But first!
Read Our Monthly Themes for Play:
for our full list of themes
and to learn why we loveeee monthly themes.
july’s themes:
oceans + beaches + etc
Activities + toys:
this little people ship we got secondhand
our beloved jumbo ocean animal figurines
We always have these available for play as apart of our Favorite Toddler Toys, but they’re a great addition to this month’s theme!
these tiny ocean animals and/or fish
I love all the ideas of how to use these in this post: 15 different ways to play with counters
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.
I’d love to try:
the classic let’s go fishing game
Magnetic activity for our big ol magnetic chalkboard near the kitchen:
I’d love to print, laminate, and add magnets to this shell color sorting activity
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.
the little book of ocean animal sounds - KK’s favorite book in the history of ever, and arguably one of mine, too. IT’S SO GOOD. We have and love this backyard bird version, too!
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!
seashore sounds - KK’s favorite, of course!
Art supplies + activities:
Here’s how we store our art supplies + activity books in our home.
And y’all, it’s hot. I need allllll the quiet, indoor activities.
little coloring: beach book + little coloring: under the sea book + little coloring: mermaids book
these ocean resuable stickers
this water wow! under the sea activity book
see more about our Water Wow Caddy for storing our Water Wow books and supplies here!
this sea life dot markers activity book
we use these markers or these dot stickers
these scratch art ocean notes
first sticker book: under the sea + first sticker book: coral reef
and all the amazing ocean-themed craft ideas on Pinterest
We only offer our ocean-themed art supplies during July, our ocean-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 activity:
we loveeee all the ideas in this ocean play dough activity blogpost! I will do a version of larger things we already have around the house - maybe some small wooden spoons/rollers, some popsicle sticks, an assortment of wood pieces we already have, seashells (I took out the smalllll pieces), rocks, and/or ocean animals and/or fish.
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! For this month’s sensory bin, I added:
a bag of tinyyy sand toys I found in the Dollar Spot of Target
see the quick reel here!
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.
we’re going to do this super easy, super fun rice bin using ocean animals and/or fish.
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!
So in July, I will add…
this hot dog set or this hot dog set as a nod to our July 4th Tradition of an epic hot dog bar. Food traditions make the best play food inspiration!
and/or this play condiment set or this one
and/or an ice cream set like this and/or this one (we have both and love using them together!)
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:
It’s so hot - this time of year is usually when we prioritize our special trips to the children’s museum, the aquarium, the shaved ice place, the beloved ice cream shop, etc.
I use My Local Places List for this!
Here’s our July 4th traditions.
What We Bring to the River, the Lake, the Park, and other Summer Adventures
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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