Made For Play Blog
Explore child development through play, find inspiration for your next DIY project, and discover tips for selecting the perfect toys for your little ones.
Latest Articles
8 Activities Using Play Food for Kids
We all know that play kitchens and the play food that comes with them are great for dramatic play. I mean, who doesn't love being served pizza-watermelon-cookie soup by their toddling chef? But your kids’ pretend food makes a great addition to other activities too! Here are 8 new ways you can put that pretend food set to use in these food play activities for kids of all ages. Sorting Sorting is naturally fun for kids! They have a natural desire to find patterns, opposites, and categories. Play food sets offer all kinds of sorting activities for toddlers and preschoolers. Toddlers can sort by color, and older children can use more abstract concepts to sort the food items. (Which foods are for breakfast/lunch/ dinner? Which foods are sweet/ sour/ savory? Which foods are served hot or cold?) Mystery Bags Stereognostics, aka mystery bags, are a classic Montessori-inspired activity. To make one, put a few different objects in an opaque bag. Have your child reach in and feel the objects, describe them, and try to identify them, all without taking a peek. This activity helps your child develop their tactile senses, vocabulary, and reasoning skills. Play food presents a great challenge for this activity! Because most pieces of play food have a similar texture and weight, kids will have to use their fingers to explore the shapes to identify them correctly. This added challenge is perfect for older preschoolers who have already mastered mystery bags with easier-to-identify objects.. Learning Fractions Toy foods like this apple pie or cake set are perfect manipulatives for introducing fractions. Abstract number concepts can be tough for kids, but make that concept tangible and dessert-related? Now that’s something they’ll get on board with! Shopping & Math If your school-age kiddo loves to play restaurant or shopkeeper, have them create their own price list for each of the food items. When it’s time to pay the bill, you can add up the total together. This activity is especially great for introducing the concept of multiplication to school-age kids. (If I want to buy three pizza slices, and you charge $2 per slice, how much should I give you?) Raid your Monopoly box for pretend money or make your own for even more fun! Clay Models Add a little challenge and inspiration to play dough time by asking your child to make their best playdough or clay version of their play foods. Play food items are the perfect level of difficulty for this kind of activity: simple and easy to make yet interesting and intricate enough that your kids will enjoy trying to copy them. Stencils and Stamps Bring your play food set into the craft area for fun food-inspired art! Use them as stencils, letting kids trace the outline and then color and draw inside. Or pour a small amount of washable paint onto paper plates, and use them as stamps! Sensory Bins Sensory bins are all the rage on Pinterest, Instagram, and pretty much every mom blog around. And yes, they live up to the hype! While there are all types of sensory bins, a classic version includes a base like dyed rice, beans, or kinetic sand along with smaller objects and toys. Kids love pouring, digging, and sifting through the base to find the toys, and play foods make a perfect addition. Since sensory bins are often themed around holidays, seasons, and other categories, toss in a few play foods that fit your theme! Looking to shop for the perfect play kitchen or pretend play toy by age? Explore our selection for 2-to-4 year olds and 3-to-5 year olds now.
