Smith Family Visit

Sensory Tub Exploration

Andrea put some neat activities together for the kids to enjoy outside!

Precious babe catching a nap between the fun

Keeping an eye on J

Gav found Joshua's power tools and had a blast using them.

The two little ones had a really good time playing next to each other. :)

Taking a stroll with G

Learning to write with chalk!

Saying goodbye!

A, D and G were in town for a wedding so we had some special time with their fam!

February Sensory Tub

We went with a Valentine theme for this month's tub. It includes red Valentine garland as the base, strands of red beads, different colors and sizes of foam hearts, locks and keys, and roses.

December Sensory Tub

Joshua's December sensory tub includes white cotton balls (snow), various sizes and Christmas colors of pom poms, red and white pipe cleaners shaped into candy canes, miniature wrapped packages, jingle bells, small felt stocking, felt gingerbread man, and a Christmas scented candle.

Transportation Sensory Tub

I was inspired by Counting Coconut's Transportation Sensory Tub and thought Joshua would love this to explore. The contents of our tub include 4 pounds dried black beans, 1-1 1/2 pounds river stones, cars, a train, a fire truck, wooden train pieces (buildings, trees, train conductor, transportation signs), red, yellow and green pom poms (traffic lights), and yellow pipe cleaner cut into small pieces (dashed lines on road.)

Funnel Fun

This activity comes from Slow and Steady, Get Me Ready by June R. Oberlander. The handbook provides weekly activities to correspond to the developmental patterns of each age group from birth to age five.

This week Joshua did the activity "Funnel Fun." The activity involved a funnel, measuring cup, glass bottle and a tub of rice.  Joshua placed the funnel in the glass bottle, scooped rice into the funnel and watched the rice fill the bottle. He especially loved pouring out the bottle once it was filled. He was delighted with all the colors of rice, scooping, pouring and exploring!
(Joshua is 1 year, 42 weeks)

 We used our colored rice from this activity.

This activity develops an awareness of how to pour and fill a container, an awareness of "empty" through free exploration, eye-hand coordination, and tactile enhancement.

Colored Rice

 We used fall colors this time around - red, orange, yellow, green and brown.

We made colored rice to use in a sensory tub. We put approximately 1 to 1 1/2 cups of rice in each zip-loc bag. We added one to two teaspoons rubbing alcohol and added drops of food coloring until we reached the desired color. We sealed the bag closed and mixed the rice around until the color was evenly distributed. Then we lined a cookie sheet with wax paper, poured the rice onto the paper and let it dry. Then we added our rice to a sensory tub for future fun.

November Sensory Tub

Joshua's November sensory tub includes four pounds of yellow popping corn, autumn colored pom poms, acrylic acorn gems, feathers, fall leaves, fall fruits and vegetables, two wooden Indians and a turkey, scented pine cones, and a scented candle.

Fall Sensory Tub

This is our little man's first sensory tub and boy is he enjoying it! I was originally planning on waiting until January (when he turns two) to start these fun exploration activities, but Joshua has been needing some special activities (just for him) to do while Jenni is doing her school work. I am looking forward to his weeks of enjoyment exploring the contents of the tub. I used four pounds of dried pinto beans, one pound of dried black beans, fall fruits and vegetables, fall leaves, a real pumpkin, and scented pumpkins and pine cones.