However, I could not be more excited about staying home with my babies. I have longed and prayed for this day. One thing that has really excited me the past month or so is realizing all the activities that I can plan for Ori and Calla. I am their teacher (and momma) this year, and I have never, ever loved any two pupils more.
My goal is to plan at least two intentional activities a week for Ori (more if we are home a lot in a week). Calla is obviously very young and her activities aren't as interesting, but she is working on grasping toys and rolling over.
Yesterday I set up a sensory tub for Ori. I first heard of sensory tubs while substitute teaching at a private preschool years ago (I was still in college). Every week or so, the teacher changed what was in the tub. It might be coffee grounds, pasta noodles, oatmeal, beans, etc. The kids at that school loved it! I didn't really get it at the time, but little kids learn through their senses.
I started with beans and will attempt to rotate items every week.
Ori played for a full hour. He didn't leave the tub. I pictured him throwing beans everywhere and us having to close the tub, talk about how the beans stay in the tub, and stopping the activity. I mean this is the kid who spends every morning throwing dirt in the air. Why would the beans be any different?
17 comments on "Sensory Tub"
Great idea. My husband, parents, and I had the sensory talk last night. My son is 23 months old and as we ate dinner last night he'd mash and smear food all over the table. Of course my dad being "old school" was wanting me to get on to Avery and take everything away in his reach. However, I just remained calm and explained that he's learning. No, I would prefer my child not make a complete mess at the homes of others or even in a public restaurant, but at our home I see it as learning. It also teaches him obedience, in my opinion, because I asked Avery politely to help mommy clean his mess up. Of course he was excited to help me clean it up.
I will most certainly be trying the sensory tub!
What a great idea! Alli's preschool did that to a smaller extent ~ rice was fun ~ and it was hit with all the children. I think I will definitely try it at home with such a large tub. Thanks for the idea! About how many bags/lbs of beans did you need to fill the tub?
Love sensory tubs and use them every day! You can try rice, water, or moon sand, too.
Fun ideas already! Thanks.
Fishers, I bought one large bag of beans at Walmart. I threw the bag away so i don't know how many pounds it was, but it was a little over 5 dollars for the bag. It did fill the large tub nicely!
Caleb loves the bean tub too!! Thanks for linking to my site, Julie. :)
I came across your blog from a few others. I couldn't resist commenting because I LOVE LOVE LOVE sensory tables. I taught 2/3 preschool for a few years and changed my sensory table every few days. I put things in it based on our theme. When we did farm, I would put dirt and tractors, or mud and plastic pigs. I put snow in it in the winter. When I did the life cycle of a butterfly I took the kids outside to find things to put in our table, for the PLASTIC caterpillars to live in. Things like leaves, grass, twigs. After a few days I took the caterpillars out and put butterflies in. I didn't tell the kiddos so they were surprised to find the butterflies. At Christmas I put ribbons, plastic candy canes, tinsel, and jingle bells. At Halloween I let the kids dissect pumpkins and play with the "insides" in the table. Moon sand is a great sensory table activity as well!
I think most people have said my ideas: rice, water, oatmeal, sand. One idea I saw the other day that would be fun for summer... put a variety of small plastic toys/objects in a big bowl of water. Freeze it. Then give your kiddo a little screwdriver and a little hammer and let them chisel everything out. I think little boys especially would love this!
I tried the sensory thing with Wilder today after I saw your post. Um, he didn't play an hour.
And most of the rice/noodles are now on the patio floor.
*sigh*
I would guess you need to know your little one too. Some might try to swallow those beans or put it up their noses! Ha! The kids at VBS this morning played and played and played with the sand table. They LOVE it!
Keep posting your work, please! I love the ideas and it makes being a mommy even more interesting. It's easier to be intentional with ideas like this.
You are a great mom, and a great teacher! And an inspiration to me!!
Hi! I read often but never got around to commenting! But I just had to on this one! My almost 2 year old and I went out and brought the supplies and he LOVES LOVES LOVES it! Like you, I was waiting for a big mess everywhere but it didn't happen - he just played and played! Great idea!
Thank you so much for sharing that website! My husband and I are adopting two toddlers from Eastern Europe... I want to plan fun activities which will also help them learn!
My kids love to chisel plastic animals out of blocks of ice in their sensory table. But, bubbles from dishwashing liquid is probably their favorite.
I check your blog often but this is the first time commenting...
1st your children are beautiful! :) I just can't get enough of looking at their pictures!
2nd I tried the tub idea right after I read your post! I was so excited to try it! I also used beans. My Walmart didn't have a huge bag so we bought a few different types of beans! It looks fun with all the different sizes and colors! Today we tried it for the 1st time and she loved it!! She played for about an hour and then asked for it later after we put it away! Thanks for the great idea!
Also, not to make this a looong comment but I just ordered a book called Unplugged Play...gives ideas on fun activities that are creative, cheap and easy! It sounds great! :)
hee hee! I'm a big Harry Wong fan too. He is a wise teacher. I know what you mean about it being weird not going back to school this year and staying home with babies instead.
I really like this idea and look forward to doing it someday for my little guy. I also really enjoy reading about your theme days. So fun. As you figure out things to do with Calla I would love to know about them, even just the simple things. She and my little guy are about the same age and he has just hit a more "interactive" stage. Playing at three months is very different than teaching elementary school. I'd love any suggestions/ideas you come up with. Thanks! Kelly
This is a lovely idea :-) I love how you plan these fun activities for your children, it's so inspiring.
I might try a sensory tub, we have a huge bag of fishtank gravel so I think that might be fun to play with my little ones diggers in, I also love the idea someone else put about the animals and the blocks of ice, I'm going to try that right away!
Woah this is much longer than I expected, but also, that link to your friends website is great, thank you x
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