Little Bins Activity Guides 2020

14 day challenge
ACTIVITY CHECKLIST
DAY #1 - RUBBER EGG EXPERIMENT
DAY #2 - FLUFFY SLIME
www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/naked-egg-experiment-rubber-egg-science/
DAY #3 - MARSHMALLOW TOOTHPICK TOWER
DAY #4 - COFFEE FILTER ART
DAY #5 - BAKING SODA AND VINEGAR REACTION
www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/how-to-make-fluffy-slime-recipe-kids/
DAY #6 - FOIL BOAT CHALLENGE
DAY #7 - SALT PAINTING
DAY #8 - MAGIC MILK
www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/fine-motor-activities-marshmallows-toothpicks/
DAY #9 - SUPER SOFT PLAYDOUGH

DAY #10 - MAKE A CALMING GLITTER JAR
DAY #11 - SALINE SLIME
www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/diy-coffee-filter-flowers/
DAY #12 - CATAPULT
DAY #13 - OOBLEK www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/fluffy-slime-recipe/
DAY # 14 - FIZZY PAINTING
www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/paper-towel-art/
www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/kids-science-activity-baking-soda-vinegar/
BONUS ACTIVITIES
EGG DROP CHALLENGE
FOAM DOUGH
WAY TO GO! YOU DID IT!

www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com
14 day challenge
DAY #1 - RUBBER EGG EXPERIMENT
This rubber egg experiment is a classic science activity!
Make a naked egg or bouncy egg. Can it bounce? So many
questions and one simple experiment using everyday supplies.
Click here to find out how!
DAY #2 - FLUFFY SLIME

Fluffy slime, have you tried it? This homemade fluffy slime recipe
is a must try for kids. Ours is the lightest, fluffiest and easiest to
make slime you will ever need. Click here for the recipe.
www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/how-to-make-fluffy-slime-recipe-kids/
DAY #3 - MARSHMALLOW TOOTHPICK TOWER

Build the tallest marshmallow tower you can using unlim-
ited toothpicks and unlimited amount of marshmallows.
Click here for instructions.
https://littlebinsforlittlehands.com/best-structure-building-activities-kids/
DAY #4 - COFFEE FILTER ART

Coffee filter art with markers and water is a fun way to
explore solubility science and make a colorful bouquet of
flowers or clothespin butterflies. Click here to make flowers.
www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/fluffy-slime-recipe/
DAY #5 - BAKING SODA AND VINEGAR REACTION
One of the best kids science activities you can easily do is a clas-
sic experiment with baking soda and vinegar. There is such a
wow factor every time you do it, that it never gets old.
Click here to see how!
www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/kids-science-activity-baking-soda-vinegar/
SUPPLIES
EGGS, VINEGAR, SHAVING CREAM, SALINE SOLUTION,
BAKING SODA, WATER, FOOD COLORING, MINI
MARSHMALLOWS, TOOTHPICKS, COFFEE FILTERS,
WASHABLE MARKERS. BOWLS, SPOONS MEASURING CUPS,
JARS OR GLASSES, SPRAY BOTTLE
14 day challenge
DAY #6 - FOIL BOAT CHALLENGE
The Tinfoil boat challenge is a two part engineering activity
that asks kids to build a boat using tinfoil and other supplies.
Firstly make a boat the floats. Secondly make that boat hold
100 pennies.
DAY #7 - SALT PAINTING

Salt painting with glue and colored water is simple fun for kids of all
ages and explores absorption. Use cookiecutters to make fun designs
or create abstract art!www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/salt-painting/
Click here to read more.
DAY #8 - MAGIC MILK

How do you make magic milk? Let us show you how easy and fun
simple science experiments can be! We love classic science experi-
ments like this magic milk experiment. Click here to read more.
www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/magic-milk-a-classic-science-experiment-for-kids/
DAY #9 - SUPER SOFT PLAYDOUGH

Did you know kids love homemade playdough of all kinds? I sure do!
This super soft cornstarch playdough with only 2 ingredients couldn’t
https://littlebinsforlittlehands.com/cornstarch-playdough/
be easier and the kids can easily help you! Click here for recipe.
DAY #10 - MAKE A CALMING GLITTER JAR

Do your kids love sensory bottles, glitter jars, or glitter bottles? A
calming glitter jar takes very little time to make www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/paper-towel-art/
but offer numerous,
www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/glitter-jar/
lasting benefits for your kids.Click here to see how one is made.
SUPPLIES
Tin foil, pennies, water, table salt, white glue, water colors
(optional), food coloring, whole milk, dish soap, cotton,
swabs, cornstarch, cheap hair conditioner, clear washable
glue, glitter
14 day challenge DAY #11 - SALINE SLIME
If you want the #1 most popular, most searched, most tried
homemade slime recipe, this is it! Because slime is science, and
chemistry is cool! Click here for the recipe.
www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/how-to-make-saline-solution-slime-recipe/
DAY #12 - CATAPULT

