Jenny's Crayon Collection: Preschool

Sensory Play with NEW Playfoam Sand!

This year in 2022 Educational Insights has expanded their Playfoam line to include Playfoam Sand. The Playfoam sand comes in: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple and black. The Playfoam sand is really good tactile play for preschoolers.

The Playfoam Sand was provided by Educational Insights in exchange for an honest review.

There are four sets of Playfoam available; Ice Cream Sundae Set, ABC Cookies Set, 3 pounds of play sand in 8 colors, and a Sensory set. My favorite set is probably the ABC set because I am teaching preschool this year and teaching letters. It is a fun way for kids to learn their letters. My daughter loves them all. She was begging to play with them as soon as we got them.

What's In the Box

Each special set comes with themed accessories and the box can be played with too. The ABC box is themed liked cookies.

Here is my daughter playing with the ABC set.

She loved using the spatula.

Here is the ABC with all the accessories. We had a lot of fun make this and then as soon as it was done, my daughter loved squishing all the letters and putting them back in their bags.

The ice cream set some with some fun accessories also and a themed box.

I love the Playfoam boxes that come with this set. It is super fun to scoop out.

Here is my daughter making her sundaes. It was easy for her to know what to do. Which is super important in a childs toy.

Here is her finished project, which I might add she did all by herself!

What did we think?

My daughter and I loved using the Playfoam Sand. We have used it for preschool a few times. It is a little messy. I would not recommend using it over carpet or if there was only carpet keeping it contained or using a vacuum afterwards. The colors will mix together which can be fine for some kids. The sets are super great for sensory play for kids. My daughter definitely enjoys it.

Here are the back of the ABC Cookies Set and Ice Cream Sundae Set.

Make Saving the Environment Fun!

As a parent I think it is very important to teach kids about the environment and taking care of our planet. I was super excited to find the Adventerra Games company this year. They are a Swiss company that want to help children become aware of environmental themes that can help them respect other people, animals and the planet. Their games are plastic free, made from recycled materials and wrapped in biodegradable film. I was super excited to try out Ecologic Memory, Recycle Rally and the Water Game.

These games were provided in exchange for an honest review. This blog post contains affiliate links.

Find these games at the Adventerra Games store on Amazon.

Learn to Code with Skye the Unicorn

Learning Resources is one of the best companies for kids coding toys. Last year I reviewed Botley 2.0 and this year I am able to review MagiCoders Coding Critters Skye the Unicorn for age 4+. This is one of my daughters favorite toys. Not only is the unicorn super cute there are so many ways to interact with the unicorn that I can honestly say she loves playing with it for hours.

Skye the Unicorn was provided in exchange for an honest review. This blog post contains affiliate links.

Click here to find on Amazon

Become a Kid Palentologist with the GeoSafari Fossil Excavation Kit

Want to know what present to buy your kid that will keep them occupied for hours? The GeoSarfari Fossil Kit from Educational Insights. We were playing with a bunch of toys this day and this is the toy that my kids kept coming back to again and again.

This blog post contains affiliate links. This toy was provided in exchange for an honest review.

Make a Harry Potter Inspired Owl Craft

This week I decided to do some Harry Potter inspired crafts with my kids. We made our own owls! My kids loved this and it really showed their creativity. My daughter came up with the idea for the eyes on the above two. This project was inspired by My Very Educated Mother, but we made it our own :)

For this project I wanted to keep it simple and used supplies I already had in the house so I would not have to purchase anything. I used

brown card stock
scissors
scalloped scissors
hole punch (could use a quarter or nickel and trace instead)
plate
cup
tombow adhesive

First we used the plate to draw a giant circle for the base of the owl.

Here is what it looked like.

Then we folded the owl to give it its wings and beak/head.

Then we cut out the feathers for the body with the scalloped scissors. My son got super inventive.

Then we used the Tombow adhesive to glue the feathers to the body.

For the eyes we tried googly eyes, but they were way too small. I decided to change mine.

I used a cup for the shape of the eyes and then used the hole punch to cut out the pupils.

My daughter and son used the hole punch and created half eyes by cutting the circles in half to create the eyes. Then we put some beaks on our birds. My son even put on some eyebrows. I loved how these turned out. Everyone got to be super creative and we made some really cute owls.

I have teamed up with some other bloggers to show some really cute Harry Potter inspired craft ideas. Check them out.

There is also a giveaway for a Harry Potter Lego Set. Enter!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Learn About All Thinkgs Science with the GeoSafari KidScope

Educational Insights has some amazing STEM toys for kids. The Kidscope from the GeoSafari Jr. line is one such toy. My daughter absolutely loved this toy and loved changing out all the slides and talking about what was on each slide.

This blog post contains affiliate links. This product was received in exchange for an honest review.

Click here to find on Amazon.

Help Children Discover Emotions with the Big Feelings Pineapple

Who says innovation is dead? True there are a lot of toys on the market that are slight variations on other toys, but the "Big Feelings Pineapple" is a very much needed 21st century take on other classic toys. How is the big feelings pineapple better than other toys on the market? It is because the whole premise, "feelings" is a subject that was not talked about years and years ago and does not exist in the older toys. The Big Feelings Pineapple is a fun interactive way for kids to express their feelings.

I was given this toy in exchange for an honest review. This blog post contains affiliate links.

Find this on Amazon.

3 Earth Day Activities for Preschoolers and Elementary Kids

Earth Day is quickly approaching and I have 3 activities to do with preschoolers and elementary kids. Earth Day is a great day for kids to learn about the Earth. Earth Day began in 1970 to educate people about the dangers of a polluted environment. Senatory Gaylor Nelson and Denis Hayes organized the first Earth Day. It was a day where many groups were able to unite. It paved the way for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Occupational Safety Heath Act, Clean Air Act, Endangered Species Act, Clean Air Act, and many more. In 1990 Earth Day went global.

