St. Patrick's Day Sensory Bin

I seriously LOVE Andrea over at Jada Roo Can Do!  Every month (I look every day for an activity) she posts all the learning activities that she is doing for the month and it's always a "theme".  The teacher in me LOVES this and the Mommy in me LOVES that I can get the ideas from her site and do it with little work on my part (leaves me time for other fun things, like playing dinosaur feet, farm, trains, tractors, band, and reading books).

Anyhoo... for March Andrea blogged about a sensory bin using split peas! I had already started collecting a few trinkets for St. Patrick's Day.  Then we took a Friday night trip to Wally World and picked up some split peas for our sensory bin.

 I found some rocks from an activity I did when I student taught in 1st grade (9 years ago, yes, I held onto a tub of rocks for 9 years and NEVER used it before today.  The worst part is I found a box of rocks from when I was a little girl and had collected... some of those rocks are from that collection!)

I added some small green beads and other green stuff from around the house and my craft room (wait for that post, it will be AWESOME and make you all jealous!).

Jackson enjoyed playing and finding all the treasures, although before too long all the treasures were out of the box and a tractor had taken up residence.  I even found Andy running his fingers through the split peas a few times during the day.  They feel really silky and smooth.

Time for bed, there is a baby crying for me!

Em

Day 5 - 10 Valentine's Day Countdown

Days 5 & 6:  Ran out of time, because we were in La Crosse shopping and out to  church and lunch and then a Super Bowl party on Sunday.  Ooops.

Day 7:  Valentine's Day Sensory Tub

For this activity in our countdown, I put a bunch of cotton balls, pink/purple/red/white pom-poms, heart beads on string, foam hearts, heart bracletts, and fake rose petals.  I gave Jman a pair of tongs and a cupcake pan.  I tried to steer him into sorting, but he wasn't that interested.  Sorry about the cruddy pictures... my cameras are both on the fritz.

Day 8:  Fun Family Photo- this is to come.  We had our family photo taken for Maxwell's 3 month picture.  Every family picture with a 2 year old is a fun family photo...not. ;)

Day 9: Make a snack with Valentine's Day- we made cookie-- Jackson is just like his mother, eating the batter. We made heart shaped chocolate chip cookies and regular cookies for our playdate the next day.


Day 10:  Valentine's Day Party with friends (no pictures of this)

We played hop on the hearts - where the kiddos hopped on hearts we laid down.  Made them into patterns and ate our heart shaped cookies.  The Mommies made cute little plaques.

Only a few more days until Februay 14th!

First Sensory Bin

I finally got around to making Jackson a sensory bin.  He had a blast!  He asks to play in the "rice" every day!  I got my idea from Jada Roo Can Do, Andrea does a new bin EVERY month (sometimes twice) plus tons of other AWESOME preschool ideas.  The teacher in me is itching to make some felt mats, matching games, and other themed ideas.  The Mommy in me still likes my naps and a clean house. :)  Maybe in the future we can do more of her awesome ideas!  Andrea is also great about linking all of her projects to other super sites, so it's fun to browse (and waste time) looking at all the ideas other mommies have come up with!


I used just a plain bag of white rice (5lbs-- I used about 4 I think).  Inside I dumped a bag of dinosaur figures that I found at the local variety store (Horsfalls  in Lansing, it's a post all on it's own).  I also added a few "D" and some shapes to the bucket.  This bucket has a lid, but it does leak rice if you tip it, so I want to find something a little more "leak-proof".

 The tools are a variety of old cooking utensils (thanks, Grandma Donna), plastic tongs, and scoops.

 This is Jackson playing in his sensory tub with Grandma Jo (2nd time that day).  The rice does get all over the place, so you want to sweep it up as quick as you can.  But it does entertain them for a long time! 

 Jackson and his friend Hayden (see that Grandma Nola??) playing in the tub while the Mommies crafted (they are both sitting in it with their feet in the  rice)

See the floor?  That's what it  looks like after two  2 year olds step in a bucket of rice.   I didn't mind, because they were kept occupied for more than a 1/2 hour!   Jackson took out all the dinosaurs the next day and he used his tractors in the tub to "push the snow".  We have a lot of snow around these parts!

Such a fun and EASY activity!!  I am going to make another one for Valentine's Day... I have to get to a store that has pink/red pom-poms.  I want a different texture for this month!