Outsidethetoybox on LTK

8 back-to-school books I love as a parent and as a former preschool teacher! These stories help ease nerves, build confidence, and support kids (and grownups!) through all those big first-day feelings. 📖 Butterflies on the First Day of School – Helps normalize jitters with sweet storytelling 📖 School’s First Day of School – Told from the school’s POV (kids love this twist!) 📖 Ally-saurus and the First Day of School – Be yourself & find your people 📖 Ruby’s Tools for Making Friends – Practical tips for social confidence 📖 Have You Filled a Bucket Today? – A classroom must-have when I was teaching 📖 Tiny T. Rex and the First-Day Oopsies – A new release that reminds kids mistakes are part of learning 📖 What Should Danny Do? School Day – A choose-your-own-adventure that teaches the power of choice 📖 My Calm Down Book – Another new release with interactive features for teaching calming techniques LTKKids LTKFamily LTKSeasonal

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Paid links

What Should Danny Do? School Day (The Power to Choose Series) | Amazon (US)

Butterflies on the First Day of School | Amazon (US)

Tiny T. Rex and the First-Day Oopsies: A Back-to-School Book | Amazon (US)

Have You Filled a Bucket Today?: A Guide to Daily Happiness for Kids | Amazon (US)

Ally-saurus & the First Day of School | Amazon (US)

Ruby's Tools for Making Friends (Ruby’s Tools Series) | Amazon (US)

School's First Day of School | Amazon (US)

An invitation to play is exactly what it sounds like, an open-ended setup that invites your child to explore, create, and discover on their own terms. There’s no right or wrong way to play, and that’s the magic of it.

This one was as simple as color-changing lights + transparent treasure tubes. My kids explored color mixing, shadows, reflections, and building. They then continued to use them as props in their pretend play.

#LTKKids #LTKFamily

20 Prek kids and their families loved this Fall Sensory bin! The pumpkin pie spice was the favorite, just add oats so it lasts longer.

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I helped set up a sensory play date for my son’s Pre-K family engagement event, all about literacy through play. Each bin connected to a favorite book and letter activity, and it completely reawakened my preschool teacher heart. This pumpkin patch letter hunt was a success!

#LTKKids #LTKHalloween #LTKSeasonal

A spooky sensory bin perfect for learning through play this Halloween.

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Sharing my favorite Target Circle Week deals (as a mom + former preschool teacher)

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Since I hung this giant Halloween coloring sheet, my kids keep coming back to it day after day. 👻

It’s the perfect activity to leave out all October and by Halloween we’ll have a colorful banner to display!

Bonus: hanging it on the wall sneaks in extra benefits like upper body strength, core stability, and the coordination kids need for handwriting and everyday skills

#LTKKids #LTKHalloween #LTKSeasonal

My kids are obsessed with these sticker books. We have had multiple versions and they are always a hit.

I love that the stickers are right next to the scene, the spiral binding makes it easy to keep flat, and the designs are so fun!

The Halloween one, The Little Spooky Village, has been the perfect mix of festive and screen-free fun. Plus, it’s a great fine motor activity and helps kids build language and storytelling skills as they play.

#LTKHalloween #LTKSeasonal #LTKKids

If you’re at the point where you cannot handle buying another toy that gets played with for two days and then forgotten, this is for you 👇

I put together a full list of non-toy gift ideas, things kids will actually get excited to open and use on repeat.

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I rate these fall crafts for toddlers/preschoolers high because they are either super easy to set up, engage for a long period of time, have great learning/skill development potential, or come out with a beautiful end result.

#LTKSeasonal #LTKHalloween #LTKKids

I have been envisioning these for weeks and they lived up to the hype I created in my mind!

Here’s what we did:
🎃 rolled out Crayola air dry clay
🎃 used a pumpkin dough cutter to cut shape
🎃 pushed mosaic tile pieces (with rounded edges) into the clay
🎃 Let it dry and then coated with mod podge

My kids had such a great time working with the clay and mosaic pieces that they created several other unique pieces. It was a great fine motor activity!

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The lightbox makes this so magical right?

Inside the bag is clear hair gel and a couple drops of food coloring. Be sure to tape it shut to make it extra secure. I drew on the lightbox with a wet erase marker and it wiped right off when we were done.

#LTKFamily #LTKKids #LTKSeasonal

Here’s a roundup of 3 Fall-themed sensory bins and how much my 3 year old played/liked them…

1. Kinetic sand farm scene (8/10). He enjoyed this one and liked to retell the story of The Little Blue Truck while playing.
2. Fall Pretend Baking (10/10). He played with this one for hours and came back to it for multiple days. He loved adding real pumpkin pie spice.
3. Fall Count & Graph (6/10). Adding the matching pieces and the dot marker made this much more interesting than just the worksheet, but still was the least played with out of the 3.

#LTKKids #LTKSeasonal #LTKFamily

Light and Halloween seem to go hand in hand. I love to integrate light into sensory play during this season. Here are some of our favorite Halloween light activities.

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Honestly, I originally thought of just rescuing the spiders from under the web, but my 3 year old had a way better idea to stick the spiders to the tape web.

He also sorted by color, counted, and compared. So this super easy sensory bin was actually packed with fun and learning.

#LTKFamily #LTKKids #LTKSeasonal

How busy does your neighborhood get on Halloween?

Ours is one of those neighborhoods that people drive to for trick or treating. It’s so fun but it gets a little hectic with crowds and cars. These pumpkin lantern lights were perfect for spotting my kids. They were also great for lighting up their buckets for finding the perfect treat. We got multiple comments on what a good idea they were.

