Tinkerwonderplay

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Early childhood education platform to provide resources to educators, parents, and anyone where children thrive in an environment filled with intention, beauty, curiosity, and wonder.

4 Playful Ways to Explore Letters Through Hands-On Learning// The alphabet can be learned through play, giving childre...
08/25/2026

4 Playful Ways to Explore Letters Through Hands-On Learning// The alphabet can be learned through play, giving children opportunities to touch, create, search, & explore letters in meaningful ways.

By incorporating letters into , art, water exploration, & , children explore letter shapes & names in engaging ways. Here are 4 ways to bring the alphabet into play.

1. Letters + Water Play: We filled our Explorer Tuff Tray with water and added Excellerations® Uppercase ABC Liquid Letters alongside translucent buckets, pitchers, & pouring tools. Children scooped, poured, collected, identified, & searched for letters, including those in their names.
2. Painting Letter Stones: We placed Yellow Door, Early Years Educational Resources Feels-Write Uppercase Letter Stones in our Cosy Direct White Tuff Tray with Colorations Fluorescent BioColor® Paint & Fine Brushes. Children painted directly onto the stones, following the grooves, lines, & curves of each letter.
3. .Excavating Frozen Letters + Gems: We froze Alphabet Letter Pebbles alongside colorful Discount School Supply Acrylic Ice Rocks to create an icy letter excavation. Children worked to free, identify, & alphabetize each hidden letter while building curiosity & problem-solving skills.
4. Kinetic Sand Letter Hunt on the Light Table: We covered our tickit® Sensory Mood Discovery Light Table with Spectacular Sensory Sand & hid Alphabet Letter Pebbles throughout. Children used Learning Resources handy scoopers to find each letter before matching it to the corresponding ABC Liquid Letters.

Across these invitations, children build foundational skills such as visual tracking, problem-solving, creativity, sensory processing, early language, letter recognition, pre-writing skills, pincer grasp, finger strength, hand-eye coordination, concentration, & fine motor control.

What we love most is how the alphabet becomes something children can touch, paint, pour, excavate, search for, & discover. These playful experiences offer repeated exposure while engaging children’s senses, curiosity, & natural desire to explore.

Everything linked for you here is the latest blog post ➡️ https://www.tinkerwonderplay.com/post/4-playful-ways-to-explore-letters-through-hands-on-learning

One of the best parts of living in the Bay Area is having just a ferry ride away with San Francisco Bay Ferry ! ⛴️🌉 We h...
08/24/2026

One of the best parts of living in the Bay Area is having just a ferry ride away with San Francisco Bay Ferry ! ⛴️🌉

We hopped on the ferry to the Ferry Building Marketplace and made our way over to the Exploratorium. It’s such a fun place to explore, with hundreds of hands-on exhibits that bring science, art, and curiosity to life. We loved wandering through all the interactive exhibits, discovering something new around every corner, and taking in the picturesque views of the Bay along the way. 🔬✨

Afterward, we headed back to the Ferry Building for lunch & spent some time exploring all the little shops before catching the ferry home. Such an epic Bay Area day and the ferry ride itself might just be one of our favorite parts! 💙⛴️

Dinosaur Pizza Party: Counting Through Play// There is something so fun about about bringing a favorite story off the pa...
08/17/2026

Dinosaur Pizza Party: Counting Through Play// There is something so fun about about bringing a favorite story off the pages & into play! After reading A Delicious Dinosaur Pizza Counting Party by R M Smith, we extended the story with a pizza making invitation that combined literacy, math, sequencing, & pretend play.

Throughout the story, a group of colorful dinosaur friends work together to create one very unique pizza, adding different toppings as they count along from one to ten. After reading, we invited the children to become pizza makers themselves, using pretend pizza ingredients & play food to recreate the dinosaur pizza from the story.

With the book nearby as a visual reference, the children worked through the story again, identifying the next topping, finding the corresponding pretend ingredient, & adding it to their pizza. As each new topping was added, we counted together, recognized the corresponding numbers, compared quantities, & practiced putting the events of the story in order.

What looked like a simple pizza-making invitation was filled with opportunities for meaningful learning. Recreating the pizza encouraged children to recall details, sequence events, strengthen story comprehension, recognize numbers, count with one-to-one correspondence, & connect quantities to numerals.