Who knew STEM and physics could be so much fun? This Popsicle stick
catapult design is an AWESOME STEM activity for kids of all ages!
www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/popsicle-stick-catapult-kids-stem-activity/
DAY #13 - OOBLEK
www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/salt-painting/
Ooblek is a fun and frugal science activity that is easy to set up

at home or in a classroom. Learn all about non-newtonian
fluids and engage in some very cool sensory play too.
www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/non-newtonian-fluids-cornstarch-science-activity/
Click here for the recipe.
DAY # 14www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/magic-milk-a-classic-science-experiment-for-kids/
- FIZZY PAINTING
Let’s get into a cool STEAM project with our favorite chemical reaction, baking
www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/fizzy-paint-moon-craft/
soda, and vinegar. Click here for instructions.
vinegar
BONUS ACTIVITIES
EGG DROP CHALLENGE
The challenge is for kids to design a contraption using various
materials (usually recyclables) to protect a raw egg from a high
fall. Click here for instructions.
www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/egg-drop-activity-stem-challenge-young-kids/
FOAM DOUGH
This is 2 ingredient, super fun, colorful sensory playdough with shaving
cream! A totally awesome texture for little hands and big hands to
squeeze and squish. We love homemade playdough!
Click here for the recipe.
www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/foam-dough/
SUPPLIES
Saline Solution, Water, Baking Soda, Food Coloring,
Cornstarch, Baking Soda, Eggs, Shaving Cream. Bowls,
spoons, measuring cups, craft materials
calming activities for kids
Do you have a worried or anxious kiddo? Try one of these fun calming activities. They
are great for working through the worries and calming anxiety during stressful times.
MAKE A CALMING GLITTER JAR

Mesmerizing and calming, glitter jars are great for easing worries and
reducing stress.
Supplies: water, clear or glitter glue, glitter, food coloring, jar or bottle.
Click here to see how one is made.
DIY STRESS BALLS

Use balloons to make your own stress balls. Our favorite is a
balloon filled with cornstarch. Draw a smiley face on it too!
Supplies: balloons and different fillers such as cornstarch.
See how to make stress balls here.
www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/texture-eggs-tactile-sensory-play-activity/
MAKE HOMEMADE SLIME

Squeeze, stretch, and squish the worries away with homemade slime.
Slime is an amazing tactile sensory play material that helps reduce
anxiety and stress when you play with it. You can even add scents
such as lavender.
Supplies: PVA glue, water, saline solution, baking soda, food.coloring
www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/homemade-slime-recipe/
Click here for slime recipes and ideas.
SET UP A SENSORY BIN

Sensory bins are a great way to explore the senses, and you
can fill one with so many different options including
non-food items. Even warm water as a filler is great! Add
scoops and fun items for soothing playtime. Click here to
www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/all-about-sensory-bins-5-things-need-know/
learn more about sensory bins and build your own!
BUILD A CALM DOWN KIT

Turn simple around the house items or easy to find items
into a fidget kit, worry kit, or calm down kit. Keep one
handy in the house, car, or wherever you need one most!
www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/homemade-sensory-kit-for-calm-down-time-and-fidgety-kids/
What’s in our kit? Click here to see our kit.
SCIENCE INVESTIGATIONS
PAPER AIRPLANE TOSSING
Fold a variety of paper airplanes
and projects
and record how far each one flies over a Have an upcoming science fair
series of tosses. Which one flies the presentation or just want to set up a
farthest? Why is that design the most science investigation for fun or with
efficient? a group? Here’s how to get started
along with a few simple project
GROWING GUMMY BEARS ideas using everyday supplies!
Using different liquids (water, salt Clickhttps://littlebinsforlittle-
here to dive deeper into
water, juice, soda, etc.) observe how scientific investigations.
hands.com/science-project-ideas/
gummy bears expand, or don’t, in a
variety of solutions and determine 1. Pick an interesting topic and
why that is. Don't forget to measure generate a list of as many
and record the size of your gummy questions as you can think of that
bears before and after! relate to the topic.
2. Help your kiddo come up with a
GERM BUSTERS way to test their questions in a
Using a few pieces of bread, some realistic and safe way.
zip-top baggies and two hands, dis- 3. During the experiment
cover what methods of washing hands
implementation, guide your kiddo
are the most effective, based on the
amount of mold you grow! Will it be a through the steps they've
hand sanitizer that works best? determined are necessary to test
Traditional soap and water? Or maybe their theories and help them
another nontraditional liquid you try record the process.
will kill germs best! 4. Allow your kiddo to create the
presentation board on their own
FLOATING EGGS or with minimal help from you.
This experiment explores how to make an egg float using saltwater.

