A Look Back at 2012 | Inspiration Laboratories

2012 is almost over. I’ve been going through the posts here at Inspiration Laboratories and reminiscing about the last year. It’s taken me awhile, but I think I’ve narrowed the focus of the site. My tagline has been “encouraging learning through creativity and play” since the beginning. I believe play is an essential part of childhood. I also believe that you can infuse learning into that play if you are intentional and look for opportunities. Amongst the play and learning, there also has to be opportunities for creativity – for my son and for me. With that said, my posts tend to fall under one of four categories (with much overlap) – play, science, books, and art/crafts. Take a look back at 2012 with me as I share some of my favorite posts from each of these categories. Click on the pictures to see the posts.

Play

A good amount of my posts are quick play ideas. Things that happen spur of the moment – often they are Aiden’s ideas – that I want to share with you. We also spend a lot of time playing and exploring outside.

Science

Science education is one of my passions. It doesn’t always come up in our everyday indoor play, so I have to intentionally plan many of these learning opportunities. My goal for 2013 is to work even more science learning into the site.

Books

We read many books. Reading to our children is so important. Most of the book based ideas I share involve some element of pretend play. It’s how my son likes to connect to the books.

Art and Crafts

I enjoy crafting, which is why I still post craft ideas for grown-ups. Sometimes Aiden can help with those projects and sometimes he can’t. For him, I like to focus on the process of the art or craft – not the actual product. We experiment with materials and techniques but don’t focus on the end result. We still celebrate the final product and hang it up or use it in another project. {Abstract art makes great greeting cards.}

In 2013, I will be joining other kid bloggers in sharing our best posts from 2012. I will be sharing my most popular science and play post. Can you guess which one it is? Join us for the Best of 2012 Blog Hop.

Connect with Inspiration Laboratories on Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, or Facebook . You can also subscribe to posts by e-mail.