Living Sensory Box

This was our sensory box for the last few weeks and it was alive! Baby Daddy brought home a 'sheet' of this special type of plant used to cover green roofs. It was impossible not to want to play with this as it looked as though it had mini trees everywhere. We added a fence and some plastic farm animals that normally go with our Melissa and Doug Farm House and there you go a fun sensory box. 

At preschool we have grown our own grass int he sensory box to create such an affect and that in itself is a lot of fun. Spraying the grass with a water bottle to water it and then using scissors to cut the grass (sneaky skill building and fun to use scissors for something else then paper!) 

It's been awhile so here is an update

Wow last post was in July! The summer got away with us and we were busy then big news we got pregnant so I was very tired and blogging was the last of the list but I have missed it so here is my attempt at getting back. 

So with some time away and having missed blogging my priority will be to try and share the set ups/ provocation / activities I put out for Big T. I have made a real effort in sharing what we do on instagram so highly recommend following us over there under ' odekat '. I am going to do my best at a weekly post were I put those activities in more detail on here.... anyone who can recommend an easy photo dump from Instragram to Blogger I will love you forever!   

I would really like to share more about my parenting reflections, confections and passions here. They often link so deeply to what I try to explore with Big T that it seems strange not to try and share them. I personally also love following others and their parenting journeys on blogs... this is not to say I feel what I do is best for everyone far, far from it what I share here is what works for me and my family. Take from it what you will or skip it all together that is up to you. 

So here it goes my attempt to revisit the blogging world... hope your still here to join me! 

Sharing games for Toddlers

Sharing, the elusive toddler sharing - it seems that this is the holy grail of toddler developmental milestones, one that will with all hope stop the grabbing, hitting, bitting, crying and screaming. Sadly there is no miracle solution that I know of (please comment if you have one  I and a million other parents and teachers would LOVE to know) but there are some fun ways to explore the concept of sharing and make it fun. 


In our house we often use the tea set or a ball to explore the concept of sharing. I do this regularly with little t (no longer a baby so little t it is) and we also practice this with friends when they are over playing especially when sharing seems to be a struggle on that day. 

So here is the idea behind it. We set up the tea set and then take turns (share) the tea pot, sugar bowl and little milk jug. I may start with the tea pot and 'model' for a little while. I take a turn and then ask 'would you  like a turn?' Once that child has poured her tea or examined the tea pot for a short period of time I ask '___ would you like a turn with the tea pot?' then if the child says 'yes' I suggest to the child holding the tea pot 'Could you pass the tea pot to ____?' After the pot has been shared I find it is important to say 'thank you for sharing the tea pot ____!'.  We repeat this over and over and over. In the end I feel like I might have said the above statements and questions a million times but sometimes that is what it takes - repetition with a side of positive reinforcement on their sharing. eventually I sit back and they do it on their own. 

With a ball we sit in a circle and roll the ball between people. Pretty simple and self explanatory and again I may have to suggest to a child 'could you pass the ball to ____?' Once passed I reinforce with a 'Thanks for sharing the ball!' 






A few things I try to do in these activities 

• Keep it positive
• I always say please and thank you but don't prompt the kids to do it as they pick it up and will do it eventually on their own (This does not take long. Yahoo not only is it a sharing game but also one in manners!) 
• If someone does not want to share NEVER grab it from them (that will just teach them to grab if they want something) instead observe and sports cast what you see i.e 'I see that you have had ___ a long time and I bet ___ would like a turn. Could you please give ___ a turn when you are done?' 
• Positive renforcement, positive reinforcement, positive renforcement! 'Thank you for sharing with  ____!' 'Awesome, you said your welcome/please/thank you!', 'I love the way you are all sharing the tea set/ball' 'you all are doing a great job at sharing/taking turns!'
• Practice, practice, practice, this is not  a one shot deal it helps to practice sharing regularly 

I was doing this activity a few times last week and Baby Daddy suggested I share as he seemed well impressed with the game! 

