Sensory Bins

Ethan had his first sensory bin experiences today. This morning, I set out a bin with the dyed rice I made yesterday, some glass gems (for floral arrangements), and two strands of Mardi Gras beads. I gave him a scoop and some smaller containers (for sorting). And he went to town. At first he just wanted to touch things with the scoop instead of his hands. Then he wanted to slam the scoop around and make rice go everywhere (which was fine because it's all about experimenting). Then he decided to play with the Mardi Gras beads for a while. Finally he got to work with his hands. He began picking out the glass gems (which, yes, are small enough for him to swallow, but I'm present the entire time, so don't worry, Mom). Instead of putting them in the smaller containers, he sorted them into the scoop. Then he decided that wasn't working so he began placing them under his thighs and bottom. Only then did he move on to putting them in the smaller containers. After over 30 minutes of play, he heard his daddy using the router in the garage and jumped up to show him his new treasures he sorted. We took a break for snack, and I put the bin away while he ate. After his snack and a diaper change, I got the bin back out, and he lit up with a huge grin and ran to come play. He played for several more minutes before deciding on a nursing break. He wanted to hold onto the bin while he nursed but settled for the scoop and the beads. All in all, it was a huge success! That's probably the longest he's ever sat and played with one thing before, and I learned that my attention span wears out much faster than his. While he was content to continue feeling and sorting, I was ready to move on to something else. Therefore, I think sensory bins are important to teach both of us.


This afternoon, we broke out the wet bin, so I opened a packet of water beads during nap time to let them begin to swell. These things are so neat! They are non-toxic, but I don't recommend letting your child swallow them since they expand when they are in liquid (and I can't imagine that would work well in your stomach). So they're totally safe for play, but you still want to watch your child with them. All it took was one touch and Ethan was hooked! He broke out into a huge grin. He was pretty cautious at first, using one hand at a time to gingerly poke at them. Then Daddy showed him how to move his hands around in them. And then they went flying! As soon as we could get the escaped beads back into the tub, he was sloshing them out again, laughing away. He eventually got up on his knees for a more in depth exploration and then ended up plopped on his tummy. That didn't last too long, though, because our water bead play ended when he tipped the tub over. Glad we put that towel down first!




We stored the water beads for later (just put them into a vase and wet them if they start to dry out) and went out to dinner, but our sensory exploration wasn't quite over for the day. At bath time, we filled up a couple of water balloons for him to explore in the tub. Unfortunately, this ended quite unhappily when Daddy got the bright idea to pop one over his head, causing Ethan to burst into tears at the shock of water and causing me to be drenching wet as I cuddled a naked toddler to comfort him. So while we will definitely be doing the water balloons again, I think we'll let Ethan do the popping from now on! All in all, it was quite a fun day, and I look forward to more days like it!