Students can explore the amount of salt dissolved in water, it will take to
increase the buoyancy of the egg and cause it to rise to the top of the
container. Think of the Great Salt Lake in Utah! What a great connection to make!
SWEET TOOTH
The effects of sugar on teeth - While tasty, we know sugary drinks are not
the best for us or our teeth. Using different
beverages, like juices, sodas, coffee, tea, and
sports drinks and eggs, we can determine which
have the most impact on our dental health and
which are not as bad as we think!
fun kitchen science
SURFACE TENSION WITH WATER DROPS
How many drops fit on the surface of a penny? What else could you
use? A bottle cap turned over, a flat LEGO piece, or another small
and smooth flat surface! Take a guess at how many drops it will take
and then test it out.
RUBBER EGG EXPERIMENT

HOMEMADE LAVA LAMP

A homemade lava lamp (or density experiment) is one of our
favorite science experiments for kids. Combine two fun science
concepts for a cool lava lamp experiment the kids will love to do
over and over again!
BAKING SODA AND VINEGAR REACTION

One of the best kids science activities you can easily do is a classic
experiment with baking soda and vinegar. There is such a wow factor
every time you do it, that it never gets old. It’s cool science!
OOBLEK
Ooblek is a fun and frugal science activity that is easy to set
up at home or in a classroom. Learn all about non-newtonian
fluids and engage in some very cool sensory play too.
®
awesome activities
LEGO BALLOON CAR
This Lego balloon car is so easy to build and super fun to
play with for quite a few ages, at least 5 to 70 to be exact!
LEGO FLAG
Build your country’s flag with Legos! It is not a difficult
building challenge, and there are some great math lessons
for young kids involved!
LEGO MARBLE MAZE

There’s lots to learn when you are building this LEGO
marble maze! Planning, engineering, testing, problem
solving, and designing are all a part of the process. A
little trial and error is good for kids.
LEGO VOLCANO
There’s nothing better than baking soda and
vinegar experiment to explore chemical reactions! It is
one of our go-to classic science experiments and we
have loads of fun variations.
LEGO TIC TAC TOE

Make your own homemade LEGO tic
tac toe board. This is a quick and easy
DIY LEGO tic tac toe board activity
perfect for rainy days or quiet time.
STEM FOR LITTLES
RAMPS
Create ramps and send down all sorts of things that go! You
can also introduce things that don’t roll and see what happens!
Grab some cardboard and toy cars, balls, and blocks. Which
one travels the farthest?
SINK OR FLOAT
If you want to introduce your kiddos to the science of buoyancy,
let’s dig in. Sink or float with objects around the house and a
container, or sink filed with water.
EXPLORE VOLUME SCIENCE

Exploring volume science is fun and easy to set up for kids! Use
measuring cups and scoops to explore volume with water, rice,
beans, small pebbles or sand.
ABSORPTION EXPERIMENT
Explore cotton balls and colored water to explore absorption.
Add a cotton ball to each section of a muffin tin and use an eye
dropper to squirt water!
FUN WITH ICE
Exploring simple natural materials is a wonderful way for chil-
dren to investigate their world. Freeze fun ice cubes with little
plastic toys inside and melt with warm water and a meat baster!
THE FIVE SENSES

Explore the 5 senses and find something to taste, smell, touch,
listen too and look at together!
SHADOW SCIENCE
Kids love their shadows, love to chase
shadows, and love to make shadows do silly
things! There are also some fun things to
learn about shadows for science and STEM!
EVERYDAY SCIENCE
SIMPLE OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES
GO ON A NATURE WALK
GO ON A SCIENCE/STEM SCAVENGER HUNT
TAKE UP BIRD WATCHING AND LEARN ABOUT BIRDS NEAR YOU
EXPLORE TREE LEAVES AND COLORS
SEE HOW A TREE BREATHES
COLLECT ROCKS AND MAKE COLLECTION
OBSERVE BUGS IN THEIR NATURAL HABITAT
MAKE RAINBOWS
OBSERVE A FLOWER
TRACK THE WEATHER
EXPLORE THE 5 SENSES

PLAYDOUGH fun
PLAYDOUGH BUILDING
Set out an assortment of building materials with your
playdough for open-ended free play! Encourage
engineering and problem solving skills.
EASY PLAYDOUGH
RECIPE
LEARN ABOUT COLORS The ratio for this recipe is 1
Mix colors through small pieces of plain part hair conditioner to two
homemade play dough. Great for little hands! parts cornstarch.
1 cup of hair conditioner

2 cups of cornstarch
PLAYDOUGH TREASURE HUNT www.lit lebinsforlit lehands.com/homemade-playdough/

Mix small items into your ball of
Click here for all our
recipes.
playdough and add a pair of kid-safe

tweezers or tongs for them to find
things with.
CUTTING UP
Use cookie cutters and kid-safe scissors to practice cutting
playdough into pieces.
3 D FUN
Add toothpicks and roll up “mini balls” out of the playdough
and use them along with the toothpicks to create 2D and 3D
shapes.
ROLL THE DICE