Water Table Fun!

With the weather being a little warmer we are able to set up the water table outside - finally! I love the water table for me it is one of the easiest set ups to do and there are so many possibilities and it provides hours of fun. Who does not need a little time to sit back and watch their child submerge themselves in play whilst you can daydream! 


Here are some of the set ups we have done so far. 

I like letting Baby T be the one to mix the colour into the water it looks so beautiful the way it creates a cloud of colour! We use water colour opposed to food colouring, I find it washes out nicely and does not stain hands like food colouring does. The blue that Baby T is pouring is diluted with water yet is still very bright. I also have a piece of plexiglass that acts as a shelf to put the frogs, jewels, cups & containers on. 

 I put out different sized containers, some jewels and some animal figures. The option is open to decide to use the set up for a dramatic play with the frogs or could involve themselves in more of a scientific play by pouring and mixing or even dropping items into the water. Baby T usually goes for pouring still.... occasionally pouring on the balcony or on mommy.... on a hot day I don't mind!

We have also done it with two colours to make a new colour like yellow + Blue to make green... MAGIC! 

Isn't it beautiful the way the colours cloud and then mix together! I love watching it and it takes all my effort to sometimes sit back and let Baby T enjoy figuring it out on her own with out my interruption or intervention. Lucky for me she asks me to come play pretty quick and I can not resist playing with her and the water table. Yes sometimes I reluctantly leave my daydreaming....

We are so lucky that we have this great water table - thanks to baby daddy for making it! It may look basic and plain to many unlike the bright flashy ones you find in the store but plain has it's advantages. For one the table itself is not the focus of the play it is the background and therefore what we put in can be varied and attract the interest not the table itself. If the table took all the attention with it's flashy colours and neat gismos I think the 'table' could fall out of favour with a child's interest far sooner rather then the activity it holds (be is sand, popcorn, water). Not to mention a flashy table takes away from what is happening and the beauty that can be created!  I wish there were plain tables available to buy that were not stupidly expensive. 


More water table fun to come - I just need to take more pictures!! 

A Little Bit Of Everything

So I never get to write on the blog as much as I want to. I would love to document all the projects we do but there is never enough time. So I though it best to put a bunch of what we have done on one post then perhaps I can revisit some in detail. 


Well lets get to it! 


Stamping is huge in this house at the moment and Baby T will stop most anything if I suggest we do some stamping. We have a few stamps and we also use the ends of pencils. I have seen this  idea on how to make your own stamps which I hope to do if I find nice foam bits. Stamping is great for fine motor development and spacial awareness. 

Having tea has been a daily activity in our house as of late too. We played with a tea set at a local play group but I could not remember if Baby T had ever seen anyone have tea and how to use the tea pot etc. That night I decided we should have a tea party with my 'real' tea set. I filled the tea pot with water and we had a blast. She loved it so much I bought a tea set of her own the next day. She has great fun pretending to have tea with her friends real and imaginary. Since the tea play I have noticed a huge increase in her imaginative play. Before she would often act out and dramatize her animal figurines but now she includes herself in  the play become an animal etc. 

The eggs have been played with since easter in fact they are still used daily so I don't foresee them being packed away anytime soon! Children actually make more sense out of holiday decoration and associated play after the holiday itself. If you think about it it makes complete sense. There is a big built up to the event with all these 'things' and then the event finally happens and it must be like an 'ah ha' moment were children go 'oh thats is what that is for' and then most of the time things get packed right back up directly after the event and children never get the chance to play out what they experienced. Well in this house the eggs do get occationally stuffed with things but more often the not they are rolled down our clear tub, opened and closed, colours are matched (with tops and bottoms) and they get placed in and out of the egg carton. Very rarely but sometimes they get taken to the play kitchen. 

Sensory fun, of course the sensory table is always in the centre of activity too. With our occasional good weather we have been able to set up some water! I hope to share some of our set ups soon! 

