STEM

Happy Friday, y’all!  If you’ve never stopped by my Playground Parkbench before, welcome – I’m Meghan, also known as the PGPB Guru.  I write about all the things my fellow parents and I kick around on the sidelines at the playground: at-home activities for kids, parenting tips, financial savvy and…

The girls had so much fun a few weeks back with our patriotic colored-ice sensory play, this week we decided to do it again.  Only this time, we traded in the red, yellow and blue stars for neon-colored ocean animals!  Ocean-Themed Sensory Play Sensory play with ice is rapidly becoming…

Most of our ‘projects’, as Big M likes to call them, are targeted toward the preschool aged child, and I modify them so that Lil’ M, at almost 2, can participate as well.  This week, however, I set up a fun, July 4th Sensory Play activity just for Lil’ M……

It’s the same thing every late afternoon… I start to get dinner ready, the kids are cranky and hungry, and insist on being right under my feet in the kitchen.  I try to let them help as often as I can, but sometimes, there just isn’t time for that, or…

 I received a complimentary Encourage Play box to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are 100% my own. As you may have guessed from our post on the Importance of Play yesterday, I am passionate about play for my girls, both free play, as well as organized projects.  I also…

Living by the beach, much of our home decor is beach themed.  On top of a cabinet in our living room, we keep a large vase of seashells – some were originally purchased as party decor, others have been added over the last 8 years of walking the neighborhood beach,…

Big M, at 3.5, has become increasingly interested in the concept of days and times.  When she is awaiting a holiday or Grandma coming to visit, she will ask what day it is happening, and then everyday ask if it is that day yet!  Similarly, she has picked up on…

How many conversation hearts did your child get in their Valentine box this week?  Instead of consuming all those little sugar bombs, you can make a great learning experience with them.  Big M has enjoyed two great activities this month using two different types of candy hearts: Graphing with Sweethearts Conversation…

We still have the Frozen soundtrack on repeat in the car, so anything Frozen related is still a big hit.  I found these great heart sequins in the Dollar Spot at Target last week, and the next day saw this amazing post from Totschooling: Thawing a Frozen Heart, and thought…

A year after its release, and both my M&Ms are still as Frozen-obsessed as ever.  Big M has dolls named Elsa and Anna (that are not actually Frozen dolls), she orders Siri to “Play Frozen soundtrack” when we drive to preschool every day, and she has to wear her hair…