Turn your playdough into a counting activity and add
dice! Roll and place the correct amount of items on
rolled out playdough! Use buttons, beads, or small toys
for counting. You could even make it a game and the
first one to 20, wins!
CREATIVE SENSORY BINS
Kids love sensory bins, but what do you fill the bins with?
SENSORY BIN FILLERS FUN THINGS TO ADD

Rice Ladles or Big Spoons
Popping Corn Plastic Easter Eggs
FUN THINGS TO DO
Dried Beans Scoops
ꔷPretend you are a pirate
and go on a treasure hunt
Pasta Containers
ꔷPractice counting items in
an egg carton Tongs
(NON FOOD)
ꔷPractice color matching Measuring Cups
with pompoms and Easter
Soapy Water eggs Plastic Animals
Beach Sand ꔷIdentify letters and match Play food
to different objects
Pebbles Sand Toys
ꔷSet Up an Animal Wash"
Birdseed Pompoms
Epsom Salt Egg Cartons
Shaving Cream Plastic Gold Coins
Waterbeads Plastic or wooden Letters and numbers
Aquarium Rock
Play or Craft Sand
creative stem activities
FOIL BOAT CHALLENGE
The Tinfoil boat challenge is a two part engineering activity
that asks kids to build a boat using tinfoil and other supplies.
Firstly make a boat the floats. Secondly make that boat hold
100 pennies.
CUP TOWER CHALLENGE

What is the tallest tower you can construct using plastic
cups? Kids can work alone or in groups. No other materials
needed.
EGG DROP CHALLENGE

The challenge is for kids to design a contraption using
various materials (usually recyclables) to protect a raw
egg from a high fall.
MARSHMALLOW TOOTHPICK TOWER

Build the tallest marshmallow tower you can using unlimited
toothpicks and unlimited amount of marshmallows.
LONGEST PAPER CHAIN

Make the longest paper chain using a single
piece of 8.5” x 11” paper and tape or staples
SCIENCE meets art for
STEAM is a fantastic way to explore art through
simple science activities that are absolutely engaging
and hands-on! Combine science and art! Kids of all
steam!
ages and abilities will love these ideas. Plus, it’s perfect for those kiddos who aren’t
into crafty projects.
COFFEE FILTER ART
SALT PAINTING
or create abstract art! www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/salt-painting/
FIZZY FUN
Fizzy painting with baking soda and vinegar science for a fun
chemical reaction. Mix up a baking soda based paint and switch
out water www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/fizzy-paint-moon-craft/
for vinegar. Click here to read more.
RAIN PAINTING
Going to be a rainy day? Try rain painting. You’ll need heavyweight
paper and watercolor pencils. Draw your picture inside, place on a
tray and leave it outside! Sunsets and oceans are fun themes to try.
SUN PRINTS
Gather construction paper and small
objects! Place the paper on a tray and
place the objects on the paper. Place
the tray outside in the warm sun!
STEM + Art = STEAM! When kids combine STEM and
art, they can really explore their creative side from
painting to sculpture! These easy STEAM projects
steam!
incorporate art and science, and for a truly fun experience, you need to explore
STEAM with the kids this year.
SHADOW ART
Find a sunny window! Gather paper, pencils, markers, and fun
objects! Set up your objects so they cast shadows onto the
paper. Trace the shadows and create unique art! Plastic
animals work well or build with blocks!
WATERCOLOR AND SALT ART

Watercolor and salt art: All you need are your watercolors and
regular salt! While the paint is wet create a neat effect with the salt.
www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/ocean-theme-craft/
Click here to see a fun ocean theme idea and read more.
SALAD SPINNER ART

Instead of salad go ahead and spin some art. Cut shapes
out of paper and dollops of paint and spin!
www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/salad-spinner-art/
BUBBLE PAINTING
Love to blow bubbles? Turn it into art! Just add food coloring to
either homemade or store-bought bubble solution and blow
bubbles onto paper. Perfect for an outdoor art idea too!
PAPER TOWEL ART

Paper towel art with markers and water is another great way to explore
solubility with simple supplies. See how to set it up here.
TAPE RESIST ART