So there you go some of the things that have been that have been going on in our house play-wise. I hope to get a few more posts done whilst Taya is sleeping! 

A Shout Out to Baby Daddy

Baby Daddy, aka Tom, Thank you from the bottom of my heart for being such an awesome dad! I can not put into words how wonderful and lucky Baby T and I are to have such an amazing man in our life. You bring such joy, humour and love to our life which makes us so happy. 

First time Baby T and Baby Dad get to stare at each other

out crab hunting on fathers day! 

I knew you would be a great father but you amaze me daily at your mad skills as a dad! I learn so much from you from how you interact with Baby T, your patience, your playing skills, your ability to take risks even when society frowns upon them. You are our rock and man oh man are we ever so lucky. We love you! 

And to my Pappi aka dad: Thank you for being a one of a kind dad who never let us have a dull moment, took me across the world and gave me passion for many things. 

Almost 2

So in one month exactly Baby T will really no longer be a baby she will be two!!  How the F* did that happen (excuse the language but I felt curing is required to stress the shock). Seriously were did the time go? 

I am finding myself more exhausted than ever with this stage of parenting. To me Baby T as a baby was way easier compared to this stage which is such a mental mind F* (sorry this might be a sweary post). When I was teaching preschool pre baby I had parents all the time come up and say 'I don't know how you do this for a living!' as if what we did was so much harder then parenting... um well in my book looking after 30 kids for 2 1/2 hours is super easy compared to one little attention needing monkey who tries to pull chairs into the kitchen so she can 'cook' when I turn my back. I blame those parents for giving me the false sense that having my own children would be easy (haha, I knew better but I think I let myself dream!). 

Of course baby T wants to help with everything! 

Baby T wants to get in on everything, she wants to be so independent one minute and then wants to hang onto me the next. She hangs onto me for dear life freaking out if I try to leave the room (yes we are going through stages of separation anxiety again, fleeting moments but they happen). I guess you could say we are both going through the same struggle of acknowledging the fact she is growing up and becoming her own person yet realizing she still needs to be close. Some days I just wish she could give me more then ten uninterrupted minutes to complete something and some days she won't let me to anything to help her (putting on shoes or socks etc). 

all grown up or trying to be it least

I always knew she would grow up and become a little person but the rate at which she is changing at the moment is seriously astonishing! Her vocabulary is increasing at a fast pace and the new words that come out of her mouth - where/ how does she remember! Just last night right before falling asleep she sang 'happy birthday', like the whole thing! We sang it once last weekend at a friends birthday and before that it has been months since we sung that song. We also need to be soooo careful with what we say, I know obvious right, but the other day I had the need to say 'Sh*t' but luckily stopped myself in time to say 'Shhhhhhah' little miss then looks at me and says 'Shhhhah!' phew glad I caught myself or she would be walking around saying 'Sh*t' on a daily bases and 'Shhhhah' is much better in my book. 






Although she can talk more these days I feel like this age is like having to live and work with a person who can only half speak our language and half another unknown language that you are forever figuring out - oh and you better figure it out fast sometimes or wooowee you might have a tantrum on your hands because you did not get what they are saying! For the record we do signing but sometimes Baby T would rather 'speak' and expects you to know her language. Last night at dinner Baby Daddy and I were taking guesses as to what she was saying and Baby T was laughing saying 'noooo'. Maybe Baby T was  laughing at what idiots we were that we could not understand her or maybe she was making stuff up on purpose?  

a video with us figuring out what she is saying and 'noooo'

Did you know that at 20 something months these littles can get very opinionated? I understand that they know what they like and don't like but what gets me is what Baby T is opinionated about. The first thing she was very vocal about was what music she liked and would let us know if she was not a fan of the music selection. Another one is what clothes, I get it if there is a fabric or texture she might prefer over another but no it's the colour or the style - really?? These days I give her two options on clothes so she can choose one of the options or it becomes a gong show, however if we are listening to music in the car or house we usually say that this is not a choice but we can put her choice on in her room (and if you want to go play by yourself and listen to music by all means!). Lucky for us she is pretty happy with most foods that cross her plate to for us that is a non issue (score!). 


