Hi friends! I wanted to jump on here to share some of our favorite Spring DIY activities that we have done so far. I am always trying to create new and fun activities for Ella, but these were some of our favorites. 95% of our materials come from Dollar Tree, but those that we did purchase elsewhere I linked for you. (They are affiliate links- thanks for the support!) If you have any questions about an activity or a material that I didn't mention, feel free to send me an email!
Gardening Sensory Bin
Sensory bins are always a big hit around here, and you can do so many fun things with them! We love switching up the base that we use, but usually stick to rice or beans. For this gardening bin, we used dried black beans and these little stones from Dollar Tree. For fillers we used some green pipe cleaners and our Safari LTD flower figurines. I added a couple small metal pots and a magnifying glass too! (Both from Dollar Tree!)
Safari LTD Flower Toob - sold out currently, but keep checking!
Another Gardening Sensory Bin
This is just another variation of a gardening sensory bin that we did outside one day. We used pinto beans as the base, and little pots from Dollar Tree for planting the flowers. Ella likes the sensory play outside the best because she knows she can make more of a mess!
Butterfly Sensory Bin
Like I said, we love sensory bins! I made my very own green sensory rice as the base for this one, and will be doing a separate post on how to make your own soon. I added our butterfly figurines for Ella to 'rescue' with her little net. The colorful beads and the other tools you see Ella using all came from Dollar Tree as well.
Butterfly figurines - less than $5 right now!
Spaghetti Bug Rescue
Ella loved this bug rescue activity. I took some leftover thin spaghetti from lunch, and shook it around a baggy with a few drops of green food coloring. I then let it sit overnight in that baggy in our refrigerator. I wasn't sure if the noodles would soak up the coloring or not, but they sure did! This gave us the 'grass' look I was going for. We threw in our new bug figurines and Ella went to town rescuing them with her tongs.
Vegetable Garden
This was a fun little DIY garden activity and we got all of the materials at Dollar Tree. We used a wooden crate box we had at home, I cut a pool noodle into 3 pieces, lay the brown kitchen towel on top and made our own little 'garden.'
"Planting" Flowers
Using an old egg carton and some Dollar Tree flowers, we created this little flower planting activity.
Bubble Foam
Ella loves playing with water and soap, so this was a big hit. I just blended up some water and dish soap in our blender, along with a few drops of food coloring. Ella had a bowl of water nearby and worked on finding various objects hidden inside the foam, rinsing and drying them off.
One of Ella's current obsessions is with caterpillars... so I went on a little caterpillar DIY craft kick and made a few different things.
Life Cycle of a Caterpillar
I made this 'life cycle of a caterpillar' display using cardboard, construction paper and one of our flower figurines. I think this will be a good addition to our science bin of materials.
Feed the Caterpillar
I made this using an old sea salt container! I glued the pipe cleaners and eyes onto the lid, and gave Ella some of our old foam balls from Dollar Tree to 'feed' to him. She enjoys opening and closing lids, and taking things in and out of containers, so I knew she'd like this! This was literally a free activity using things we already have which I love!
Caterpillar Following a Sequence
Following a sequence is a good lesson to start with your little ones. They may not 'get it' at first, but it doesn't hurt to start teaching them. I made this activity using things we already had at home. I drew and colored the caterpillar on a small index card (and later laminated it.) On a piece of thicker cardboard, I glued some bottle caps to it to create the other caterpillar. We used pom poms from the craft store for Ella to scoop with the spoon and place in the correct order. It took me demonstrating a few times for her to understand the task.
We do many variations of playdough trays, but I love making the themed ones! Everything you see here, aside from the playdough, peg doll and natural materials came from Dollar Tree. They had a display of ceramic figurines for fairy gardens that I thought would be perfect for our playdough trays. Ella loves playing with these and the food serving trays from Dollar Tree make a perfect display.
Letter/Petal Sticker Matching
When introducing the alphabet to Ella, we are focusing on phonics vs the names of the letters as well as showing her the lowercase letters first. This is in sync with the Montessori concept and what we have decided to do. This activity is extremely adaptable. I made the flowers using popsicle sticks and construction paper, and paired them with the dot stickers from Dollar Tree. Ella's goal was to match the letters to each flower petal.
Parts of a Flower DIY
Using a leftover paper towel holder and some construction paper, I made Ella this 'parts of a flower' puzzle. You can use a paper towel holder for your child to place the pieces onto. As she places each piece, I read to her what part of the flower she is placing.
Sticker Scenes
We got these felt stickers at Michaels and they were a great find. They are easier for Ella to peel and stick herself, and provides a great opportunity for her to work on her fine motor skills.
She likes when I draw her a scene and she gets to place the stickers all over. She had some guidance with this one, as she prefers a more abstract approach!
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