Our Favorite Things from Lakeshore Learning

 

First let me start of by saying that this is in no way sponsored by Lakeshore Learning.  I just really love their products!  They are all quality made, the boys enjoy playing and learning with them and most of these things we have had for a few years.  Lakeshore has brick and mortar stores as well as their online store.  However if you have one in your area, I highly recommend you go in and walk around. It is worth the look-see!

There are a few things that are more geared toward kiddos Truman's age and the same for Winston's age but I'll say this: Both boys enjoy playing with all of the things!  

For the younger kiddos, you can't go wrong with their Color Rings Sorting Set or Button Size Sorting Box.  Both are great for learning colors and shapes and tuning fine motor skills.  

Another fun color learning item is the Let's Go Fishing playset.  Winston received this when he was about 1.  We have played with it like crazy and it is so well made that it still looked brand new when I got it out for Truman to play with it!  I like that it has the colors also written on the side of the fish.  Now that Winston is learning site words he gets a kick out of spelling the words on the side of the fish!

Lakeshore has quite a few different types of discovery boxes.  We have the Color Discovery set and the Shapes set is just precious too!  They also have a what's inside version for older kiddos.

Hands down, without a doubt in my mind this set of bugs is Winston's favorite thing from Lakeshore. I purchased this for him when he was 2 and a half and this gets played with on the regular.  He's five now!  These bugs have been sorted, stacked, marched all over they house.  They have overtaken block buildings, taken rides on all types of trucks and cars, and have even taken a bath!  We have built them crazy houses and the scoopers have acted as spaceships a time or two!  

Winton received this I Can Build It set when he was three and he wore.it.out!  I cannot even begin to tell you how many times he took apart and then put back together these automobiles.  We played garage and repair store.  He put all blue screws in one and purple in another.  We mixed and matched the pieces.  These are great for developing motor skills and patience!  {haha!} 

This Don't Let the Bugs Fall game is a hit with both boys.  A kids version of Jenga, it helps with color identification and critical thinking skills.  It also makes for a great tower to ram cars into as well!   

And to wrap it up I'll link three more of our favorites: this set of soft blocks is perfect for building and smashing and crashing; magnetic pieces for creating all sorts of crazy cars and trucks; counting cars!

Our Favorite Books for Kiddos

I'm sure most people are familiar with the favorites of today like The Book with No Pictures, Dragons Love Tacos, the Pete the Cat series and Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site.  Today, I'm sharing a few that you may not be familiar with but that we just love to pieces!

Our favorite books can be found in a myriad of places: Amazon, Target, Barnes & Noble and even many local book stores.  We have spent hours reading these books below and hope that you might find one or two that your littles will adore too!

Any of the Indestructible Books are fantastic for small hands as they look through books because the pages are indestructible.  Little ones can bite them, fold them, scrunch them and no damage will be done to the books!  They have quite a few stories: Baby Faces, Things That Go, Hey Diddle Diddle and more!

All of Leslie Patricelli's books are adorable!  We purchased Tubby for Winston years ago and to this day we call the little baby in the books Tubby.  Our second one was Yummy Yucky and is one of my favorites!  She has ones for Potty, Valentine's Day, Halloween and Christmas.

For Truman we purchased Shark Bite and it has quickly become one of his favorites!  Mark the Shark's mouth opens and closes on each page and we love making shark sounds as we read.  There is a series of four additional animals as well.

The Jolly Postman is a book that my brother loved from growing up overseas.  It is one of our favorites because it is interactive and the pages contain the letters that the postman delivers on his rounds.

Nibbles the Book Monster is another fantastic interactive book that follows the journey of Nibbles as he munches his way through fairy tales!

Another pair of interactive books is Who Done It? and Who, What, Where?  Each page contains a series of pictures and then asks questions like "Who played with the cat?" and "Who forgot their coat?".  These books are great for littles to start learning about context clues.

The first in a series of three books about hats, I Want My Hat Back follows the journey of a bear who has lost his hat and searches to find it!  When I say we have red this book 100 times, it would not be a lie as that is how much Winston loves this book!

Both Benjamin and I remember reading this next book when we were little.  It's just hilarious and both boys think so too!  There's a Monster at the End of This Book is about Grover's effort to stop you from getting to the monster at the end of the book because he is scared of monsters.  I mean, can you just even guess who the monster at the end of the book is? ;) 

Another throw back to when I was growing up is our Mr. Men Box Set.  With books about characters like Mr. Happy, Mr. Tickle, Mr. Loud, Mr. Small and Mr. Sneeze you'll enjoy getting caught up in the wondrous world of all the Mr. Men!