This blog post contains affiliate links.

The first activity is cuddling with this Sammy the Seal Shore Buddy and reading the Shore Buddies book. Shore Buddies are stuffed animals made from recycled plastic bottles. The bottles are shredded into plastic flakes. Some are used for the stuffing, some to make yarn for the outside. One dollar from every purchase goes to help save Marine Life.

Click here to find on Amazon.

The next activity is to make a landscape drawing with crayons and markers. My daughter has a special technique to draw a tree with paint brush markers.

The last activity is a scavenger hunt all about recycling. This could be done outside, in the house, or over zoom. Click here to have this delivered to your inbox.

I hope these activities help you have a great Earth Day!

Crayola 144 Sidewalk Chalk

I was so super excited to see the 144 count sidewalk chalk at Target and was super excited to see what was inside. I have the 48 and 64 count boxes. I opened this on a YouTube video and to say I was disappointed was an understatement. It just contained 4 boxes of 36 count chalk. Why not just put a bunch of 36 count boxes on the shelves and have the long spaces devoted to the 64 count chalk box that contains more unique colors and a cool box design?

If a parent knew it just contained 36 count boxes beforehand it would not be as big of disappointment. We will be using it. I will have the kids draw so much this summer and probably give them one box at a time until it is demolished as sidewalk chalk usually goes.

This blog post contains affiliate links.

Here are the 36 colors that come in the box 4 times.

Color Information

Boxes: Crayola Washable Sidewalk Chalk 144 chalk sticks
What's inside the box: purple mountains' majesty, wisteria, carnation pink, sunglow, yellow green, sea green, caribbean green, timberwolf, white, violet, lavender, mahogany, macaroni and cheese, green yellow, granny smith apple, pacific blue, sky blue, raw sienna, blue violet, pink flamingo, red, orange, goldenrod, fern, blue green, cadet blue, brown, indigo, red violet, scarlet, sunset orange, yellow, green, cerulean, gray, black
Purchase Information: Target
Where to buy: Target

Collecting Information

This box design is unique, but the colors are not. I will probably keep on of the 36 count boxes to collect and then put other items in the box, because it is really big.

Boxes: Crayola Washable Sidewalk Chalk 144 chalk sticks

Year: 2021

Style Numbers: 51-2067

Code Numbers: 51-2067-0-200

UPC Numbers: 071662220679

Manufacturing Location: Indonesia
Where to buy: Target

The Best STEAM Toys for Easter

Who wants to waste their money on Easter gifts kids will look at once and forget about? Then become a pile on the floor to trip over clutter up the house? Not me! I love getting my kids toys they will actually use for more than an hour and that they will learn from.

I have gathered up some toys from my favorite companies to show some awesome STEM and art supplies for Easter baskets. These toys are so fun for kids to use and will entertain them not just for hours, but days. My kids saw me taking this picture and wanted to play with them all. All of these toys were donated by the respective companies, but I get to choose what companies to work with and I am so grateful to be able to show these toys.

I will go through each toy with links to find them.

This blog post contains affiliate links.

The first toy in the basket is the Pinxies unicorn ice cream truck. It provides modes of play. It is a building toy, easy to assemble and it is an interactive toy that lets kids use their imaginations in role play with the characters. There are extra accessories, interchangeable parts, a sticker sheet for decorating, the truck actually moves. Click here to find on Amazon. There are also many other cool sets from Pinxies.

The next toy is from Crayola. I love Crayola! This year they came out with Colors or the World Colored Pencils and Markers to go with their award winning crayons! Click here to find on Crayola.com.

Hand 2 Mind had some great art/STEM toys. The coding charms help teach coding concepts while making the charts and the craft stick creations include 10 different creations kids can make. The Fashion Parade from Educational Insights can be used with the crayons above.

Click here to find the coding charms.

Click here to find craft stick creations.

Click here to find Fashion Parade.

These books from Matthew Paul Turner are really good books for babies and toddlers that let them know how special and important they are! Click here to find on Amazon.

This brand new Design & Drill Bolt Buddies from Educational Insights is super fun for preschools to learn the basics of construction. Click here to find on Amazon.

Finally botley has arrived with the times and come out with some new masks. Check out our review for botley 2.0. He is a screen free coding robot. My daughter loves botley and his current "masks". He is one of our favorites in this house. It is a way for the toy to be like her during this time. She talks about botley wearing his masks. Click here to find at Staples.

Another great one I forgot to put in the picture above is SolarBots. We got this last year and my kids love it. And the sun is coming back out! This one is out of stock, but there is Solar-Powered Rovers from the same company available. Click here to find on Amazon.

I hope this list of toys for Easter was helpful. Many of these toys will provide lots of fun for kiddos and be great Easter basket additions. Or if reading this after Easter they would be great birthday or just because toys. Hope you have a good EASTER!!!

Repurpose a Cute Easter Craft

Do your kids like to paint? Mine love it! We picked up this canvas from the Target dollar spot and the colors included were absolutely horrible. We could not see them at all. I decided to use Crayola Signature Pearlescent Paints to help my kids bring this canvas to life.

First we chose a color palette and separated them out every color into their own spot in the paint holder.

Here are the paints we used.

The paints come in tubes and show the color on the end of the tube. All the colors are also named which I really like.

Here is the finished result. It turned out really cute and a lot better than it would have using the paints that came with the canvas. Do not be afraid to pick up the dollar spot canvases at Target, Michaels or JoAnn Fabric Stores and make them unique and vibrant by using different paints than included in the set.

I have teamed up with some other bloggers for some Creative Crafts Easter Crafts for kids. Make sure to check them out!