Our Favorite Kid’s Activities of 2015

The end of 2015 is a good time to think about all of the activities we’ve done this past year. Over the next few days, I’ll be sharing our most popular posts from 2015. Today I want to share our favorite kid’s activities from the year – Aiden’s top 10 and my top 5.

Aiden’s Favorite Activities

Aiden loves space, LEGO, robots, experimenting, playing outside, and games. We looked back at all of our activities from this year on the blog and he chose ten as his favorite. He asked to do these again.

#1) Exploding Baggies – Aiden placed this at the top of his favorite list. Anything to do with baking soda and vinegar is Aiden’s most requested activity. Put the baking soda and vinegar in a baggie and watch it explode! There’s a video that shows what happens, too.

#2) Easter Egg Scavenger Hunt with Picture Clues – We love scavenger hunts and did quite a few this year. Aiden says this one tops his list because the clues were hidden in eggs and he and his friend got to create and hide the clues for each other.

#3) Cookie Delivery Rube Goldberg Machine – Aiden was super proud of the way he designed this machine and enjoyed putting it together. He wants to create another one with even more parts. Stay tuned for that next year!

#4) Big Hero 6 Science: Honey Lemon’s Chemistry Concoctions (sponsored by Disney) – We created our own Big Hero 6 science lab using Honey Lemon’s chemistry concoctions as inspiration. We made (pretend) hardening foam, cushioning foam, and explosives. Aiden especially loved the hardening foam (which was similar to elephant toothpaste).

#5) Robot Clean Up Game | Coding for Kids – This game makes Aiden’s favorites list even though it’s one of my sneaky ways to get him to clean up. Program the robot (you or the kids) and send it off to clean up. It’s a fun way to introduce coding to kids.

#6) Invite the Neighborhood on a Treasure Hunt – Create a neighborhood treasure hunt with sidewalk chalk clues. Aiden and I made this for his friend down the street. Together they followed the clues and found a surprise at the end. Other neighbor kids found the treasure hunt and joined in, too.

#7) Valentine Heart Glyph – Follow directions to make a secret piece of art. If you know the code, you can figure out who the owner of the heart is.

#8) Hungry Monster Math Games (sponsored by SNICKERS®) – I think Aiden remembers this game so fondly because he got to eat a piece of candy after the game. He also thought it was really fun to feed the monster.

#9) M&M’s Valentine Glyph – A Secret Code Treat for Valentine’s Day (sponsored by M&M’s®) – We made yummy cupcakes and decorated them with M&M’s. The pattern of the M&M’s represented a secret code message. What’s not to love about secret codes and chocolate?!

#10) V is for Volume – This post is part of our A to Z Science series for toddlers and preschoolers. The activities introduce the concept of volume and address some common misconceptions. Aiden loved pouring water from one container to another and predicting which container would hold the most.

My Favorite Kid’s Activities

It was hard for me to narrow down my favorite kid’s activities of the year, but I managed to choose just 5. (Aiden had hard time choosing only 10!)

#1) Frozen Oobleck – I love the way this turned out. It’s cold and squishy and a gorgeous shade of blue.

#2) Melting Hearts Word Search – I’m surprised this one didn’t make Aiden’s top ten list. It involves baking soda, vinegar, and fizzing! As the hearts melt and fizz, letters are revealed. Use the letters to make a word.

#3) Go on a Number Walk – This was Aiden’s idea. He wanted to make another treasure hunt for the neighbors but we didn’t have time before the rain would arrive. We decided he would write only the numbers. As he biked (Lily and I walked) around the neighborhood, he stopped to write numbers. I love that this activity practices number writing and number recognition in a fun and unexpected way.

#4) Farm Animal Treasure Hunt for Toddlers – I created this simple treasure hunt for toddler Lily. She loved finding the animals “hidden” around the room. Aiden loved hiding them for her.

#5) Easter Egg Reading Game – Easter eggs are such a fun tool to use for learning. I added animals to the eggs and their letters. The goal is to spell the animal word.

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