But first!
Read Our Monthly Themes for Play:
for our full list of themes
and to learn why we loveeee monthly themes.
January’s themes:
winter (snow, arctic animals, soup, hot chocolate, etc.)
I also like to do a heavy emphasis on bears - our last name starts with the “bear” sound, my pet name for Brett is Bear, and we have a soft spot for collecting bear-themed things. So bears make a big appearance this month.
Activities + toys:
See a quick tour of our playroom (and how we store our toys) in this reel.
Here’s how we store monthly activity items the rest of the year.
Books:
Here's the three ways we store our toddler’s books.
We have a little bookshelf in our den, where we do a monthly book rotation. See a quick reel here!
And a gentle reminder that we love to ask for books for holiday/birthday gifts. Here’s the five gifts we love to ask from loved ones.
bedtime bear touch and feel book
And we love these PaperPie books. Any time you purchase through my PaperPie links, I earn free books for our home library - KK and I send you the biggest hug of gratitude!
where do animals go in winter?: lift the flap book
that’s not my polar bear: touch and feel book
that’s not my snowman: touch and feel book
don’t tickle the bear!: touch and feel book
don’t tickle the polar bear!: touch and feel book
arctic animals sound book (kk’s favorite!)
what is snow? lift the flap book
Magnetic activity for our big ol magnetic chalkboard near the kitchen:
Art supplies + activities:
Here’s how we store our art supplies + activity books in our home.
We also love to work on these as apart of our beloved Evening Quiet Family Time ritual.
We only offer our winter-themed art supplies during January, our winter-themed month - so we reuse these things year after year. Here’s how we store monthly art items the rest of the year.
A gentle reminder that we love to ask for these things for holiday/birthday gifts. Here’s the five gifts we love to ask from loved ones.
Play dough favorites:
playdough (and/or a playdough kit) from my favorite small shop
and/or these tiny penguins
some wintery loose parts from this small shop
snowflake stamps that I already had
could add cookie cutters
Also:
Here’s how we store our art supplies and our play dough tools.
Here’s how we store these monthly play dough items the rest of the year.
Here's a post on our favorite play dough, our favorite tools, and when we use play dough.
Sensory bins:
KK loves her two sensory tables!
I love this hot chocolate sensory bin, so let’s set out:
pinto beans
See a quick tour of our playroom with KK’s two sensory tables in this reel.
Here’s how we store these monthly sensory bin items the rest of the year.
We have a separate, simple rice bin - like this Busy Toddler post! - that KK LOVES.
I love this Winter Rice Bin, so let’s add to the bin:
our polar bear, our polar bear cub, our polar bear set, and our penguin
blue marbles leftover from our play dough invitation
white scoops + cups
maybe add our felt snowmen?
Here’s how we store these monthly rice bin items the rest of the year.
Play Kitchen:
Here’s a quick reel on the 13 things we keep in our play kitchen. And then each month we rotate 2-3 “new” food or cooking toys. This rotation works really well for us!
her pretend coffee maker (no link, sorry!)
we also have these felt hot chocolate mugs
we could also do this hot dog set or this hot dog set, which could be a nod to one of Our New Year Traditions. But instead we save it for July’s Month of Play - another month we do an epic hot dog dinner. Food traditions make the best play food inspiration!
Also:
Here’s how we store these monthly kitchen toy items the rest of the year.
See a quick tour of our playroom with our play kitchen in this reel.
Here’s a blogpost on our DIY-ish Play Kitchen with a Phone and Mailbox.
Resources + Other Ideas:
Reasons We Love a Gym With Childcare In This Season
Like Reason 6 - We loveeee using the indoor pool to play this time of year!
Whew!
Want to see photos? Follow me on Instagram - I’m always sharing peeks into our home and our daily life on my stories. I’m always tweaking our home and our routines and our systems to best meet our current needs in our current season, so my Instagram has the most up-to-date photos.
Loved this post? I highly recommend the “play area” highlight on my Instagram!
Read Our Monthly Themes for Play for our full year of play themes.
I created these monthly play themes as part of my baby prep for Baby #2. See the full list of other things I’m SO happy I did to make Joey’s arrival easier here!
And see my Amazon storefront for more of our favorite things.
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