Baby daddy and I still marvel at the fact that we made this little being. As crazy as she is and as frustrating as it can sometimes get she is amazing to us and we would not have her any other way. Being a parent is crazy, it is full of contradictions, it is tough but oh my the rewards of kisses, cuddles and love priceless! 


So now that Baby T really and truly has been slipping away from babyhood I think perhaps I should stop calling her Baby T on the blog, well it least not as of next month. Do I use her name or use the her pet name? Hmm questions.

Toddler Art with Tape

Notice how I did not say 'craft'. To me this is art, there is no direction just me laying out materials and letting the children explore and create with them. I think more is gained in exploring the process rather then me directing what should happen, how to use the material (unless of course it is necessary for safety or my sanity!) and what the final product should look like. To me creativity and learning should be about the process not the product but in this case I have to say the product is very pretty! 

Set up is nice and easy - paper and cut pieces of tape. I used some plastic tub-like things to stick the tape to but one could use plastic glasses or something instead. For older children I would offer scissors and the roll of tape to they can cut it themselves, it makes for good practice and trust me kids can do this. The tape I used is coloured masking tape which I bought at a local daycare supply store however there are lots of sources on the internet. 

I let them loose at the table and they quickly got to it. Great fine motor skills at work with use of their pincher grasp to get the tape and them placing it in the spot they want and taping it down. The process of choosing where to place the tape is also using their spacial awareness and early math skills!  

Taping can get tricky when it sticks to itself but it is a great experience for how the material works and how one can still use it even so. Baby T did get a little annoyed at first saying 'oh no!' but a little explanation on how you can still use it seemed to make her happy. 

Baby T attempting to get herself a pice from the big roll. She was fascinated by how it stuck and then you could pull it apart and eventually stick it again. 

After taping was well underway I brought out the crayons to extend the project further. There was interest in how you could colour on the tape and how it was different then on paper by the texture and how the colour was different.  

All in all it is a very easy and fun activity which has been out every second day by request. The finished products are stuck on the wall at the moment and Baby T has been walking by says 'WOW'.... 'WOW!' I think she likes her art work and so do I. 

Little Ocean Pasta Sensory Box

As promised here is something I created using the rainbow died pasta from the sensory pasta box  . I decided to take a pice of tinfoil to place at the bottom of the wood tray, it's nice and reflective and looks shimmery like water too me, I added the cool colours of pasta on top, a couple of little plastic cups from the dollar store, pom poms, jewls (glass bead things)  and some small sea animal figurines.  


The cups are great for propping up the animals, for shorting the pasta, collecting pasta or as little homes for the animals. 

This is a fun little activity I have in Baby T's playroom on top of the Ikea expedite. It's the perfect hight for T to play wish and enjoy whilst she is having some independent time.  Occasionally the whole thing gets dumped which does not bother me, if I am there when it happens I usually prompt her to set it up herself, her own way and that is fun to watch too. 

This activity is great for fine motor skills, sorting, collecting and dramatic play. I set this up shortly after a trip to the aquarium and it was a way for Baby T to act out what she saw and process the trip. 

Happy sensory box playing!  

Sensory Spice Play

This was a fun little activity we did during a rainy day. I took a bunch of spices off the shelf and put them on the table for Baby T and I do explore.  

Baby T grabbing a spice jar... very excited to get her hands on them as she always sees me using them

I suggested she smell them, which she gladly did. Funny thing was after smelling them she said "Flower"! I suppose since we normally smell flowers she associated smell with flower. We talked a bit about how many things have smells and some are stinky (which we often laugh about during diaper changes) and some are nice like flowers. Baby T obviously liked the spices since she often said "hmmm" after a sniff. 

Baby T tasted some of the spices too - afraid I was not fast enought to get pictures of the facial expressions but they were good! 