The pretend-play element made those early literacy & math concepts feel natural rather than instructional. Children weren’t simply being asked what happened in the story or how many objects they could count, they were remembering, finding, counting, creating, & retelling as they played.

The book became a tool for problem-solving, encouraging them to search the illustrations for clues & independently check their thinking.

This was such a simple way to transform storytime into an interactive learning experience. By pairing a playful book with familiar pretend-play materials, we were able to extend the story, proving once again that some of the most meaningful learning happens when books & play come together.

Blog post here ➡️https://www.tinkerwonderplay.com/post/dinosaur-pizza-party-counting-through-play

Three Ways to Create with the Colorations® Giant Spin Art Center//There is something magical about watching colors swirl...
08/15/2026

Three Ways to Create with the Colorations® Giant Spin Art Center//There is something magical about watching colors swirl, blend, & burst into masterpieces. The Colorations Giant Spin Art Center from Discount School Supply combines movement, creativity, & hands-on exploration while encouraging children to experiment with color, motion, + cause & effect.

One of our favorite things about this art center is its versatility. Simply changing the materials creates a whole new artistic experience. Here are three of our favorite ways to use it.

1. Fluorescent Paint: Our first invitation featured Colorations® Fluorescent BioColor® Paint.

Children squeezed small amounts of paint onto the paper, then turned the wheel to watch vibrant colors stretch into spirals & unexpected patterns. Each spin created a unique masterpiece while introducing color mixing, centrifugal force, + cause & effect.

2. Liquid Watercolors: Next, we switched to Colorations® Liquid Watercolors & invited children to use pipettes to drip paint onto the spinning paper from their Colorations® Double-Dip Divided Paint Cups.

The thinner paint spread quickly, creating delicate splashes, soft blends, & watercolor-like effects. Using pipettes also encouraged precision, concentration, & fine motor development as children experimented with paint amounts, spinner speed, & placement.

3. Markers: For our final invitation, we traded paint for Colorations® Classic Markers.

Children held markers against the spinning paper to create circles, spirals, zigzags, & layered designs. By changing pressure, colors, & placement, they discovered endless ways to transform simple lines into intricate artwork.

Markers also offered a cleaner spin art option while encouraging children to focus on line, pattern, & design.

The Colorations® Giant Spin Art Center is more than a painting tool. It invites children to explore art through movement, curiosity, & experimentation, creating confidently without worrying about a “right” way to make art.

Everything is linked for you here in the latest blog post ➡️ https://www.tinkerwonderplay.com/post/three-ways-to-create-with-the-colorations-giant-spin-art-center

Axolotls of Xochimilco: An Invitation to Explore & Play// There is no question that everyone is axolotl obsessed! Their ...
08/13/2026

Axolotls of Xochimilco: An Invitation to Explore & Play// There is no question that everyone is axolotl obsessed! Their feathery gills, tiny smiles, & fascinating regenerative abilities make them an exciting creature for children to discover. We brought our learning to life through an immersive small world inspired by Lake Xochimilco, the remarkable place wild axolotls call home.

We used our Discount School Supply to create a freshwater world inspired by the canals, marshes, & wetlands near Mexico City. We added water mixed with Colorations Metallic Paint, aquatic plants, rocks, aquarium stones, axolotl figurines, Open Play Toys cones, & natural loose parts for children to explore & transform.

One of our favorite additions was the Explore Nook Water Way & Mill Kit. Its wooden channels & pathways added a STEM element as children experimented with directing the flow of water. A beverage dispenser filled with water encouraged independent pouring, filling, + cause & effect discovery as children watched the water travel through their creations.

As the children played, we talked about what makes axolotls so extraordinary. These unique salamanders remain aquatic throughout their lives, retain their recognizable feathery external gills, & have the incredible ability to regenerate lost limbs and repair certain parts of their bodies.

Through this invitation, children were building, pouring, experimenting, imagining, & discovering. Water play encouraged early engineering, problem-solving, fine motor coordination, & cause-and-effect exploration, while opened conversations about axolotl habitats & the importance of protecting their unique freshwater environment.

A little water, a lot of wonder, & one extraordinary amphibian made for an invitation overflowing with play, discovery, & curiosity.

Everything linked for you here in the latest blog post ➡️ https://www.tinkerwonderplay.com/post/axolotls-of-xochimilco-an-invitation-to-explore-play

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4010 Mt Diablo Blvd
Lafayette, CA
94549

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