I have written before about how E loves to play with the cat food. She manipulates it in her hands and transfers it from bowl to bowl. However, I really don't like her playing with cat food so I started thinking about how I could make a mini sand/water table for her. This was always one of my favorite activities for kids in Kindergarten. I think it is a great sensory activity. However, the actual table is not realistic for my condo and sand and water-Um NO! We do the bath tub for water fun. And I am very relaxed about mess but sand is a whole different story!
So I figured I'd get a smaller tub and fill it with other materials- along with measuring cups, spoons and scoops. I ventured out and picked up a decent sized bin to use. I would consider getting a bigger one but that would mean buying a larger amount of filler. I also picked up a zillion dried beans.
However, before getting brave with the beans I decided to fill it with Popsicle sticks. E really like these sticks and will play with them for quite a while. I also hid some of her rubber ducks in there, which she had to find and put in another container. I will say that I turned my back and all the sticks were on the rug- but they were very easy to clean up.
Here are my plans for other fillers:
- beans
- rice
- macaroni- Thanks Dana!
- oatmeal
- ice cubes
- sunflower bird seed
- sea shells
Please let me know if you have any other suggestions.
8 comments:
How neat! Those are some great suggestions. How about corn? Or flufs mmmm. I would be afraid to chance the oatmeal as it can be kind of flowery. She will have LOADS of fun playing with all the different textures.
neat idea. just a thought you may want to put a cookie sheet under it when you put the rice/oatmeal type things in it
what about beads? buttons?
Watch your language, there are babies reading.
i know you may not find this "green" but kids in my school LOVED to play with the styrofoam peanuts!!!
I've been wanting to do something like this for my toddler, but never seem to get around to it. I love the Popsicle stick idea! And re: Dana's comment and the styrofoam peanuts. The company I work with uses the peanut made out of corn syrup. They dissolve in water. My little one has played with those and I don't worry about her putting them in her mouth - they'll just dissolve!
I love this idea! In our classroom, the kids are a bit older (3-6yrs), so we filled up a bowl of beans and hid various objects-shells, farm animals, buttons, ect. They absolutely LOVED this! Definitely a great sensorial activity, and a lot of kids find peace when doing this activity.
Dana took my suggestion! K loves her sand table in our small backyard...really keeps her entertained!
Love the tub!
Esme really enjoys the round glass rocks - you can get a bag of them in a lot of dollar stores. She pours them around between containers, and we use them for counting as well.
Snow or shaved ice might be kind of fun, too! Or shaving cream.
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