So there you go a little something different to break up the play, talk, learn and explore the senses!  

Little Rice Sensory/Dramatic Play Box

Seriously don't YOU want to play with this!? 

These have to be my favourite to create! I just love trying to think up what little worlds I can create for play and exploration. For me it starts with what sensory materials I can put in the box then what can live there followed by what can I put in to enhance the experience with the sensory items (scoops for pouring?) or to extend the dramatic play (scoops as stools?). 

inside the big sensory bin - great having the area around it to put things too.

I decided to put this little rice box in our big sensory bin to minimize the mess. We, the big people 'round here, get a little 'ahh mess' when we are inside the house which stunts the play and learning experience. So to minimize that why not make it more mess friendly and therefore play friendly!  So now if Taya decided to pour rice from a high distance she can and I won't be standing holding my breath waiting to run for the dust buster.


 I do however remind her at the beginning with comments like "T where can we pour the rice? Is it okay to throw the rice? Where can we put the rice?" If she decides in her play that she needs to transport the rice, which is a common goal, I try to facilitate that but if it is not possible at that moment I often will comment on what I think she is trying to accomplish confirm that is what she wants to do and tell her that we can do that later/tomorrow when I can set that up for her. This works for us!  

Baby T testing gravity and making the rice 'rain' down - fun! 

Here is what I used to create this little box: 


Wood box (old drawer found at a recyclable art supply store) 
Rice 
Measuring spoons
Wood swatches (also found at above mentioned store)
Bean pods (again found at above mentioned store) 
Old apple sauce cups 
Jewels (glass beads used for vases) 
Safari animals 
Woven placemats (found at thrift store)

great for fine motor, we also like to play 'hide the jewls'

Overtime I will add and take away materials depending on the direction Baby T goes with her play/exploration. Likewise if I find something is being abused (i.e. bean pods being used as sward) I would take it away for a few days and reintroduce it and model how it might be used (slide for the animals or 'ohhhhh listen to the rice when we pour it onto of the bean pod" type of thing). 




check out more of our sensory explorations in the right hand menu bar under sensory play! 


Happy Playing 

Baby T could not resist getting inside the box to play! 

Toddler Taking Me For A Walk

Yesterday Baby T needed a change in scene her mood was shifting to the not so pleasant and the quickest thing I could think of was going out. 


Whilst getting ready I decided to ask Baby T if she wanted to take the 'blue' stroller, which is her stroller of preference (it's a Uppababy G-lux in case you want to know and we all LOVE it). She said no. We had no real mission to accomplish so instead of giving her the alternative option I just said "ok we will walk". Put on our rain boots and out we went. 


Now since we had no major errand to accomplish I decided to let T take control of this walk on where we went, where we stopped and how long we took. It was a bit of an experiment to see what her interests were and where she decided to go and spend time. It was AWESOME. I had so much fun watching her and seeing what took her interest and I bet she enjoyed not being pushed around or rushed to go somewhere. Here are some photo's of what Baby T decided to explore: 

Stairs are always a favourite to go up and down or sit on. 

Of course you have to smell the flowers! Also loves to pick them then throw them or give them to you - dependant on mood. Funny side note anything that smells (like spices) Taya asks "flowers?" 

Practising going down a hill. Not so easy in wellies! 

Obsessed with doors, car doors too. Baby T tried to open most car doors on our walk - I wonder what will happen if one day a door opens or if an alarm goes off?

Stair of course but also Baby T lies to go up to the doors to look at the locks and to knock on the door. Apple does not fall far from the tree here - I used to go visit all neighbours and knock on their door difference was we lived in a neighbourhood with houses. Baby T often tires to get me to use the "buttons!" for the buzzer. Right after this picture T walked up to the door, started to knock waiting for it to be answers, which is never usually is, but this time two people walked along the hall and T freaked out turned screaming back to me - hilarious! 

Of course puddles! This never gets old for T.