How Wooden Blocks Promote Child Development
Sometimes, it’s the simple things that make the biggest impact – and that’s definitely true when it comes to classic toys like wooden blocks. Blocks are recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics (and nearly every other similar organization) as a great toy to promote healthy child development. But how do these simple toys do so much? Here are a few of the ways blocks help kids develop and thrive! Sensory Play When we think sensory play, bins of colorful rice and squishy sensory bags are probably the first things to come to mind. But for babies, sensory play can be even simpler. After all, nearly everything is new to them, so any new material, texture, temperature, or sound truly fascinates them! While infants may not be stacking blocks just yet, they are learning and playing as they explore blocks’ differing textures, shapes, and weights. They also make great auditory sensory play objects as babies tap, bang, and clap them together. Fine Motor Skills One of the most well-known benefits of blocks are the fine motor skills that are developed as toddlers learn to stack and balance blocks. In addition to developing careful grips and lining blocks up on top of one another, they also get practice with the pressure and speed they use to add new blocks to the tower. Too hard or fast, and they’ll cause the others to tumble! These fine motor skills are the same that will eventually allow them to set a cup down gently on the table without spilling or learn to gently pet the family dog. Cognitive Development A child’s ability to stack blocks always shows up on lists of cognitive developmental milestones. Why? Learning to stack and build encourages problem-solving skills. As toddlers rebuild towers over and over, they begin to learn what makes them crash and what makes them more stable. By age 2, experts expect children to be able to stack 4 or more blocks and 6 or more by age 3. Mastering these simple towers means they’ve likely developed many of the fine motor and problem-solving skills expected for their age. Open-ended Pretend Play Symbolic play is another developmental milestone that often emerges between 18 months and 2 years of age when toddlers begin to use one object to represent another. A common example is pretending that a toy block is a car. While any type of object can be used in symbolic play, open-ended toys like blocks are great for encouraging pretend play. Because they are simple, children are often more willing to use them to represent other objects. Positive Parent-Child Interactions According to the AAP, “A toy’s most important attribute is its capacity to bring the parent or caregiver and the child together in playful interactions that are warm and full of rich language.” Blocks are a great toy for fostering these interactions, so take advantage of opportunities to play and chat together as your toddler pours out the blocks. You can talk about the colors and shapes, about how to make that wobbly tower a little more steady, or about the castle you're building together. A Toy that Grows with Them Some toys have a longer lifespan than others – while rattles and crinkle books may be baby favorites, they won’t hold toddlers’ and preschoolers’ attention. Blocks, on the other hand, can stay in the toy rotation for years as they always present new challenges! Babies love them for sensory exploration. Toddlers are drawn to the fine motor and cognitive challenge of stacking blocks. And preschoolers begin to create more complex structures and use them in pretend play.
Best Developmental Toys for Kids
When it comes to toys, simple is usually best. Classic, open-ended toys that encourage building, movement, and pretend play are the time-tested winners when it comes to developing motor skills, growing imaginations, and – most importantly – having fun! Our list of developmental toys covers everyone from babies to big kids and is filled with kid-tested playtime favorites. Best Developmental Toys for Infants & Toddlers Shape Sorters The best developmental toys for babies turn those adorable chubby hands into fine-motor machines! Babies are also all about toys that display cause and effect and help them explore spatial reasoning skills (i.e. how things fit inside of other things). Shape sorters check all of the boxes! The shapes are perfect for the littlest littles who are just learning how to grasp objects of various sizes and shapes. As they get a bit older, they’ll love dumping the shapes out of the box and putting them back in through the large opening. And as they reach toddlerhood, they’ll actually play with it for its main purpose – sorting shapes into the matching holes. Themed shaped sorters like the Noah’s Ark Shape Sorter also work well for pretend play, meaning they’ll stay a playtime favorite into the preschool years. Push Toys Push toys like the Push Along Play Cart help those early walkers get their sea legs! Unlike baby walkers, which have actually been associated with delayed walking and dangerous accidents, push toys like wagons and carts let toddlers develop strength, balance, and coordination. Best Developmental Toys for 3 & 4 Year Olds Play Kitchens Pretend play helps your kiddo develop problem-solving skills, social skills, emotional regulation, and creativity. A play kitchen – and all of those adorable pretend dishes and foods – are a fantastic way to encourage dramatic role-play, an important type of pretend play. Kids develop independence and real-life skills as they pretend to do what adults do. Even tasks that seem mundane to us, like frying eggs for breakfast, are exciting to our littles when they get a chance to do (or pretend to do) them on their own. Play kitchens are also fun props for imaginative play and world-building, and your mini-chef will use theirs for everything from playing house to cooking up magic potions. Toy Train Sets Truthfully, a toy train set can be successfully introduced a bit earlier or even years later, but four-year-olds are right in the sweet spot. They’ve developed the fine motor skills necessary to build tracks on their own, but they’ll still be challenged by planning and assembling complex tracks. This type of constructive play –a fancy term for “building stuff”– is associated with better math skills even much later in life. Our Top Train Set Picks for Kids guide can help you find a train set that lines up with your child’s skill level and interests. Wooden Blocks Good ol’ fashion blocks are one of the most highly praised toys for developmental benefits. In fact, how many blocks a child can stack is used as one measure of their developmental milestones. Stacking blocks challenges their fine motor skills, and making more complex structures helps develop their spatial reasoning and creativity. Best Developmental Toys for 5 & 6 Year Olds Dollhouses All those benefits of pretend play we talked about? Dollhouses provide them too, and they’re particularly awesome in the areas of emotional and social development. If you’ve ever really listened to a five-year-old play with a dollhouse, you know what we mean. Those dolls have some pretty dramatic adventures and conflicts, all powered by the kids’ amazing imaginations. As they play the parts of multiple dolls, they’re learning how to see from others’ perspectives and slowly but surely gaining empathy. Inventing and acting out social conflicts preps them for the real thing and helps them learn to regulate their own big feelings. Building Bricks Your five year old can still benefit from constructive play, but they probably no longer find wooden blocks challenging enough. Plastic building bricks on the other hand? The perfect toy to create all those cool things they’re dreaming up. They’re ideal for creating more complex structures and objects they can pretend with like a garage for their toy trucks or a pretend cell phone. At their age, the possibilities are really endless – we don’t call them “clever creators” for nothing! Outdoor Play Sets Swing sets build gross motor skills, strength, endurance, and perhaps most importantly, encourage kids to get outside and be active! This is especially important for school-age kids who may sit a lot throughout the school day and are more prone to sedentary behavior than ever-wiggly toddlers. Want more ideas for brain-boosting play for your little ones? Be sure to check out our complete toy guides for three, four, five, and six-year-olds!
