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Play your way to celebrate all that is uniquely special about YOU with these creative, self-esteem building activities inspired by Daniel Manus Pinkwater’s “The Big Orange Splot.”

Build a “YOU” House

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Build a “YOU” House

Image of children playing and experimenting with recycled parts in a bin during this fun activity to do with kids inside.




Ready


Forage in your recycling bin for loose parts in each of the following categories:

– CONTAINERS: Square/rectangular pieces of cardboard, plastic containers, cans, a cleaned out milk carton, packaging, etc.

– CONNECTORS: Bits of string or yarn, glue, tape, rubber bands, etc.

– EMBELLISHMENTS: Bottle caps, packaging, the lid to your coffee cup, papers, etc.



Image of a lightbulb inside of a thought bubble to indicate brainstorming fun activities to do with kids inside.

Set

  • Think about the activities, colors, places, and people that you love.
  • Translate those preferences into design elements for your dream house. For example, if you love the playground, maybe there should be a slide right in the middle of your house! If you love tigers, why not include a special garden just for your tiger friends in your living room?
  • There should be no limit to the design elements of your house, because there is no limit to your imagination!
Image of a child engaging in the fun activity of building a house using cardboard and glue.

Play!

  • Design and construct your own dream home that reflects your personality from top to bottom using your gathered materials.
  • Have fun creatively using everyday objects!
  • Remember: The purpose of this activity is to have fun and to celebrate expressing yourself – not to make a perfect looking house.

Play your way! What else can you do with these open-ended materials?

Why Play This Way?

Build confidence through this play by celebrating individuality and creative expression. We invite you to use this time to make space for your little one to recognize what makes them special and unique.

Discover the book that
inspired this play

Read While You Play & Play While You Read

Image of the suggested book cover: The Big Orange Splot by Daniel Manus Pinkwater to inspire fun activities to do with kids inside.

“The Big Orange Splot” by Daniel Manus Pinkwater

Book Summary

This is a beautiful lyrical story that introduces the concept of individuality, accepting of others’ differences, and respect for those around us. As Mr. Plumbean’s expression of creativity and individuality challenges his neighbor’s ideas about the importance of having a “neat street,” readers are invited to question conformism and embrace individualism. By repainting his house to reflect his colorful dreams, Mr. Plumbean celebrates what is unique and special about himself. “My house is me and I am it. My house is where I like to be and it looks like all my dreams.”

Why We Love It

This book serves as a great jumping off point to encourage your little one to embrace all the ways that they are wonderfully themselves and then goes one step further by daring them to feel great about being different even when others conform.

Learn & Play with

“The Big Orange Splot” by Daniel Manus Pinkwater

Extension Activities

Choose your own adventure! Select any of the extension activities or resources below and see where your play takes you next. They are all inspired by the featured book to invite deeper connections to stories through play. 

Don’t have the book? No worries! All of our activities can be enjoyed with or without a book in hand.

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This activity is pure magic.✨ Children will be filled with wonder as they prepare their special fairy houses and adults will be transported to the joy of being a child again.

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What’s Black & White All Over?

keep playing

more fun activities

Whoever said work isn’t fun?! These activities, inspired by Joan Heilbroner’s marvelous book “Robert the Rose Horse”, reinforce the notion that “Play is the work of childhood!” Explore countless opportunities to notice the important jobs and workers around you. Then, discover the ways that even the youngest among us can be workers too!

Get to Work!

Splish, Splash I’m not takin’ a bath…I’m just playing with water! These activities are designed to delight your little one with all the sensory fun of water while also delivering the soothing social and emotional benefits inherent in this type of play. Discover ways to play with water in all kinds of places and with unexpected materials.

Test the Water

Make math time happy with these fun counting activities. #1: Create your own abacus. #2: Count and play all day! These activity ideas provide a playful introduction to counting and the many ways that we encounter and use math in everyday life.

Count on It

Roll on into fruit play! Have a blast experiencing fruit in new and hilarious ways that will get you moving and laughing. Get your muscles ready, but be prepared! These activities might make you hungry and ready to quickly transition from playing to eating!

Let the Fruit Times Roll

This game brings all the creative fun of printmaking to the sensory goodness of dough play and then adds a clever twist! You make the prints, and your friend guesses what you used to make them. But watch out…it’s simple to make a mark, but easy to be fooled when you are the guesser. When you’re done with the game, keep playing with The Dough Project’s super, all natural, dough.

Be a Dough-tective

Feeling big emotions is perfectly healthy. However, for young children, this can be scary because they feel and are out of control. This play, inspired by Jabari Jumps by Gaia Cornwall, will give you new ideas for how to be brave even in the face of big challenges.

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Play ideas for all those times you need a little gentle, quiet fun. Reach for these activities whenever you are looking for ways to create a soothing environment or bring calm to your mind and body.

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This activity is pure magic.✨ Children will be filled with wonder as they prepare their special fairy houses and adults will be transported to the joy of being a child again.

Build a Fairy House

You will be naturally drawn to this beautiful illuminated play. As soothing as it is exciting, your little one will be filled with wonder as they explore the many items that you place on your new favorite learning platform. We are so happy that you decided to put a spotlight on this magical play.

Light it Up!

What’s black and white all over? This play activity! Invite your child to explore this amazing play that will inspire curiosity and ignite their inner designer. In experimenting and examining each object independent of its color your little one will engage more deeply with all of the other properties of the play materials they are using. Open-ended and easy to set up this original play is sure to be a winner for children of ALL ages.

What’s Black & White All Over?

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