A series that has quickly become a household favorite {and a great gift for friends!} is the Disgusting Critter Series!  Each book centers around a certain critter and gives tons of facts.  The drawings are cute and they are quite comical as well.  The Toad is my personal favorite!

I saw The Biggest Story ABC  on Instagram and promptly purchased for our collection.  With its beautiful illustrations it elegantly tells the story of redemption from creation to the cross.  There is also a version for older kids as well.

The Jesus Story Book Bible is another amazing way to share Bible stories with your littles.  I highly recommend having a copy for your home.

Zondervan's The Beginner's Bible is great for kiddos who are interested in learning to read and as a good starter to learning the basics of the Bible stories.  

PS: This post contains affiliate links - Thanks as always for reading!

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Our Favorite Outdoor Toys for Kiddos

Living in Texas we can pretty much play outside year round... and those times when it is sizzling hot, we just find the nearest pool to jump into or splash pad to run through.  

One of my all time, ultimate favorite go-to outside toys is the Bunch o' Balloon water balloons.  These are soooooo super easy to use and we go through them like crazy!  They make great stocking stuffers, basket stuffers or just because you survived the day gifts!  They can be purchased at Walmart, Target, Amazon, CVS and ToysRUs. 

These Gonge Riverstones and River are fantastic for creative play and obstacle course creating!  Both are highly durable and can withhold a good amount of weight.  We play with them outside along with some cones.  They are great for color recognition, jumping, keeping balance and let's be honest, burning off some of that energy!  These can also be found on Fatbrain Toys.

I highly recommend this Step Two Roller Coaster.  Originally this was given to Truman, who indeed loves it.  What I didn't expect was that Winston would enjoy it as much as he does.  And really, I like to take a turn too!  It's super durable {as is evidenced by the previous sentence!} and it fits into itself to make storing in its box an easy feat.  Winston loves being a helper to Truman, #boysareblurs and it has been a great tool in helping us teach Truman how to take turns!  

Another item that has provided a lot of entertainment is our Little Tykes bounce house.  There are quite a few styles and options available.  This is great to blow up for just the two of them or when we have guests over.   

Lastly, I'll share the Stomp Rocket.  This never gets old no matter how many times it gets jumped on!  This makes an excellent gift for any occasion.  Really, our entire family enjoys taking turns to see how high or far we can shoot the rockets!

And while all of these things are great, nothing truly beats a pile of rocks, some diggers and an big imagination!

What would you add to the list?  Let me know so that I can check them out!

Have you seen:
Our Favorite Games for Kiddos

Our Favorite Games for Kiddos

We started playing games with Winston when he was somewhere in that 2-3 years old range.  Simple things like memory and Bingo working our way up to the classics that we loved growing up like Hungry Hippo and Trouble.  What I have come to realize is that there are more and more games for the kiddos these days!  Here are a few that we have come to love!

This Daniel Tiger version of bingo and memory is a favorite in our house and the first set of games we played with Winston.  It is perfect for taking along on trips or restaurants as well!

The Sneaky Snacky Squirrel is in the top two games that Winston picks to play when Truman has been laid down.  The goal is to get one of every color of acorn into your log before a wind blows or the sneaky squirrel {another player!} snatches one of your acorns for himself!

As you can see, the Beanie Babies also enjoy the opportunity to play this game too!  ;)

The second game that he gravitates towards is Zingo!  We received this as a gift from a friend who thought it looked like fun and she was not wrong!  The red box hold the cards and when you slide it back two of the cards drop into the slots.  You have to be one of the first ones to grab a card if it matches one of the pictures on your Zingo board.  The first one to fill your board wins!  They have a few different versions of the game including a site words version for older kids.  We have also taken Zingo along to restaurants with us when there are lots of kiddos.  It is the perfect game to help pass the time!

Let's Go Fish is a favorite with both boys.  It is in the category of the classics and every house needs one, in my opinion!

I was at Five Below a few days ago and found Cooties and Don't Spill the Beans for $5!  These were two of my favorite games growing up and I'm excited to introduce the boys to them.

I would love to know what some of your favorite games to play are!  Leave me a comment so that I can check them out!

If you like this post, check out:
Our Favorite Outdoor Toys for Kiddos