I wonder how much of a disservice we do to our children by constantly rushing them around, by continually pushing them in strollers or driving them in cars. Is it really enough to let them loose in a playground? Why can't they explore other areas's as well - free to stop, to touch, to even just listen to their surroundings. 


I need to make a better point of finding outside time that really is on Baby T's terms for her to explore and be. Just as it is important to be able to self direct ones own play it is just as important to be able to self direct the outside time with nature, to learn and wonder over what is close by - totally something that I don't think I have done since I was a child  (my hiking does not count as I really don't stop to take in the wonder it is more of a mission to get fit)      

Rainbow pasta sensory box

Here is another one of our recent sensory boxes. 

I took some pasta, I found these great wheel shapes, and dyed them colours of the rainbow. You can dye by taking your pasta, rice etc put them in a zip lock bag with 1 tbs colour (I used liquid water colour bought from a daycare supply store) and 1 1/2 tbs of vinegare34d and mix. Once the pasta has been nicely coloured lay it out on a flat surface to dry, I put mine on backing sheets. 

I think they look wonderfully awesome and the kids that have come around to play with it I think agree as it took up a lot of their attention. I added some clear cups (old apple sauce containers) some tall tub-like containers (these are for breast milk storage but in preschool we also have used those cheep gerber baby bottles) and occasionally some other bowls and shovels. 

The rainbow pasta was a great way for Baby T to explore the colours of the rainbow and begin to recognize them. We sang songs and played games with the colours. She still has not mastered it though as this is not her focus of interest right now and I don't push it if it's not what she wants to learn. I doubt she will enter elementary school not knowing her colours so why drill it into her right now? 

Baby T does however like to fill and pour with the cups and tubes. She also likes to transport the pasta. So to facilitate that but not get frustrated with finding little piles of pasta round the house I offered her a larger bowl to transport the pasta to. I also remind her that we keep that pasta in the box or in the bowl when we play with it and she seems good with that reminder. 

So there you have a very pretty little sensory box that lasted in our house for well over a month maybe it was two months! I have kept the pasta and stared to use it for other play activates which I hope to share soon. 


To see our other sensory boxes look here or check the labels on at the top of the bar to your right under sensory. 

'Truths' that become norms that become discourse that then become 'mommy wars'

Just going through my university notes from my child development course which was one of the first courses I completed in my road to becoming an Early Childhood Educator and had to share. 


Here is the excerpt retyped direct from my note book: 


*Foucault suggests that when we view knowledge as a truth it becomes a dominant discourse  in which we are unable to see another possibility. 


'truths' then become powerful by then creating norms that regulate behaviour, exclude and separate people and ideas. 


Practices that bring to life the 'truths' of child development, Janet Gore (1998) 
*Normalisation: comparing children to standard or developmental norm 
*Exclusion: using 'truths' as a way of seeing behaviours as desirable or undesirable 
*Classification: using labels to classify children on the basis of developmental norms 
*Regulation: using truths to regulate what we do with children (e.g. developmentally appropriate practice, best practice) 




Reading this tonight made me realize how this translates very well into parenting and  how we create norms within different parenting circles. These norms such as the most appropriate way a child should sleep - in their own bedroom v.s. co-sleeping  become polar positions on 'best practice'.  All these created 'truths' seem to me to be major factors in mommy wars. 


Just wanted to share. I love Foucault! 

Reflective teaching, living, parenting

I wanted to do a few posts on some of my teaching practices/philosophies that have transferred to my parenting and helped me. In an effort not to talk 'at' you I am trying to make it a conversation - which is hard when I am the only one having it with imaginary you! 


Would you say you are reflective on what you do?  Being a reflective teacher helped me in so many ways from not getting into a teaching rut, or not over stressing about my abilities to help me be at peace with who I am as a teacher and how I do things in the class but also in life. 