A simple activity for art that kids of all ages
will enjoy doing! Our tape resist painting is easy
to set up and fun to do with kids this season.
BAKING WITH KIDS
Bake a favorite recipe together to celebrate today! Whether it’s your
famous bread recipe everyone loves or a batch of classic chocolate chip
cookies, baking is loaded with learning possibilities too!
IMPORTANT PRACTICAL LIFE SKILLS
LITERACY MATH
Reading directions and following Using measuring cups and spoons for
steps is a great skill to practice. measuring wet and dry ingredients is a
What comes next? great way to work on math skills including
fractions. How many quarters in a whole?
SCIENCE
Baking is a science! Carefully following steps in the right order and
using the right amount of each ingredient is just like following a
science experiment. Precise measurement and correctly followed
instructions are a must for baking and science. Plus the flour, yeast,
fat, eggs, baking powder or soda are all necessary ingredients to
create the goodies, but why? Do some research!
HISTORY
Research the history
behind your plate of FINE MOTOR SKILLS
goodies! Who invented
All that pouring, scooping,
the chocolate chip cookie? Where
measuring, and stirring is great
was the first cookie ever made? This
fine motor work for small
can lead you in all sorts of directions.
hands!
BONUS
Make your own baking
video with the kids!
EASY SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS USING A SIMPLE MASON JAR
SCIENCE
RAIN CLOUD MODELS
Explore how and why it rains with two versions of a rain
cloud in a jar. The first rain cloud model uses a sponge,
and the second model uses shaving cream. Model 1. www.lit lebinModel
www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/how-does-rain-form/ sforlit lehands.com/rain-cloud-spri2.
ng-science-weather-activity/

All you need is a jar, an egg, and vinegar to make the classic
rubber egg or bouncy egg. Make sure to hold a flashlight up to it
too! www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/naked-egg-experiment-rubber-egg-science/
Click here to set up a rubber egg experiment.
LAYERS OF THE OCEAN

Explore a marine biome and create the layers of the ocean in a
jar! Explore liquid density while creating all five ocean layers.
www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/layers-of-the-ocean/
Click here to set up an ocean in a jar.
LAVA LAMP EXPERIMENT

A homemade lava lamp in a jar is always a big crowd pleaser. It can
be mesmerizing to watch!
www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/earth-day-science-activity-lava-lamp/
Click here to set up your mason jar lava lamp activity.
HOMEMADE BUTTER IN A JAR

Get shaking with edible science! The kids will have so
much fun making and eating this fantastic science
experiment. Click here to make butter.
www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/make-homemade-butter-thanksgiving-edible-science/
DIY ROCK CANDY

Grow sugar crystals in a jar while making your
very own rock candy for edible science!
www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/grow-sugar-crystals-rock-candy/
Click here to get started!
SCIENCE INVESTIGATIONS
PAPER AIRPLANE TOSSING
Fold a variety of paper airplanes
and projects
and record how far each one flies over a Have an upcoming science fair
series of tosses. Which one flies the presentation or just want to set up a
farthest? Why is that design the most science investigation for fun or with
efficient? a group? Here’s how to get started
along with a few simple project
GROWING GUMMY BEARS ideas using everyday supplies!
Using different liquids (water, salt Clickhttps://littlebinsforlittle-
here to dive deeper into
water, juice, soda, etc.) observe how scientific investigations.
hands.com/science-project-ideas/
gummy bears expand, or don’t, in a
variety of solutions and determine 1. Pick an interesting topic and
why that is. Don't forget to measure generate a list of as many
and record the size of your gummy questions as you can think of that
bears before and after! relate to the topic.
2. Help your kiddo come up with a
GERM BUSTERS way to test their questions in a
Using a few pieces of bread, some realistic and safe way.
zip-top baggies and two hands, dis- 3. During the experiment
cover what methods of washing hands
implementation, guide your kiddo
are the most effective, based on the
amount of mold you grow! Will it be a through the steps they've
hand sanitizer that works best? determined are necessary to test
Traditional soap and water? Or maybe their theories and help them
another nontraditional liquid you try record the process.
will kill germs best! 4. Allow your kiddo to create the
presentation board on their own
FLOATING EGGS or with minimal help from you.
This experiment explores how to make an egg float using saltwater.

Students can explore the amount of salt dissolved in water, it will take to
increase the buoyancy of the egg and cause it to rise to the top of the
container. Think of the Great Salt Lake in Utah! What a great connection to make!
SWEET TOOTH
The effects of sugar on teeth - While tasty, we know sugary drinks are not
the best for us or our teeth. Using different
beverages, like juices, sodas, coffee, tea, and
sports drinks and eggs, we can determine which
have the most impact on our dental health and
which are not as bad as we think!
fun kitchen science
See our favorite kitchen science experiments here.
www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/30-preschool-science-experiments-for-the-young-scientist
SURFACE TENSION WITH WATER DROPS

How many drops fit on the surface of a penny? What else could you
use? A bottle cap turned over, a flat LEGO piece, or another small
and smooth flat surface! Take a guess at how many drops it will take
and then test it out.

