Mom Life, As It Happens

Tag: Play Based Learning

  • Meet Danny & Chrissy: Learning Through Play, One Adventure at a Time

    Sometimes learning starts with something as simple as looking around.

    A color in the sky. A shape on the ground. Something orange on the breakfast table. A little discovery that turns an ordinary moment into a chance to learn.

    That is where Danny and Chrissy come in.

    Meet Danny & Chrissy

    Danny is curious, playful, and always ready to see what he can discover next. Chrissy brings her own spark of curiosity and enthusiasm, making their little adventures feel like the kind of fun kids naturally want to join.

    And, of course, there is Pickles, their four-legged friend who seems to find his way into the adventure too.

    Learning Doesn’t Have to Feel Like a Lesson

    That idea is at the heart of KidsWonderArt Studio.

    Children can learn through the things they already love to do—looking, noticing, talking, drawing, playing, imagining, and asking questions.

    Danny and Chrissy give us a way to turn those everyday discoveries into little stories and playful learning moments.

    Where Their Adventures Can Go

    Stay up to date with Danny, Chrissy, and Pickles as their adventures unfold. There’s always something new to discover, and you never know where they’ll go next.

    For KidsWonderArt Studio, that’s the fun part. 🌈

    Where Kids Discover, Imagine & Create.

  • Easy Shape Activities for Preschoolers That Feel Like Play

    Shapes are everywhere—and you don’t need a worksheet to turn them into a fun learning adventure.

    If you’re looking for easy shape activities for a preschooler, start with what you already have. A toy, a plate, a book, a box, or a few crayons can become part of the activity.

    1. Go on a shape hunt

    Pick one shape and see how many examples your child can find.

    Try a circle first. Look for plates, clocks, lids, or wheels. Then try squares, rectangles, triangles, ovals, or diamonds.

    Make it a game instead of a test: “Can you find one?” becomes “Can you find five?”

    2. Shape and color match

    Combine two skills by giving your child a color and a shape to find.

    Ask for a red circle, a blue square, or a yellow triangle. If you don’t have the exact combination nearby, draw one together.

    You’re practicing shape recognition and color recognition at the same time—and your child gets to move, search, and make choices.

    3. Build a picture from shapes

    Draw a few simple shapes on paper and let your child turn them into something.

    A circle might become a sun. A triangle could become a roof. Rectangles can become doors, windows, or buildings.

    There is no single right answer. That’s what makes this one so good for imagination.

    4. Find shapes around the house

    Turn an ordinary room into a shape-learning game.

    • Circle: plate or clock
    • Rectangle: book or door
    • Square: tile or block
    • Oval: mirror or bowl
    • Triangle: a sign or toy

    Walk around together and ask, “What shape do you see?”

    5. Make shapes with crayons

    Give your child a few crayons and ask them to draw one circle, one square, one triangle, and one rectangle.

    Then let them add details and turn those shapes into a picture.

    This is where learning and creativity meet. The shapes don’t have to be perfect.

    6. Let your child become the shape teacher

    Once your child knows a few shapes, switch roles.

    Point to an object and ask, “What shape is this?” Then let your child find another object with the same shape and teach it back to you.

    Children often love being the expert. And when they explain something to you, you get to hear what they understand.

    7. Try a shape-and-color challenge

    Give your child a quick challenge:

    • Find a circle.
    • Find a square.
    • Find a triangle.
    • Find a rectangle.
    • Find an oval.
    • Find a diamond.

    Then ask which shape was easiest to find and which one was hardest.

    You can also turn this into a printable-style activity with the FREE Pumpkin Shape Hunt.

    The trick is not making it feel like work

    Young children don’t need every activity to have a worksheet, a score, or a perfect finished product.

    Sometimes the most useful thing we can do is give them something interesting to notice and let them explore it.

    Find a shape. Name it. Draw it. Turn it into something.

    That’s learning, too.

    Why shapes have always mattered to me

    Shapes became part of my son’s learning journey when I was looking for ways to help him learn colors through a different approach.

    That experience eventually became A Rainbow of Shapes in 2008.

    The book brought together colors and shapes with imagination and creativity—the same idea I still want to encourage through KidsWonderArt.

    For more simple ideas, visit Creativity & Learning, or read the story behind A Rainbow of Shapes.

  • Why Learning Through Play Worked for My Son

    Sometimes the best way to help a child learn is to stop making learning feel like work.

    When my sons were little, I learned pretty quickly that children don’t all learn the same way.

    With my son who was color deficient, I had an especially personal reason to think about how learning could work differently. I wanted to help him without making him feel like something was wrong with him.

    I didn’t want learning to become another source of frustration

    Once he could read, I taught him to read the color names printed on his crayons and markers. If he saw a color differently, he could still learn what that color was called.