The idea of being reflective transfers to my parenting nicely and I believe it has helped me accept the choices I have made and how I can move forward from bad days/ choices to be the best parent and person I can be. It seems we as a culture are always trying to obtain that 'perfect' in our life be it in parenting or otherwise. When I reflect on what I am doing I often find the balance that works for me and see the pitfalls of achieving someone else's ideals or an illusion of what is 'best practice' or dominant discourse in the North American Culture which I live in. 


So enough of that let me explain what works for me. At some point int he day I reflect, it used to be on my bus ride home as a teacher and now it is whilst I put Baby T to bed. I go over the great things that happened that day, the things I am proud of and excited to do again. I often think about how I can tweak whatever I did as a variation or experiment to see how it might go differently. Then I go over anything that happened that I might not feel so great about. More often then not it ends up being a guidance thing but sometimes it might be personal struggel. If I am stumped I will look up some resources to see what they say, talk to a colleague/ fellow mommy friend - knowledge is power right? I end with thoughts of how I foresee the next day going (positive thinking works wonders for me), what we have planned how I hope to do something different in hopes of improving our experiences. The whole process does not take me long maybe ten minutes or a half hour if I am looking into something. 

At the end of the day I am looking at what I am proud of and what I can improve for that day.  Above all if I take the time to see if my 'not so great' moments are huge issues to work out or not ones that won't effect myself or family in the long run. I don't let myself dwell on things and if I am not successful the next day I try again. It's not about getting things perfect, that is not possible in my opinion, but it's about accepting what happened, forgiving myself and moving forward thoughtfully. You are only human even if you are a teacher or parent so just look forward don't let a not so great moment become the status quo instead look past it and how you can be better - what ever better looks like to you. 

Sensory Box Explorations

Oh how I love the sensory box and kids tend to love them so much they spend a fair amount of time exploring them. Sensory boxes can be any kind of box, bin, or container full of fun items that engage the senses you know, touch, sound, smell and sometimes taste (for Taya taste is still important at 20 months!)


We have had a few over the past year so I have a little catch up to do on this post and in the future I hope to post one at a time as we are doing them. 


We started when Taya was about 9 months but you could start way sooner - there are so many possibilities and if you think about it a bath is a sensory experience too. 

Taya playing with water coloured ice cubes (water colours wash out way better then food colouring). I used IKEA fish and flower ice cube trays

we added a little water with the ice cubes which melted after a little while in the sun

Once Baby T was walking I asked my wonderful babydaddy to build me a sensory table (I am lucky he is handy!). Baby T was very used to having a sensory box on the floor but she would almost always want to sit in it amongst the play. Really though who wouldn't want to explore it while sitting in it what ever it is?! With her standing over the box it changed the experience and what she did with the items in the box. We still on occasion will take the tub and put it on the floor for her to explore. 

Here is the box filled with rolled oats which was great for her to explore in her hand and mouth! I added pine cones, they made a great sound when pouring oats over.

Here was our Christmas sensory box. I put garlands, bells, ornaments, candy cane decorations. It was fun for the holidays and was a great place for her to explore christmas stuff without taking everything off our tree! 

One thing to keep in mind with sensory items is to start simple. Coloured sand is beautiful but to a child regular sand is amazing - in fact try really looking at it again it is just as intriguing as coloured sand. Keep the scoops and containers minimal or just pick one to start. Once the initial investigation has taken place slowly add more intriguing items to the box. This extends the child's experience their knowledge of the items and makes it possible to use the boxes for longer periods of time. Another thing to remember that it can possibly be overwhelming to be presented with a box full of a sensory item and many tools which then might dictate the type of play that occurs. 

Through a sensory box children learn: 

Math Concepts 

By playing with cups, spoons etc they discover the idea of volume, more, less, full, empty, weight.  

Science concepts 

What happens if..... (fill in the blank) or what is happening (referring to melting, changing colours etc) 

The photos above our a bunch of the boxes we have done so far. I have our current sensory box to post shortly but wanted to get these one out there. Hope you try your own they are lots of fun!