HOMEMADE LAVA LAMP

A homemade lava lamp (or density experiment) is one of our
favorite science experiments for kids. Combine two fun science
concepts for a cool lava lamp experiment the kids will love to do
over and over again!
BAKING SODA AND VINEGAR REACTION

One of the best kids science activities you can easily do is a classic
experiment with baking soda and vinegar. There is such a wow factor
every time you do it, that it never gets old. It’s cool science!
OOBLEK
Ooblek is a fun and frugal science activity that is easy to set
up at home or in a classroom. Learn all about non-newtonian
fluids and engage in some very cool sensory play too.
BAKING WITH KIDS
Bake a favorite recipe together to celebrate today! Whether it’s your
famous bread recipe everyone loves or a batch of classic chocolate chip
cookies, baking is loaded with learning possibilities too!
IMPORTANT PRACTICAL LIFE SKILLS
LITERACY MATH
Reading directions and following Using measuring cups and spoons for
steps is a great skill to practice. measuring wet and dry ingredients is a
What comes next? great way to work on math skills including
fractions. How many quarters in a whole?
SCIENCE
Baking is a science! Carefully following steps in the right order and
using the right amount of each ingredient is just like following a
science experiment. Precise measurement and correctly followed
instructions are a must for baking and science. Plus the flour, yeast,
fat, eggs, baking powder or soda are all necessary ingredients to
create the goodies, but why? Do some research!
www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/bread-in-a-bag
Try baking bread in a bag and whipping up
homemade butter with the kiddos!
HISTORY
Research the history
behind your plate of FINE MOTOR SKILLS
goodies! Who invented
the chocolate chip cookie? Where All that pouring, scooping,
was the first cookie ever made? This measuring, and stirring is great
can lead you in all sorts of directions. fine motor work for small
hands!
BONUS
Make your own baking
video with the kids!
STEM FOR LITTLES
See our favorite science experiments for littles here.
www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/30-preschool-science-experiments-for-the-young-scientist
RAMPS
Create ramps and send down all sorts of things that go! You can also
introduce things that don’t roll and see what happens! Grab some card-
board and toy cars, balls, and blocks. Which one travels the farthest?
SINK OR FLOAT
If you want to introduce your kiddos to the science of buoyancy,
let’s dig in. Sink or float with objects around the house and a
container, or sink filed with water.
EXPLORE VOLUME SCIENCE

Exploring volume science is fun and easy to set up for kids! Use
measuring cups and scoops to explore volume with water, rice,
beans, small pebbles or sand.
ABSORPTION EXPERIMENT
Explore cotton balls and colored water to explore absorption.
Add a cotton ball to each section of a muffin tin and use an eye
dropper to squirt water!
FUN WITH ICE
Exploring simple natural materials is a wonderful way for chil-
dren to investigate their world. Freeze fun ice cubes with little
plastic toys inside and melt with warm water and a meat baster!
THE FIVE SENSES

Explore the 5 senses and find something to taste, smell, touch,
listen too and look at together!
SHADOW SCIENCE
Kids love their shadows, love to chase
shadows, and love to make shadows do silly
things! There are also some fun things to
learn about shadows for science and STEM!
creative stem activities
FOIL BOAT CHALLENGE
The Tinfoil boat challenge is a two part engineering activity that
asks kids to build a boat using tinfoil and other supplies. First,
make a boat that floats. Then, see how many pennies the boat
will hold before it sinks. Next, make a boat strong enough to
hold two or three times as many pennies as the first boat.
CUP TOWER CHALLENGE

What is the tallest tower you can construct using plastic
cups? Kids can work alone or in groups. No other materials
needed. Click here for instructions and to learn more.
www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/cup-tower-challenge
EGG DROP CHALLENGE

The challenge is for kids to design a contraption using
various materials (usually recyclables) to protect a raw
egg from a high fall. Click here for instructions.
www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/egg-drop-activity-stem-challenge-young-kids
MARSHMALLOW TOOTHPICK TOWER

Build the tallest marshmallow tower you can using unlimited
toothpicks and unlimited amount of marshmallows.
www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/best-structure-building-activities-kids
Click here for detailed instructions.
LONGEST PAPER CHAIN

Make the longest paper chain using a single
piece of 8.5” x 11” paper and tape or staples.
Click here for instructions and to learn more.
www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/paper-chain-stem-challenge
STEAM is a fantastic way to explore art through
simple science activities that are absolutely engaging
and hands-on! Combine science and art! Kids of all
steam!
ages and abilities will love these ideas. Plus, it’s perfect for those kiddos who aren’t
into crafty projects.
COFFEE FILTER ART
SALT PAINTING
or create abstract art! www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/salt-painting/
FIZZY FUN
Fizzy painting with baking soda and vinegar science for a fun
chemical reaction. Mix up a baking soda based paint and switch
www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/fizzy-paint-moon-craft/
out water for vinegar. Click here to read more.
RAIN PAINTING
Going to be a rainy day? Try rain painting. You’ll need heavyweight
paper and watercolor pencils. Draw your picture inside, place on a
tray and leave it outside! Sunsets and oceans are fun themes to try.
SUN PRINTS
Gather construction paper and small
objects! Place the paper on a tray and
place the objects on the paper. Place
the tray outside in the warm sun!
www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/lego-construction-paper-sun-prints-activity
STEM + Art = STEAM! When kids combine STEM and art,
they can really explore their creative side from painting to
sculpture! These easy STEAM projects incorporate art and steam!
science, and for a truly fun experience, you need to explore STEAM with the kids this year.
SHADOW ART
Find a sunny window! Gather paper, pencils, markers, and fun
objects! Set up your objects so they cast shadows onto the paper.
Trace the shadows and create unique art! Plastic
animals work well or build with blocks!
www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/lego-drawing-shadows-steam-activity
WATERCOLOR AND SALT ART

