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!) 

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!! 

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! 

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. 

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!