How to Help Your Child Focus and Concentrate
Kids aren’t exactly known for their ability to focus for long periods of time. You can chalk some of that up to their natural attention spans (which aren’t that long to begin with). Combine that with our multi-tasking, tech-distracted tendencies, and you’ve got a recipe for kids who struggle to focus for even short periods of time. Thankfully, we can help our kiddos grow their focus and concentration over time with intentional changes to our routines, spaces, and instructions. Here’s what you can do! Take Frequent Breaks Keep in mind that we can only expect kids to concentrate for so long. In general, experts agree that kids should be able to focus for 2 - 5 minutes times their age. So a 5-year-old should be able to focus on a task for 10 - 25 minutes at a time. But this will vary depending on a ton of factors. Kids who are hungry, thirsty, tired, or emotional may have far shorter attention spans. Likewise, if kids have already been focusing for long periods of time throughout the day at school, it may be tougher for them to focus on tough or “boring” tasks at home. One way to help kids reset and restore focus is to take frequent breaks according to their age and attention span at that moment (i.e. tired or “amped up” kids might need more breaks). These breaks can vary by time and activity according to what your kids need at that moment. Kids who need to get up and expend energy will benefit from playing actively outside. Kids who are hungry could use a snack break, etc. With a little time and observation, you’ll learn to pick up on cues from your kids that indicate they need to take a break and come back to the task at hand later. Remove Distractions We probably know to remove external distractions when kids need to focus – turning off screens, reducing noise, keeping the area tidy – but we should try to reduce internal distractions too. Temperature, an uncomfortable chair, or hunger can be just as distracting as the TV. Set Up a “Focus” Space With that in mind, it’s great to set up a space that’s always distraction-free for kids to focus on their homework and other tasks. A kids desk in a quiet area of the house is ideal. Since they’re ergonomically correct for tiny bodies, they’ll help reduce internal distractions like straining to reach a tabletop that’s too tall. Eventually, their brain will come to associate that space with quiet, focused work time instead of eating, playing, sleeping, or watching TV. Focus on One Thing at a Time We’ve all heard it before: multitasking actually reduces performance, and none of us really multitask that well. This is especially true when it comes to kids. They’re probably not trying to cook dinner, listen to a Podcast, and respond to emails at the same time, but they may be trying to lay out all of their homework and jump from task to task. Encourage them to focus on one assignment, one problem, one question at a time without looking ahead or switching to a different task. Break Down Big Tasks When kids find a task overwhelming, they’re more likely to lose focus or give up altogether. Whether it’s cleaning their room or finishing a project for school, help them out by giving them one simple instruction at a time. When that step is complete, move on to the next, taking breaks as needed. Remember, to keep your expectations realistic and stick with good attention-building habits. Overtime, you’ll help your kids develop skills that will help them succeed in school and beyond!