Watercolor and salt art: All you need are your watercolors and
regular salt! While the paint is wet create a neat effect with the salt.
www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/ocean-theme-craft/
Click here to see a fun ocean theme idea and read more.
SALAD SPINNER ART

Instead of salad go ahead and spin some art. Cut shapes out
of paper and dollops of paint and spin!
www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/salad-spinner-art/
BUBBLE PAINTING
Love to blow bubbles? Turn it into art! Just add food coloring to
either homemade or store-bought bubble solution and blow bub-
bles onto paper. Perfect for an outdoor art idea too!
PAPER TOWEL ART

Paper towel art with markers and water is another great way to explore solu-
bility with simple supplies. See how to set it up here.
TAPE RESIST ART

A simple activity for art that kids of all ages
will enjoy doing! Our tape resist painting is easy to
set up and fun to do with kids this season.
www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/snowflake-painting-tape-resist-stencil-fun
EVERYDAY SCIENCE
SIMPLE OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES
GO ON A NATURE WALK
GO ON A SCAVENGER HUNT
www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/scavenger-hunt-for-kids
Click here for a free pack of scavenger hunts.
TAKE UP BIRD WATCHING AND LEARN ABOUT BIRDS NEAR YOU
EXPLORE TREE LEAVES AND COLORS
SEE HOW A TREE BREATHES
COLLECT ROCKS AND MAKE COLLECTION
OBSERVE BUGS IN THEIR NATURAL HABITAT
MAKE RAINBOWS
OBSERVE A FLOWER
TRACK THE WEATHER
EXPLORE THE 5 SENSES

®
awesome activities
LEGO BALLOON CAR
This LEGO balloon car is so easy to build and super fun to
play with for quite a few ages, at least 5 to 70 to be exact!
LEGO FLAG
Build your country’s flag with LEGO! It is not a difficult
building challenge, and there are some great math lessons
for young kids involved!
LEGO MARBLE MAZE

There’s lots to learn when you are building this LEGO
marble maze! Planning, engineering, testing, problem
solving, and designing are all a part of the process. A
little trial and error is good for kids.
Click here for fun LEGO activities and printable challenges.

www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/lego-challenge-calendar-ideas-kids/
LEGO VOLCANO
There’s nothing better than baking soda and
vinegar experiment to explore chemical reactions! It is
one of our go-to classic science experiments and we
have loads of fun variations.
LEGO TIC TAC TOE

Make your own homemade LEGO tic
tac toe board. This is a quick and easy
DIY LEGO tic tac toe board activity
perfect for rainy days or quiet time.
calming activities for kids
Do you have a worried or anxious kiddo? Try one of these fun calming activities. They
are great for working through the worries and calming anxiety during stressful times.
MAKE A CALMING GLITTER JAR

Mesmerizing and calming, glitter jars are great for easing worries and
reducing stress.
Supplies: water, clear or glitter glue, glitter, food coloring, jar or bottle.
Click here to see how one is made.
DIY STRESS BALLS

Use balloons to make your own stress balls. Our favorite is a
balloon filled with cornstarch. Draw a smiley face on it too!
Supplies: balloons and different fillers such as cornstarch.
See how to make stress balls here.
www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/texture-eggs-tactile-sensory-play-activity/
MAKE HOMEMADE SLIME

Squeeze, stretch, and squish the worries away with homemade slime.
Slime is an amazing tactile sensory play material that helps reduce
anxiety and stress when you play with it. You can even add scents
such as lavender.
Supplies: PVA glue, water, saline solution, baking soda, food.coloring
www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/homemade-slime-recipe/
Click here for slime recipes and ideas.
SET UP A SENSORY BIN

Sensory bins are a great way to explore the senses, and you
can fill one with so many different options including
non-food items. Even warm water as a filler is great! Add
scoops and fun items for soothing playtime. Click here to
learn more about sensory bins and build your own!
BUILD A CALM DOWN KIT

