and Ultimate Craft Organization Solutions through Better Homes & Gardens. Favorites shown below (left to right) include Kids Art Supply Shelves, cork Pin-Up Boards, and an unbelievably creative Craft Supply Suitcase.

Look around for other crafty ideas on our blog!

Thanks to the internet, we can share and find information faster and more efficiently than we ever thought possible. People with common interests from all over the world can collaborate and find new solutions and ideas. One of many subjects that has really benefited from being connected globally is homeschooling!

An awesome resource for parents that homeschool or for anyone that wants creative, budget-friendly, and most importantly, engaging and educational ideas for young children is the blog by The Activity Mom! Nicole made an appearance before as our Blogger of the Week and we’re happy to revisit her blog and share some more of her great ideas with our readers!

Reuse and Repurpose
For a new way to play with puzzles, she suggests hiding the pieces! Such a neat and totally simple way to breathe new life into a toy. See tons more budget friendly-solutions!

Printables
You have a computer and a printer – use them to literally make the supplies for hours of learning! One of my favorite printables on her site is the Candle Build-a-Shape Mat that lets kids match the sides of familiar shapes with none other than birthday candles! Make sure your printer is full of paper and check out her printables.

Holiday Fun
Nicole shares ways to make the holidays a learning experience as well! Get ready for upcoming celebrations with ideas for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas!

Quick Activities
So many of her ideas are even better because they can be put together and ready to play with right away! A fun example is entitled What’s Missing?. Simply draw pictures with something “missing” and let your child fill it in or say what’s not there!

Visit The Activity Mom and explore new ways to learn and play, and visit our blog again next week for more to celebrate Back to School!

Our home state of Pennsylvania is largely farmland, with agriculture being the number one industry here. Farms are spotlighted several times in August in our area alone, starting with the Central PA Local Foods Week and Farm Tour; a week of special events followed by a day of intimate tours of area farms. The state’s largest outdoor agricultural show, Ag Progress Days, is held yearly mid-month. Then, starting tomorrow is the Centre County Grange Encampment and Fair (or “Grange Fair“) includes livestock contests, animal shows, exhibits, and the wildly-popular on-site camping.

We celebrate fun on the farm year round at our website, with several different farm toys!

For Babies & Toddlers: Let little ones learn about our farm animal friends with Baby Farm Friends Bowling and Farm Sound Blocks.

Farm Art: We carry some neat options for farm-inspired creations, like the Little Hands My Collage Farm Kit and the Ready2Learn Giant Farm Animal Stamps (Read a fun parent review of the stamps here!)

Playmobil Farm: Just like the school, Playmobil has a large set of buildings, people, animals and accessories in the Playmobil Farm!

Farmhouse Decor: For those that want to bring the fun of the farm indoors, the Guidecraft Little Farmhouse furniture is a must-see. Decorate a whole room with coordinating chairs, a table, a stepstool, and a toy box.

Schleich: The hand-painted, true-to-life Schleich Farm Animal Figures would love to call the Big Red Barn Set home!

Though the growing season may be winding down, our farm toys make the farm fun anytime!

I loved Ratatat Cat from Gamewright when I was in elementary school. It’s a game that combines memory and strategy with anthropomorphic rats and cats. If I couldn’t convince anyone to play it with me, sometimes I just looked at the illustrations on the cards and imagined things about the characters. Gamewright makes awesome kids’ games.

Do you know what else they do? Partner with parents and teachers to put on super fun fundraisers in schools. With the new school year approaching these Gamewright GameNights are a great way to meet other families, play together and raise money for your children’s school!

Here’s how it works: One evening, the school hosts a GameNight at which families can play a range of new and favorite games provided by Gamewright. During the evening, people can purchase games and half of the proceeds from the sales are donated to your school! (The games will range in price from around 5 dollars to 15 dollars).

Gamewright makes it very simple to hold one of these events. Here are the steps to making it happen:

Step 1: First coordinate a date and location. Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings sometime between 6 and 9 are usually ideal. A central location like a school gym or cafeteria works well and two hours is the perfect amount of time.

Step 2: Once all the details are set with the school, contact Gamewright to give them the information plus your school’s shipping address. Gamewright then sends promotional posters and flyers to distribute throughout classrooms. They’ll also send demo games 2 weeks before the event so that your volunteer staff can learn the rules.

Step 3: You’ll need 1 volunteer to staff the sales table, 1 to staff a demo games table and then a handful of “Game Gurus”—people that can teach the games. Enlisting older kids and teens as some of the Game Gurus will make the night special for younger kids and the more Game Gurus you have the better!

Step 4: To promote the GameNight, distribute the provided fliers around the community and send mini flyers home with kids. Use your school’s PTO or PTA email lists to send out an announcement to weeks prior to the event and then another email reminder a few days before the event. Announce the event at community gatherings and at a PTO meeting!

Gamewright GameNights are a nice way to fundraise because kids don’t have to peddle candies, wrapping paper or knickknacks to their grandparents and neighbors. They can volunteer and help out at the event or just come and play! It’s low stress and lots of fun! Learn more about Gamewright GameNights here! Contact them at gamenight@gamewright.com or call 1-800-638-7568 x221 for more information.