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Here’s a recap of favorite lights we use in our Halloween activities:
1. Color changing lights (the best is in a sensory bin with @kineticsand )
2. Lightbox- we did sand writing and added our haunted house magnetic tiles on top
3. @glopals water activated light cubes perfect for potion play
4. Flashlight for a spooky shadow hunt
5. @crayola Light-Ups Recolorable ghost and pumpkin

#LTKKids #LTKSeasonal #LTKFamily

I love Kinetic Sand because it’s pretty easy to clean up and it doesn’t dry out. The purple is so fun for Halloween and the lights make it even more magical!

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When it comes to teaching letters, I always start with something that matters most to kids…their name!

Learning sticks when it’s personal. A child’s name is often the very first word they recognize, and it’s exactly where I start as a preschool teacher when introducing letters.

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This activity was so easy to set up with just sticks I found in the yard, tape, easel paper, and watercolor paints. It was also a fun way to talk about how trees change in the different seasons. My kids got to work saying, “I’m making a summer tree” or “This one is a winter tree.”

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These spooky magnetic tiles were a favorite last Halloween and they were sooo excited to take them back out this year! The lightbox added more magic to the play.

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If I could start fresh with sensory bin supplies, here’s exactly what I’d do:
✨ Start with a few go-to bins: under-bed storage bin, Target circle platter, Brightroom 3-drawer, and small stackable acrylic trays.
✨ Stock some basic bases (Kinetic Sand, butter slime, play dough, cornstarch, baking soda + vinegar, shaving cream, dyed rice) in pantry containers.
✨ Add a handful of tools (scoops, droppers, mallets).
✨ Organize themed figures in their own bins—this Target Farm Animal set completely changed how I store figures and makes setting up so easy. They have other themes too!

#LTKKids #LTKFamily

I set this monster truck sensory bin up in just a few minutes, and it ended up being the perfect mix of sensory play and imaginative play.

My son stayed engaged way longer than I expected, and it gave him so many opportunities for storytelling, problem solving, and hands-on fun.

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My kids will literally play like this forever!

We pulled out their pretend play tools and paired them with play dough (okay, butter slime this time) and they went to town. Simple, open-ended, and keeps them busy way longer than I expected.

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Don’t just read the book… PLAY the book!
Here are 5 book-inspired activity ideas:
🚛 ‘Monster Trucks: Big Wheels! Big Trucks! Big Style’ with monster trucks + kinetic sand
🦖 ‘I’m a Dirty Dinosaur’ with oobleck mud + dinos
🗑️ ‘Construction Site: Garbage Crew to the Rescue’ with pom pom “trash” color sort
🚧 ‘The Construction Alphabet Book’ with letters in dyed rice with trucks
🎨 ‘The Color Monster’ with sorting colors + feelings
Why pair books with activities? Deepens comprehension, builds connections, makes storytime interactive & memorable.

#LTKFamily #LTKKids

These color-changing lights have become a permanent fixture in our play space and not just because they look cool (although they totally do).

They bring a whole sensory experience to play, whether it’s calming down in a dark room, exploring shadows and reflections, or adding that little spark of creativity to block towers, sensory bins, and imaginary worlds.

They support:
• open-ended exploration
• visual stimulation
• sensory regulation
• and imaginative thinking

No wonder my kids always ask for them when I try to rotate them out 😅

#LTKKids #LTKFamily #LTKHome

It’s back to school for us and something that helps us reset is having a simple activity to go to right after school and sensory bins like these are perfect!

Which is your favorite?
ABC Treasure Hunt
ABC Construction Dig
ABC Sand Cookies

#LTKKids #LTKFamily

If they’re bored they’re not learning. Try these hands-on sensory bins to explore letters with preschoolers.

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A book and a sensory bin is my favorite go-to learning activity.

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Learning letters doesn’t require worksheets, flashcards, and boring methods, it can be fun and hands-on!

To make this bin, I simply added a few drops of food coloring to ABC pasta in a bag and then shook it to cover the pasta. It dries really quickly and doesn’t stain fingers once it’s dry so just mix it up, throw it in a bin with some letters (we used the translucent letters from @edxeducation ) and let them hunt.

#LTKKids #LTKFamily

Handwriting is something I know we need to work on, but my kids fight me on it, so I had to make it fun and motivating.

Rainbow writing to the rescue! 🌈

They trace big letters in rainbow colors on a vertical surface…

✔️ Great for building upper body strength
✔️ Encourages fine motor skills by starting large before going small

And I can leave it up so they can come and go as they please.

#LTKKids #LTKFamily

Sensory bin & books:
1. The Color Monster: A Pop up Book of Feelings by Anna Llenas with colored Pom Poms, colored rice, tweezers, jars, printable Color Monster jars from Outside the Toy Box.
2. On Monday When it Rained by Cherryl Kachenmeister with playdough, play dough tools, emotion cards, head play dough mats
3. What Are Feelings? By Katie Daynes with hidden emotion cards, sweep away colored rice/chick peas, match to wooden emojis

#LTKKids #LTKFamily

This was a fun DIY that my kids have been loving!

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This activity checks so many early learning boxes and it took less than 2 minutes to set up.

I rolled out easel paper, drew one big circle and one small, and scattered a mix of large and small gems across the page. Then I handed over markers and invited my kids to sort: push the big gems to the big circle, little ones to the little circle.

They are learning/developing:

🔹 Size comparison and classification (early math!)
🔹 Fine motor control using markers to push and guide
🔹 Spatial awareness as they moved along the paper
🔹 Focused attention and persistence

#LTKKids #LTKFamily