Playing, laughing, crafting and painting

Tag

sensory play

Christmas Sensory Box

Posted by — 9 Comments

0091

Up until about two months ago I never heard of a sensory box. I started seeing them popping up all over Pinterest. I remember thinking, “I don’t see how this would interest my daughter” , but still I was intrigued by the idea. It turns out I could not have been more wrong. It makes me a little angry that I didn’t know about these earlier, because they truly are a mommy sanity saver.

 

Since it tis the season & all, I thought a Christmas sensory box would be just the thing to get our daughter excited for the holidays.

The last box we made was filled with multi-colored rice, scoops & tiny little animals & creepy crawly critters. Mai loved it! It would keep her occupied for hours on end, but I was picking rice out of the strangest places weeks later.

 

I wanted one a little less messy this time around. The idea I had involved using  cotton blankets of snow & mixing assorted Christmas themed items inside the folds of cotton.

I love the Dollar Store. The dollar store is perfect for finding affordable fillers for sensory play. Lucky for me, I work right next door to one & can shop on my lunch breaks for wonderful treasures. Here are a few of the items that I was lucky enough to find.

 

0311 0301 0281 0261 0251 0241

 

 

I had my ingredients, lets construct our box.

 

I use a Rubber Maid storage bin for ours. I pulled and stretched at the blankets of snow to make it loose & fluffy & placed it in the bin. I cut the garland into several pieces & lined the outside. I had hundreds of plastic mini ornaments. I placed them evenly throughout the snow, hiding them with the folds. I did the same with the pine cones, rubber leaves & berries. The cloth presents were just laid across the top.

 

0011

 

 

Mai was so excited as mommy was putting this together. She kept yelling “box, box!”

“Ok, baby girl.” It is ready. Dig in!

 

0091 0131 0081

 

 

The verdict: The Christmas sensory box was a hit. She played with it so quietly for about an hour before bed. Awwww.. Life is good.

Up next: Holiday Traditions

 

Related topics:

http://artsycraftymom.wordpress.com/2013/11/16/sensory-box/

http://lilfootprints.wordpress.com/2013/10/29/creepy-crawly-slimey-worms-and-flies/

http://binyaminamontessori.wordpress.com/2013/10/28/color-week-curiosity-box/

http://thepinterestedparent.wordpress.com/2013/11/07/treasure-hunt-bottles/

 

 

Treasure Hunt Bottles

Posted by — 5 Comments

Sensory bottles for kids made out of colored rice & Dollar store toys. A great sensory activity for toddlers

A few weeks ago, we had to bring our daughter to the emergency room. She had what was called nursemaids elbow, a common toddler injury, which is basically a dislocated elbow. With a quick movement the doctor snapped Mai’s elbow back in place & within seconds, she was back to her happy, smiley, mischievous self. I was relieved. It is a nerve wracking couple of hours.

IMG_20131027_123640_122

While we were there, a very nice nurse brought us a cylinder like toy, filled with sand and different assorted shapes and objects. She gave this to Mai to play with as we waited for her x-rays. The toy worked in distracting our little miss from her injuries. I thought this was a wonderful idea, but in all the stress and anxiety of the situation, it was quickly forgotten, until yesterday when I saw a pin for a treasure hunt game.

This reminded me of the cylinder and all of its’ random objects. I thought this should be easy enough to recreate and would have to be more fun to play with, without a big ouchie.

What you will need…

An old soda bottle 20 oz or 32 will do

rice or sand

food coloring

assorted plastic toys small enough to fit into a bottle top

I originally made this with a 2 liter bottle, but found that it was too heavy for Mai to play with, so we transferred it to a 20 oz bottle. This worked much better for her little hands.

Directions:

Peel the soda label of the bottle. Clean the bottle & let it dry thoroughly

007

Pour rice & food coloring into a ziplock bag & shake

009

Pour rice onto paper plate to dry

010

Insert mini toys into bottle. I went with assorted insects, bugs, butterflies and reptiles. I bought these at the Dollar Store.
Use a funnel & fill the bottle 3/4 of the way with rice.

015 014 015

Seal top using super glue.

Shake the bottle to mix up the toys

Let your toddler shake & play & point out all of the objects

020

045 044 043

With all the left over rice we had, we also made a sensory box.

036 035 038

The verdict: She loved the bottles. She was shaking it up and pointing to birds and butterflies and laughing. The sensory boxes are always a hit in our house. It was a fun day for Mai. It was a messy day for mommy.

048

Drop cloths, mommy..drop cloths. Some one hand me a broom.