Fall is here, and it brings with it a delightful atmosphere perfect for enjoying fun and educational activities with your little ones. Speaking of which, how about we take a leaf from our busy squirrel friends’ book and create an entertaining “Drop the Acorns” activity at home? This playful setup promises endless hours of joy while nurturing essential skills in toddlers and preschoolers.
WILL YOU TRY DROP THE ACORN ACTIVITY WITH YOUR KIDS? PIN IT FOR LATER!
Getting Your Squirrel Den Ready
Before we get those little squirrels busy, let’s gather the materials to craft their playground:
- A large cardboard box
- A handful of acorns
- A bowl for holding the acorns
- Scissors to craft the acorn drop holes
- Tongs for that perfect acorn grip
Setting Up Your Acorn Adventure
Transform your cardboard box into a squirrel’s paradise by cutting out a variety of holes on the top, just big enough for the acorns to pass through. Place the bowl filled with acorns on top of the box, and voila, the stage is set for a nutty adventure! You can also cut a hole in the side of the box for your little squirrels to crawl in and recover the nuts after they have hid all of them!
Let the Acorn Party Begin
Hand over the tongs to your little ones and watch their excitement as they pick up the acorns and drop them into the secret tunnels (holes) you’ve created in the box. Encourage them to be little squirrels, gathering and hiding their acorns in preparation for winter.
Skills at Play
This vibrant play activity isn’t just for fun; it comes packed with learning opportunities:
- Fine Motor Skills: Grasping the acorns with the tongs is a fantastic exercise to build fine motor skills.
- Imagination: Pretending to be little squirrels gives wings to their vivid imaginations.
- Hand-Eye Coordination: Aiming for the holes and dropping the acorns in helps in honing their hand-eye coordination.
Turning Playtime into Learning Time
While the children enjoy the game, introduce them to fun facts about squirrels and how they tirelessly gather and hide acorns to have enough food for the winter. You’d be fostering a love for nature while they play!
Tips for a Nutty Fun Time
- Safety First: Ensure the edges of the holes are smooth to avoid any little scratches.
- Extension Activities: To add more fun, you can paint the box with them, making it a colorful squirrel home.
- Counting Acorns: Turn the activity into a counting game, encouraging them to count the acorns as they drop them in.
There’s something genuinely joyful about watching little ones immersing themselves in imaginative play, and our Drop the Acorns activity offers just that, with a splash of education thrown in. So, gather those acorns and let your home echo with delightful giggles and squeals of ‘squirrel’ toddlers and preschoolers enjoying their acorn party. Let’s nurture little minds with activities that are as fun as they are beneficial, one acorn at a time!
Age Suitability
This activity is good for toddlers aged children 3 years old and up with adult assistance.
Mess Level
The mess level for this activity is low.
Difficulty to Create
Low.
Skills Developed
Language development, shape recognition, color recognition, hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, imaginative play, creativity.
Toddler and Preschooler Curriculums, Books & TV Show!
Play2Learn Toddler & Preschool Programs for Curious Toddlers
There is no limit to your toddler’s energy and curiosity. That energy and curiosity although a joy can be challenging at times. Their interest in just about everything around them is what makes them great learners. One and two year olds can soak up so much just from their senses!
But as a teacher or parent that thirst for learning can be exhausting. That is why I created this toddler and preschooler program. To help you get the most out of this time with your curious toddler without having to come up with creative ways to play and interact with them.
Play2Learn for Toddlers includes 20 Units for toddlers. Each 2-week toddler unit has 20 super easy to set up and engaging activities for toddlers 18 months to 3 years.
Play2Learn Preschool which includes 20 Units for preschoolers. Each 2-week preschoolers unit has 20 unique and easy to set up and engaging activities for preschoolers 3 years to 5 years. That’s over 800 learning activities for your toddler and preschooler at your fingertips! So many ideas you and your child will never be bored again!
These toddler and preschool lesson plans and activities will definitely keep you and your toddler and preschooler busy playing and learning!
Click here for more information: Play2Learn
Designed for toddlers 18 months and up.
Book: Exciting Sensory Bins for Curious Kids
Did you know I wrote a book of sensory bins? Click here for more information Exciting Sensory Bin for Curious Kids. Or grab your copy at Amazon.
Boring afternoons are made exciting with awesome animal-based bins, like Salty Shark Bay or Yarn Farm. Pretend play bins like Birthday Cake Sensory Play or Bubble Tea Party encourage creativity and imagination. And your kids will have so much fun they won’t even know they’re getting smarter with STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) activities like Sink or Float Soup, Magnetic Letter Hunt or Ice Cream Scoop and Count.
Designed for toddlers 18 months and up.
Book: Super STEAM Activity Book for Kids
Learning all about science, technology, engineering, art, and math sets kids up for scholastic success―and it can be so much fun! Watch kids enjoy building STEAM skills as they color friendly fish, help water find its way to tree roots, solve math problems with mazes, and more.
Find out more and grab your copy here.
Designed for preschoolers 3 years old and up.
Book: Big Book of Riddles for Kids
Riddle me this: What’s an exciting way to practice critical thinking while having a blast? The Big Riddle Book for Kids, of course! From hilarious puns to tough brain teasers, kids can build problem-solving skills with hundreds of riddles tha. t show them how to think outside the box.
- 350 riddles for kids—Have hours of fun with riddles, puns and jokes, and math and logic puzzles that’ll get their wheels turning!
- Level up their skills—Riddles get trickier as kids progress through the book, challenging them as they get better at solving puzzles!
- Double-check their work—Kids can check their answers in the back of the book with a handy answer key.
Help children expand their minds while having fun with this puzzle book for kids!
Designed for kids ages 6 years old and up.
TV Show: Curious Crafting
I’m so excited to share my crafting TV show Curious Crafting which launched in July 2022 on TVOkids and TVOkids YouTube! Season 2 aired in August 2023! My show was also nominated in 2023 for Best Live Action Preschool Series by the Youth Media Alliance Awards of Excellence.
Curious Crafting Season 1 is also now airing in Australia on ABC! Watch it here!
Set in the ultimate crafting space, Curious Crafting is a short form pre-school age series about the joy of making crafts. I lead a rotating cast of adorable little preschoolers (including my own) making magic out of common household objects.
In each episode we transform recycled items into magical crafts like a milk carton school bus, paper bag puppet or cotton pad turtle. The crafters learn and laugh their way through each activity while demonstrating what their young imaginations can create.
Curious Crafting shares the adventure and joy of making art with takeaway lessons for creating crafts at home.
This show designed for toddlers and preschoolers 2.5 years old and up.
The Best Sensory Play Kits for Kids
Play is at the core of learning during the early years and it can take many forms. One of the most important of these is sensory play because it engages all of a child’s senses (taste, touch, smell, sight and hearing) and has a enoumous positive impact on brain development.
Our Sensory Play Kits are some fun and easy ways to keep your child engaged while at the same time using sensory play to nurture their mind!
Shop our ready made play kits here.
Designed for preschoolers 3 years old and up.
WILL YOU TRY DROP THE ACORN ACTIVITY WITH YOUR KIDS? PIN IT FOR LATER!