Sensory Play Activities for Toddlers
No time to dye rice and make fancy sensory bins? No problem. While Instaworthy sensory bins with elaborate themes might be all the rage on social media, there are so many other ways to provide your toddler with sensory play opportunities. In fact, our favorite sensory play ideas require very little prep! Here are some simple, fun sensory activities for toddlers that come together in five minutes or less! Food! If your eighteen-month-old seems more interested in smushing sweet potatoes than eating them, don’t worry. That time in the high chair actually counts as sensory play! For one thing, meal times let your toddler safely explore new tastes, something that’s tough to do with most play materials. But it’s more than just taste! The smell, temperature, texture, and even sounds of all their favorite (and not-so-favorite) foods provide rich sensory experiences that help their growing brains…even if nothing actually ends up in their stomachs. Play Dough Play dough is a great way to combine sensory play with constructive and creative play, allowing your toddler to squish, feel, and mush as they create and build. Crafts Between squishy fingerpaint, sticky glue, fuzzy pipe cleaners, and more, craft materials provide a wide variety of sensory experiences – not to mention plenty of fine motor practice too! Keep a variety of materials on hand and create a mess-friendly craft space. Easels or dedicated craft tables can help keep the mess contained while still giving them a space to explore! Sound Shakers & Musical Instruments Old spice jars and other small containers make great shakers for little hands! Add different materials like dried rice, beans, marbles, or craft supplies so your toddler can explore the different sounds each object makes. To avoid messes and choking hazards, be sure the lids are on securely and hot glue them closed if necessary! Chickpea Playfoam Did you know that the liquid from a can of chickpeas can be whipped into a foam that’s perfect for sensory play? Next time you crack open a can, save the liquid, add food coloring if desired, and let your toddler help you whip it with your electric mixer. In a few minutes, you’ll have a taste-safe foam for squishing, splashing, and playing. Sandboxes We like to think of sandboxes as the original sensory bin! And unlike a plastic bin of colored rice in your kitchen, they keep the mess outside! They’re also more versatile as your toddler can dig, bury, and build with sand in ways they can’t with an indoor sensory bin. Consider adding a sandbox and a few gardening tools to your backyard play setup, so that you have a zero-prep sensory bin ready to go at all times! Ice Play Set out a few bowls with water of varying temperatures (none too hot, of course!), a bowl of ice cubes, and a few kitchen tools like spoons, measuring cups, and tongs. The slippery ice and stark differences in temperature provide tons of fun sensory input. Plus, your toddler will love transferring ice with the different tools, and you’ll love the fine motor practice they get along the way! For a simpler version, simply provide a bowl of ice at their next bath! They can play with a few at a time so the cubes don’t all melt at once. Balance, Climbing, & Swinging While we usually think of sight, taste, touch, sound, and smell when we think of sensory play, play that develops your child’s vestibular system actually counts as sensory play as well! The vestibular system is responsible for our sense of our bodies in space. It’s how we keep our balance and sense where we are even when our eyes are closed. Balance beams, swings, and climbing materials are all great for vestibular development! For equipment-free activities, play games where you and your toddler spin around, balance on one foot, or find an object while blind-folded.
Benefits of Sensory Play
If you’re a toddler or preschool parent, you’ve probably seen the #sensoryplay tag on your feed at least a few times… usually accompanied by a bin of dyed rice and small toys. And while cute, themed sensory bins may be a fad, sensory play certainly isn’t! It’s a critical part of early childhood with huge development benefits, and it goes far beyond sensory bins. Here’s what you should know about sensory play and why it matters! What is Sensory Play? As you could probably guess, sensory play is play that engages the senses. Of course, that includes the big five – sight, touch, taste, sound, and smell – but it also includes our sense of balance and location (more on that later). Many sensory play activities focus on touch, encouraging kids to explore different materials and textures through good ol’ messy play (i.e. sensory bins, play foam, slime, etc.). But anything that engages the senses and your child’s attention and focus can count as sensory play. So when your toddler helps you cook and comments on the smells and sounds of food in the pan, they’re getting a great sensory play session too! Playing with scented bubbles in the bathtub, shaking maracas, and having fun taste testing new foods are all examples of sensory play too. Sensory Play for the Proprioceptive and Vestibular System Sensory play extends even beyond the five senses to our less commonly-known senses: proprioception and equilibrioception. Our proprioceptive system is responsible for our sense of place in a given space. It’s how we can feel where we are in relation to other things, even when our eyes are closed. Our vestibular system is responsible for our equilibrioception, or sense of balance. Activities that engage these systems like swinging, balancing, climbing, spinning, and walking backwards can all be considered sensory play as well! Why is Sensory Play Important? Supports Cognitive Development Sensory play actually helps develop the neural pathways (i.e. nerve connections) in babies and toddlers’ brains! The rich sensory inputs and problem-solving challenges that come with sensory play help support healthy cognitive development, laying the foundation for future learning. Refines Motor Skills Many sensory play opportunities also include fine or gross motor practice. Things like pouring items in a sensory bin or rolling out playdough build fine motor skills, while activities swinging and balancing refine their gross motor skills. Encourages Exploration and Curiosity By providing rich sensory experiences for your toddler, you help them discover the world around them. When they get a chance to explore new sensory experiences, their curiosity and natural drive to experiment and problem solve are sure to take over. Enhances Learning and Memory Kids, and adults for that matter, learn more effectively when multiple senses are engaged. This is why so many preschool and elementary teachers try to combine sensory play with learning activities. Activities like tracing letters in shaving cream or using hand motions and songs to learn new concepts are just a few examples of how sensory play can make academic learning easier and more fun for kids. Feeling inspired to incorporate more sensory play into your toddlers’ life? Check out our Sensory Play Ideas for Toddlers to get started!
