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Views From a Step Stool

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Learning with Sidewalk Chalk and Paint

Learning with Sidewalk Chalk and Paint

August 15, 2014 By Katie Chiavarone Leave a Comment

  Learning letter and sight words is something that often occurs through play. When introducing these topics, have kids use their entire bodies and gross motor skills to explore the letters, this helps really wire those connections in the brain. Check out how we are learning with sidewalk chalk!   Learning

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Filed Under: Arts & Crafts, Learn Through Play, Outdoors, Preschool Arts& Crafts, Preschoolers, Spring, Summer, Toddler Arts & Crafts, Toddlers, Uncategorized Tagged With: chalk, Homeschool, learn, moms, outdoors, play, preschool, sight words

Homemade Window Paint: Kids Art Outdoors

Homemade Window Paint: Kids Art Outdoors

August 8, 2014 By Katie Chiavarone Leave a Comment

Make your own homemade window paint and take it outside! This is a simple recipe I first saw here that the will kids will love to make and make again. Paint and wash, paint and wash. Homemade Window Paint What You Need: Cornstarch Water Dish Soap Liquid Watercolors (or food

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Filed Under: Arts & Crafts, Learn Through Play, Outdoors, Preschool Arts& Crafts, Preschoolers, Spring, Summer, Toddler Arts & Crafts, Toddlers Tagged With: Arts and Crafts, fun, kids activities, kids art, outdoors

DIY Worm Farm: Preschool Science

June 17, 2014 By Katie Chiavarone 1 Comment

    We were on vacation camping last week and I had all of these fun projects planned to blog about but didn’t get to any of them!! It’s a good thing we had our indoor camping week before we left 🙂  I guess camping in and of itself was enough

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Filed Under: Elementary, Gentle Parenting, Learn Through Play, Outdoors, Preschool Science, Preschoolers, science, Spring Tagged With: Preschool Homeschool

3-Ingredient Sidewalk Paint

May 25, 2014 By Katie Chiavarone Leave a Comment

  This is one of our favorite warm-weather activities. It is so incredibly easy to make and fun to use. All you need is cornstarch, food coloring (or liquid watercolors) and water.      Mix 1 part cornstarch with 1 part water, stir until it is liquid and add the

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Filed Under: Arts & Crafts, Elementary, Learn Through Play, Outdoors, Preschool Arts& Crafts, Preschoolers, Spring, Summer, Toddler Arts & Crafts, Toddlers

Sidewalk Paint Fireworks in an Eggshell

May 25, 2014 By Katie Chiavarone Leave a Comment

To kick off Memorial Day weekend we decided to take a new approach to a couple of fun activities that we have been wanting to do. Around Easter I saw so many posts floating around blogland  of people filling eggshells with paint and throwing them at a canvas or poster

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Filed Under: Arts & Crafts, Elementary, Holidays, Learn Through Play, Memorial Day/4th of July, Outdoors, Preschool Arts& Crafts, Preschoolers, Spring, Summer, Toddler Arts & Crafts, Toddlers, Uncategorized

6 Fun Beach Activities: Beyond Sandcastles

6 Fun Beach Activities: Beyond Sandcastles

May 17, 2014 By Katie Chiavarone Leave a Comment

Who needs beach activities? Playing at the beach is the ultimate sensory experience. The feel of the sand in your toes, the taste of the salty ocean air, the sound of the waves….why would you need anything more than that? But if you are planning a beach vacation or a

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Filed Under: Elementary, Learn Through Play, Outdoors, Preschoolers, Sensory, Summer, Toddlers, Uncategorized Tagged With: beach, outdoors, party, play, sand, unplugged, vacation

Sand Slime at the Beach

Sand Slime at the Beach

May 17, 2014 By Katie Chiavarone 1 Comment

 My kids love going to the beach. We are lucky enough to be within about an hour drive and take advantage of the mid-week beach lull in the summertime. I like to throw a couple extra goodies in the beach bag to make something crafty or fun AT the beach!

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Filed Under: Elementary, Learn Through Play, Outdoors, Preschoolers, Sensory, Summer, Toddlers

Making Colored Sand at the Beach

Making Colored Sand at the Beach

May 17, 2014 By Katie Chiavarone Leave a Comment

  This is so simple I’m not sure it deserves a whole blog post but it was just too much fun not to share! We brought a box of food coloring to the beach today to spice up the sand castles we’ve been building.   We decided to add it

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Filed Under: Learn Through Play, Outdoors, Preschoolers, Summer, Toddlers, Uncategorized

Name Prints in the Sand

Name Prints in the Sand

May 16, 2014 By Katie Chiavarone Leave a Comment

  Ok…so sometimes our projects really don’t turn out as planned…today we tried out a really cool idea that I had seen floating around Pinterest but it just didn’t work. I’m blogging about it anyway hoping that you will try it and get much better results than we did!  

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Filed Under: Elementary, Learn Through Play, Outdoors, Preschoolers, Summer, Toddlers, Uncategorized

Driftwood Train Tracks at the Beach

Driftwood Train Tracks at the Beach

May 16, 2014 By Katie Chiavarone Leave a Comment

        We are really enjoying our beach vacation projects – this one was extremely simple and tons of fun!   We packed a toy train to take to the beach with us. I chose to use a bath toy train as opposed to the wooden trains…I didn’t

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Filed Under: Outdoors, Uncategorized

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Welcome to Views From a Step Stool!

Welcome to Views From a Step Stool!

I am a mom to three little ones and love to create and explore every day with them! We have open minds and messy hands, come join in our adventures!

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What’s New

  • 12 Snowman Crafts for Kids
  • 10 Elf on the Shelf Printables to Download
  • 12 Elf on the Shelf Ideas
  • Candy Corn Sensory Bin
  • Emotions Sensory Bag
  • 10 Thanksgiving Handprint Crafts

What’s New:

  • 12 Snowman Crafts for Kids
  • 10 Elf on the Shelf Printables to Download
  • 12 Elf on the Shelf Ideas
  • Candy Corn Sensory Bin
  • Emotions Sensory Bag
  • 10 Thanksgiving Handprint Crafts
  • Build a Jack-o-Lantern Sensory Craft
  • Breakfast Smoothies for Kids with BlendJet Portable Blender
  • 12 Outdoor Painting Ideas for Kids
  • Educational Sensory Bin Ideas
  • 12 Animal Sensory Bin Ideas for Kids
  • 10 Insect Themed Sensory Bins
  • 12 Bee Crafts for Kids
  • 15 Easter Chick Crafts for Kids
  • 15+ Earth Day Crafts for Kids
  • St. Patrick’s Day Emotion Cut and Paste Printable Activity
  • Valentine’s Day Charades Words
  • Printable Color by Number Valentine’s Day Cards for Kids
  • Valentine’s Day Kindness Countdown Calendar: Free Printable
  • Valentine’s Day Pixel Art Color by Number: Free Printables

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