It can be tricky to come up with endless ways to entertain your kids on another rainy afternoon. But, luckily, social media is filled with clever creators who’ve done the heavy lifting for you with amazing activities for play-based learning. We’ve found three creators who developed easy-to-set-up early learning activities using products available at Officeworks. So, whether you’re a carer looking to keep your tribe busy during the school holidays or an educator seeking fresh ideas for the classroom, your next activity is here waiting to be discovered.

Early Learning Activities With @learning.with.blox

Creator Chloe began her Instagram account @learning.with.blox while on maternity leave with her first child two and half years ago. She was inspired to create activities for her and her little one to enjoy together and began capturing and sharing her early learning ideas with other parents and carers.

“I now share a variety of engaging play ideas, toy and book rotations, and sensory activities that I enjoy with my two children. My approach emphasises learning through play to both educate and captivate, while also addressing their sensory needs,” says Chloe.

DIY Busy Board

Suitable for Ages 18 Months+ (With Adult Supervision)

Learning Benefits: Identifying colour and shape, developing fine motor skills (hand-eye coordination) and gross motor skills (grasping and reaching).

What You’ll Need

Method

Poke evenly spaced holes into a piece of cardboard or cardboard box, ensuring they’re just big enough to fit the bolts through. Thread the bolts into the holes, then let your little ones explore and play as they attach the nuts to the bolts. 

Enhance their play and encourage kids to put the bolts into the holes themselves. 

Questions to Ask to Help With Learning

  • Can you turn the nut?
  • How many times can you turn the nut?
  • What direction does it go (clockwise or counterclockwise)?
  • What happens if you turn it this way? What about the other way? 

Seek and Put In

Suitable for Ages 18 Months+ (With Adult Supervision)

Learning Benefits: Understanding instructions, spatial awareness, problem-solving and communication skills, identifying colour.

What You’ll Need

Method

Connect the nuts and bolts together and hide them around the space you and your kids are playing in, aiming for simple-to-find places, like under a cushion in the living room. Once hidden, let your kids explore and find all the nuts and bolts. 

Encourage them to count the number of nuts and bolts to see if they’ve found them all or instruct them to organise their findings by colour in sorting bowls.

Questions to Ask to Help With Learning

  • How many have you found?
  • How many more do you have left to find?
  • What colour have you found?
  • How many (colour) ones have you found?

Obstacle Course Colour Sort

Suitable for Ages 18 Months+ (With Adult Supervision)

Learning Benefits: Understanding instructions, spatial awareness, problem-solving and communication skills, identifying colour, developing motor skills such as carrying, balancing and jumping.

What You’ll Need

Method

Create a fun indoor obstacle course with things around the house or a hopscotch course in the backyard with chalk. Place a tub filled with nuts and bolts at the beginning of the course and empty sorting bowls at the end. Encourage kids to carry the nuts and bolts one by one through the course. Once at the finish line, instruct them to sort the nuts and bolts by colour or shape into the bowls.

Questions to Ask to Help With Learning

  • Where is the (colour) one?
  • Which shape are you carrying?
  • Can you go faster? Can you go slower?
  • Can you go backwards/sideways/on one leg? 

SEE ALSO: Easy DIY Sensory Play: Dinosaur Soup Water Play

Early Learning Activity with @itstimetoplaynow

Dive into a world of sensory play with Efstathia Lazari, also known as @itstimetoplaynow online. With 15 years’ teaching experience, she puts all her expertise and passion into creating imaginative, hands-on sensory tray ideas and sensory play sessions. 

“Sensory play is not only fun but also supports fine motor skills, problem-solving and imaginative play – so I focus on creating activities that are easy, affordable and packed with developmental benefits. My goal is to encourage families to connect and play together while fostering their child’s growth,” says Efstathia.

Outer Space Sensory Tray 

Suitable for Ages 18 Months+ (With Adult Supervision)

Learning Benefits: Creative thinking and imaginative skills, communication skills, understanding instructions, identifying colours and shapes, tactile experience in exploring different textures and materials, developing fine motor skills in painting and sticking down decorations. 

What You’ll Need

Method

Trace around the inner circle of a disposable plate halfway, resembling a smile or semicircle. This is the outline of your UFO. Carefully cut around the traced line and trim off half of the outer circle of the plate to create the silhouette of your UFO. 

With their favourite coloured paint, let kids cover a hand and press down in the middle of their plate UFO to create a unique handprint – this makes the alien. Encourage kids to add stickers, googly eyes, gem stickers, feathers and more to bring their extraterrestrial and its space craft to life. Let the paint dry completely before lift off!

Questions to Ask to Help With Learning

  • How does the paint feel on your hand? Is it smooth, wet or cold?
  • What colours do you want to use for your alien? Why?
  • What happens when you mix two paint colours together?
  • What sound do you think a UFO makes when it flies through space?
  • What’s your alien’s name and where does it come from?

SEE ALSO: Your Guide to Fun Activities for Preschoolers

Early Learning Activity with @our.playful.learning.journey

Danica, the mother and early years teacher behind the blog Instagram account @our.playful.learning.journey, started posting to share her love of helping kids learn through play. Her colourful, creative activities are designed to empower other parents and teachers to make learning fun and to demonstrate that “the magic happens when learning is fun and enjoyable.”

“All children need time to play and benefit from hands-on playful learning. In our Playful Learning community we want our children to experience this type of learning,” she writes on her blog. “The type of learning experience that feels so natural to the child; and in our opinion is the best way to develop a true love of learning!”

Easy Light Panel Play

Suitable for Ages 3+ (With Adult Supervision)

Learning Benefits: Discovering colour and lights, working out shapes, building creativity, improving fine motor skills.

What You’ll Need

Method

Use a laminator to laminate a variety of coloured cellophane sheets (primary colours are great for colour mixing). Then, draw on the shapes you’re after; you can trace around cups, coasters and construction or geometric toys for different shapes. Cut them out, and round the edges for younger kids. Then, using a light panel, ask your kids to lay out their shapes in different patterns and combinations.

Questions to Ask to Help With Learning

  • How many sides does each shape have?
  • What happens to the shape when we lay it on the light panel?
  • What happens when we lay one coloured shape over another?
  • What pictures and designs can you make with these shapes?

SEE ALSO: Easy DIY Sensory Play: Slime Time!