Beyond Imagination: Unleashing the Full Potential of Sensory Play
As parents, we're constantly seeking ways to support our kid’s growth and development… and keep them busy while we try to make dinner. One thing that ticks both boxes? Sensory play. The term might sound fancy, but it simply refers to any activity that engages the senses—touch, sight, smell, sound, and taste– in a way that’s fun for your child. From squishy textures to vibrant colors, sensory play offers a myriad of benefits that go far beyond just keeping your little ones entertained – although it does that too! Here’s how the many benefits of sensory play can help your tot learn, grow, and thrive. Enhancing Cognitive Growth through Sensory Play So how does sensory play help cognitive development? When kids manipulate materials with new textures, colors, smells, and sensations, they're not just having fun, they're also building new neural connections that prime their brains for future learning. Sensory play also comes with plenty of opportunities to practice problem-solving skills. It often presents fine motor challenges that require concentration and perseverance. Tasks like scooping, pouring, and manipulating small objects often require kids to go through a few phases of trial and error. All the while, they’re gathering information, trying new things, and performing their own experiments with the materials. The Therapeutic Power of Sensory Play Have you ever noticed how soothing it can be to sink your hands into a bowl of sand or run your fingers through water? Sensory play has therapeutic benefits for kids and adults alike. It can help children regulate their emotions, reduce stress, and improve focus. This type of play is especially beneficial when they're feeling overwhelmed or anxious. Creating a sensory corner at home with various tactile materials can serve as a safe space for your child to unwind and find comfort. Sensory Play for Special Needs Children The benefits of sensory play for special needs kids can be profound. For kids with sensory processing disorders or other special needs, sensory play can provide a structured and enjoyable way to explore different sensations. Activities that feature sensations your child already loves can become go-to tools for calming and self-regulating when other sensory inputs are overwhelming. On the other hand, sensory activities that stretch them out of their comfort zone just a bit can gradually help them to tolerate new sensory inputs. By tailoring sensory activities to their preference and tolerance level, you can introduce them to new sensations at their own pace. The Science Behind Sensory Play While it might seem like pure fun, sensory play is backed by science. Research shows that sensory play can help increase kids’ focus and capacity for learning, establish new neural connections, and support overall cognitive development. In short, sensory play experiences help wire the brain's pathways for learning. As children manipulate different materials and engage their senses, their brains are building connections that help them develop language, problem-solving skills, and creativity. So, the next time your child is elbow-deep in finger paints, know that they're not just making a mess—they're making important brain connections too! Family Bonding through Sensory Play Sensory play isn't just an activity for your child; it's an opportunity for quality family time! Joining in on sensory play can help you and your child laugh, explore, and bond. Pulse, we think you’ll be surprised at how fun it actually is to play with kinetic sand or squish homemade chickpea play foam! In conclusion, sensory play is more than just a way to keep your child occupied—it's a powerhouse of developmental benefits. From enhancing cognitive growth to calming the “I-didn’t-nap-today” tantrums to fostering sweet family bonding moments, the possibilities are endless. So bust out the playdough, the slime, the homemade sound shakers, and let your littles squish, sniff, and explore, and create. Need some sensory play ideas to get started? Our favorite Sensory Play Activities for Toddlers are fun and easy to set up!