    But I didn’t want colors to become something he simply had to memorize.

    I wanted him to have a chance to look, explore, make choices, and create.

    Shapes gave us another way in

    I also taught him shapes.

    Shapes were something he could recognize, draw, combine, and turn into something of his own. That made learning feel less like sitting down to get an answer right and more like figuring something out.

    And once creativity entered the picture, something changed for me, too.

    Creating helped me as much as it helped him

    Learning that my son was color deficient had been heartbreaking for me as his mom.

    Creating something purposeful gave me a positive place to put those feelings. Instead of constantly thinking, “My son has this issue,” I could think about what I could create to help him.

    That shift mattered.

    Play gave us room to learn

    Through play, learning didn’t have to happen in one particular order.

    We could:

    • notice colors in everyday life
    • match colors and objects
    • practice shapes
    • draw and create
    • ask questions
    • try again when something didn’t work

    There was no need for every activity to feel like a test.

    That idea stayed with me

    In 2008, my experience with my son inspired me to create A Rainbow of Shapes.

    The book brought together colors, shapes, creativity, and play because those were the kinds of things I wanted learning to feel like.

    The exact idea on the back of the book still says it best:

    “An imaginative approach to help children with color deficiencies by using the primary colors of the rainbow in various shapes.”

    The book wasn’t meant to be a medical resource. It came from a mom trying to find a creative way to help her child learn.

    You don’t need a perfect activity

    If you’re teaching a preschooler colors or shapes, start with what you already have.

    A box of crayons. A few toys. Things around the house. A walk outside.

    Ask questions. Let your child look. Let them tell you what they notice. Let them make something.

    Sometimes a five-minute game can teach more than we expect.

    You can try the FREE 5-Minute Color Hunt for a simple way to turn color learning into play.

    What I learned as a mom

    I started out wanting to help my son learn colors.

    What I learned along the way was bigger: children don’t need every learning moment to look like school.

    Sometimes they need room to discover.

    Sometimes they need another way in.

    And sometimes, they just need permission to play.

    That’s still at the heart of what I want KidsWonderArt to encourage: discover, imagine, learn, and create.

    Explore more simple activities in Creativity & Learning, or read the story behind A Rainbow of Shapes.

  • 5 Easy Ways to Teach Preschoolers Colors Through Play

    Learning colors doesn’t have to feel like a lesson. Some of the best learning happens when kids are simply looking, moving, matching, and creating.

    If you’re trying to help a preschooler learn colors, you don’t need a complicated curriculum or a pile of worksheets. You can turn things you already have around the house into little learning opportunities.

    1. Start with the colors you see every day

    Point out colors during ordinary moments.

    “Look at that red cup.”
    “Can you find something blue?”
    “What color is your shirt?”

    The goal isn’t to turn every moment into a quiz. It’s simply to help children notice colors in the world around them.

    2. Let crayons do some of the teaching

    Crayons make a simple color-learning tool because children can see, say, match, and create all at once.

    Ask your child to find a red crayon and then find something nearby that is red. Try another color. Then let them draw whatever they want with it.

    That last part matters. The activity doesn’t have to end with a correct answer. Letting children create gives them a reason to keep exploring.

    3. Go on a color hunt

    Pick one color and see how many things your child can find.

    Try:

    • Find 3 red things.
    • Find 2 yellow things.
    • Find 1 blue thing.

    You can do this in the house, outside, in a classroom, or even while waiting somewhere.

    For an easy version you can use right away, check out the FREE 5-Minute Color Hunt.

    4. Match colors to shapes

    Now add shapes to the mix.

    Ask your child to find a red circle, a blue square, or a yellow triangle. You can draw the shapes yourself or use objects you already have.

    This turns one learning idea into two: recognizing colors and recognizing shapes.

    5. Let the child become the teacher

    This is one of my favorites.

    Give your child a crayon or object and ask them to tell you what color it is. Then ask them to find something else that matches.

    Children often enjoy being the one who knows the answer. It also gives you a chance to listen to how they are thinking rather than simply telling them what to do.

    The best part? It doesn’t have to be perfect.

    When children learn through play, there is room for curiosity, mistakes, questions, and imagination.

    And that’s really the point.

    Learning colors can be about discovering—not just memorizing.

    If you’d like another simple activity, try the FREE Pumpkin Shape Hunt for a playful combination of shapes and colors.

    A little idea can become a bigger creative habit

    My own experience teaching my son colors in a different way eventually inspired A Rainbow of Shapes in 2008.

    That book began with a difficult moment as a mom, but the bigger lesson stayed with me: children can learn in different ways, and sometimes play gives us a wonderful place to start.

    For more simple activities and creative learning ideas, visit Creativity & Learning.

    And if you’re curious about where all of this began, you can read the story behind A Rainbow of Shapes.