Fall sensory bin!

I did it!  I made my first "sensory bin" and in celebration of the first day of fall, I made it fall themed.  The theme reiterates what fall means to me (think: leaves, acorns, pine cones, pumpkins, corn, oranges and browns...)  Kids like to touch and feel different textures and things.  I have seen sensory bins on other websites and they say "my kids played with it for hours" and I have to admit, I thought- really?  Did they really play with it that long?  And my answer is- yes!  Yes, they do!  It's so much fun for them!  The main component of mine was rice.  C *loved* to pour it in and out of bottles and funnels, run his hands through it making train tracks, and sorting and moving around the little pumpkin jewels and glitter and silk leaves.  I added some dry beans and C was pretending to build a pumpkin patch and he would bury and plant the seeds, then they would "pop open into a pumpkin"!  I really had to watch N though because some of the things were too little and he puts things in his mouth still.  But overall, it was a big hit!

When it gets closer to Halloween, I'm going to add a few things related to that. I'm looking forward to making a Christmas one.  I think the secret will be to not let it sit out for too long to become just another toy.  Take it out, put it away, make it special.  Rice... who knew?

Water Bin Play

An hour of fun on a rainy day!  It started off as a way to keep my 1 year old happily and *quietly* playing while my 4 year old had his afternoon nap.

A bin from the Dollar tree with kitchen items like: funnels, spatulas, measuring cups, a few beach toys, and an empty vitamin bottle.  I spread towels out on the kitchen floor.

Then my 4 year old woke up and joined in on the fun.  It got bigger.  We added more things like ice cube trays and some of our plastic "counting bears".  C transferred the bears with some kitchen tongs from the water bin to the ice cube trays.  I noticed he was sorting them by color.  We poured water back and forth from measuring cups and even added a few ice cubes and bubbles from Johnson's baby bubble bath.

I encouraged them to keep it contained (no splashing or pouring water outside of the towel area).  It was a fun and different way for them to play.  It was so easy to clean up too, it's just water!  Pick it up and throw the towels in the wash and change their clothes.  Worth it!

Counting games

A great way to practice counting!

I grabbed kitchen bowls and put numbers 1-10 written on a piece of paper in the bowl then I had C drop the correct number of pom pom balls in each bowl.

Then I printed off a numbers game from:

http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/blog/2011/04/preschool-letter-t-for-turtle.html

C had to count the number of turtles and place the correct number in the box next to the turtles (I had cut out and laminated the numbers).

A great way to practice learning to pay attention to not counting the same one twice, and to not skip over and miss counting one.  A great lesson on concentration and attention to detail.  And he had fun!