Turn simple around the house items or easy to find items
into a fidget kit, worry kit, or calm down kit. Keep one
handy in the house, car, or wherever you need one most!
www.littlebinsforlittlehands.com/homemade-sensory-kit-for-calm-down-time-and-fidgety-kids/
What’s in our kit? Click here to see our kit.
PLAYDOUGH fun
PLAYDOUGH BUILDING
Set out an assortment of building materials with your
playdough for open-ended free play! Encourage
engineering and problem solving skills.
EASY PLAYDOUGH
RECIPE
LEARN ABOUT COLORS The ratio for this recipe is 1
Mix colors through small pieces of plain part hair conditioner to two
homemade play dough. Great for little hands! parts cornstarch.
1 cup of hair conditioner

2 cups of cornstarch
PLAYDOUGH TREASURE HUNT www.lit lebinsforlit lehands.com/homemade-playdough/

Mix small items into your ball of
Click here for all our
recipes.
playdough and add a pair of kid-safe

tweezers or tongs for them to find
things with.
CUTTING UP
Use cookie cutters and kid-safe scissors to practice cutting
playdough into pieces.
3 D FUN
Add toothpicks and roll up “mini balls” out of the playdough
and use them along with the toothpicks to create 2D and 3D
shapes.
ROLL THE DICE

Turn your playdough into a counting activity and add
dice! Roll and place the correct amount of items on
rolled out playdough! Use buttons, beads, or small toys
for counting. You could even make it a game and the
first one to 20, wins!
CREATIVE SENSORY BINS
Kids love sensory bins, but what do you fill the bins with?
Click here for everything you need to know to get started making sensory bins today!
SENSORY BIN FILLERS FUN THINGS TO ADD

Rice Ladles or Big Spoons
Popping Corn Plastic Easter Eggs
FUN THINGS TO DO
Dried Beans Scoops
ꔷPretend you are a pirate
and go on a treasure hunt
Pasta Containers
ꔷPractice counting items in
an egg carton Tongs
(NON FOOD)
ꔷPractice color matching Measuring Cups
with pompoms and Easter
Soapy Water eggs Plastic Animals
Beach Sand ꔷIdentify letters and match Play food
to different objects
Pebbles Sand Toys
ꔷSet Up an Animal Wash"
Birdseed Pompoms
Epsom Salt Egg Cartons
Shaving Cream Plastic Gold Coins
Waterbeads Plastic or wooden Letters and numbers
Aquarium Rock
Play or Craft Sand

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14 day challenge

DAY #9 - SUPER SOFT PLAYDOUGH

WAY TO GO! YOU DID IT!

DAY #2 - FLUFFY SLIME

DAY #3 - MARSHMALLOW TOOTHPICK TOWER

DAY #4 - COFFEE FILTER ART

DAY #7 - SALT PAINTING

DAY #8 - MAGIC MILK

DAY #9 - SUPER SOFT PLAYDOUGH

DAY #10 - MAKE A CALMING GLITTER JAR

DAY #12 - CATAPULT

Ooblek is a fun and frugal science activity that is easy to set up

MAKE A CALMING GLITTER JAR

DIY STRESS BALLS

MAKE HOMEMADE SLIME

SET UP A SENSORY BIN

BUILD A CALM DOWN KIT

This experiment explores how to make an egg float using saltwater.

RUBBER EGG EXPERIMENT

HOMEMADE LAVA LAMP

BAKING SODA AND VINEGAR REACTION

LEGO MARBLE MAZE

LEGO TIC TAC TOE

EXPLORE VOLUME SCIENCE

THE FIVE SENSES

GO ON A SCIENCE/STEM SCAVENGER HUNT

TAKE UP BIRD WATCHING AND LEARN ABOUT BIRDS NEAR YOU

EXPLORE TREE LEAVES AND COLORS

SEE HOW A TREE BREATHES

COLLECT ROCKS AND MAKE COLLECTION

OBSERVE BUGS IN THEIR NATURAL HABITAT

TRACK THE WEATHER

EXPLORE THE 5 SENSES

1 cup of hair conditioner

PLAYDOUGH TREASURE HUNT www.lit lebinsforlit lehands.com/homemade-playdough/

playdough and add a pair of kid-safe

ROLL THE DICE

SENSORY BIN FILLERS FUN THINGS TO ADD

Epsom Salt Egg Cartons

Shaving Cream Plastic Gold Coins

Waterbeads Plastic or wooden Letters and numbers

Play or Craft Sand

CUP TOWER CHALLENGE

EGG DROP CHALLENGE

MARSHMALLOW TOOTHPICK TOWER

LONGEST PAPER CHAIN

WATERCOLOR AND SALT ART

SALAD SPINNER ART

PAPER TOWEL ART

TAPE RESIST ART

IMPORTANT PRACTICAL LIFE SKILLS

RUBBER EGG EXPERIMENT

LAYERS OF THE OCEAN

LAVA LAMP EXPERIMENT

HOMEMADE BUTTER IN A JAR

DIY ROCK CANDY

This experiment explores how to make an egg float using saltwater.

SURFACE TENSION WITH WATER DROPS

RUBBER EGG EXPERIMENT

HOMEMADE LAVA LAMP