Sensory Play

Sensory play is so important for little ones.  They learn so much through their senses, and by doing sensory activities where they can dig their hands in and squish things and move them around and see how things move and smell them and even taste them, millions of synapses in their brains start firing, which is a huge step to helping them learn!  Many people already do sensory activities with their children like singing to them and swaying and rocking them, hanging mobiles above beds and cribs, reading books etc.  Some other things that you can do for your kids is creating sensory tubs.

We did our first one a few weeks ago with Jellybean, and it was amazing watching her.  You can do it with anything:  Shaving cream and food coloring, dried beans, lentils etc., water and sponges, popcorn, water beads, you name it!  Whatever you can cram in there that's safe for your kids, do it! (Just make sure that you are supervising while they play to avoid choking!)

We used an old dish tub (actually it wasn't old, I got it for $1 at Dollorama!) and poured in dried lentils, and then gave her different things to scoop and pour with, like a plastic spoon, plastic cups, egg poaching cups, etc., and she had a blast.  When we did our colored pasta last week, we poured everything into a metal casserole pan (the disposable kind from the dollar store) and let her play.  

It was great not only for sorting because she sorted the wheels from the long tubes, but it was also awesome for sensory play because she got to stick her hands in and rattle the pasta in the tin, she practiced pouring them from a cup into the tin and from cup to cup, and then, of course, all the long noodles ended up on her fingers!!

This was awesome as well because she went back to it day after day.  We stored the lentils in a rubbermaid with a tight lid and put it on our craft shelf in the kitchen, and she kept coming back to it and pulling it out and dumping the lentils.  We left the pasta loose in the tin, and I'd hear noises from the kitchen and say "Jellybean what are you doing?"  "I doing nothing, Mama!"  I'd then go into the kitchen and find her filling up her cups with noodles!  I walked in yesterday and she'd lined up the tubes!!

Sensory tubs are a great way to teach your child, and there are so many different variations that you will never run out of things to do!!