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)