Sensory Bins

Tootsie really loves sensory play - water, beans, sand - anything she can pour and scoop.  I've tried several different things recently but we always come back to the simple.  I've noticed that she will not play with a bin that is too busy.  Her winter bin was just too overwhelming.  I collected lots of blue and white items including pom poms, flat glass marbles, pipe cleaners, beads, table scatter, a couple of containers and tongs as well as a few other items.  She didn't use it much.  The Valentine's bin had white beans and an assortment of Valentine themed items.  She removed a lot of things and gathered items from her kitchen to use instead.  So for now, we'll skip the toys and figurines and stick to the pouring and scooping.  Here are a few of the bins we've used lately.

Dried Peas

Dried peas, a few Saint Patrick's Day coins, tongs, funnel, measuring spoon, pitcher and a few different shaped bottles.  The round one is a special Coke bottle salvaged from a family gathering.

Princess and the Pea!  Dancing dress and fancy shoes required!

Chocolatey Mess

This was an experiment in throwing things together based on Cloud Dough.  I guess you could call it chocolate sand/dough.  

We mixed flour, cocoa powder, a little salt, a lot of oil thanks to Tootsie's heavy pouring hand and sprinkles.

Dishes from her kitchen were quickly brought in. 

Not too long after that the dough migrated to her kitchen so she could cook it.

Worked ok until Tootsie took the sink out, filled the dishwasher and spread it around the stove.  This was a really messy project but luckily it swept up easily.  By the end of the second day, I had snuck a lot of it into the trash.  It was getting tracked everywhere!  We will definitely do this again because Tootsie loved it but I will wait until it's warmer and we can take it outside.

White Beans

After Valentine's Day, I removed the themed items and added some I Spy items (see here or a little more info) to white beans.  

Tootsie also liked using her dishes - were these ever a great investment!  She cooked the bean and then we filled up lots of the dishes, added some felt food and had a party.  It was a make up party as I had just had some friends over for an Arbonne party, in which she got to participate.

I loved the Barbie shoe drinks!

Blowing Bubbles

Not long ago I found a pin on Pinterest that said bubbles would freeze before they hit the ground if it was cold enough outside.  Of course, I had to try it.  I don't know if it wasn't cold enough here but the only way I could get it to work was to catch bubbles on the wand and let them sit for a few minutes.  Tootsie found the bubbles that I left on the counter and really wanted to blow some.  So even though we just got over a foot of snow and it's the beginning of March we headed outside on a sunny day and blew bubbles.  No luck getting any to freeze but Tootsie had fun and I got a good laugh out of watching her!

Tot School Revisited!

This week I didn't change too many of our tot trays, as we weren't as thorough with them as I would have liked.  We were away visiting family so we didn't spend any time over the weekend with them.  I revised a few trays and presented a few others differently and the others we just played with again.  I have noticed over the last week that Tootsie is able to recognize the number of small amounts of items and is getting better at tagging and counting.  She has been counting on her fingers a lot lately too!  Isn't it awesome to realize that the play/work you do together really makes an impact!

The clothespin activity as well as the popsicle sticks below came from a post about busy bags on second story window.  Tootsie loved the pinning.  At fist I held the felt clothes and she pinned.  After she figured out how to do both she was so excited she did a little victory dance!

Victory dance!  She was giggling like crazy!

Tootsie wasn't really interested in the popsicles the first week so I began hiding the colors around the living room and kitchen.  Once she found them, she matched them to the sticks.  We talked about the colors as she found them and listed those that were still hidden.  We've did this quite often.  Tootsie really liked hiding them for me and then "helping" me find them!

I made up this game a few years ago for my preschool class from an idea at prekinders I think.  Each small container has matching items.  Tootsie wasn't overly excited about this so the next week, I hid one of the matches in her bean sensory bin.  She liked it much better this way.

The Iowa Farmer's Wife blogged about this project found here.  Each color has just enough popsicle sticks to make a different shape.  Tootsie really liked playing with the popsicle sticks but just wasn't interested in making shapes.  I might try an idea I saw on Pinterest that adds velcro to the ends of the sticks.

We finished up the letter A by sorting and gluing upper and lower case A onto this printable from Confessions of a Homeschooler.  

After sorting some of them, Tootsie painted the rest with water colors.

Tootsie loves any game that involves food!  This fun one came from Criss-Cross Applesauce.  The trick was keeping her from eating all the Goldfish before the game was over!

Tons of Fun came up with this great idea.  It was so easy to set up.  I had a few wooden blocks from Michaels and I just used the Do-a-Dot Art Brilliant (set of 6) we already had.  Tootsie rolled the dice, we counted the dots if she didn't know the number and then stamped that many times.  

We've done a lot of painting over the last couple of weeks.  I have noticed that Tootsie is sticking with art projects longer than before.  Many times it took longer to set up the paints than she spent working!  I have been suggesting ideas for extending a project and adding new tools to keep her at it.  Recently, she has begun adding to the projects on her own too.  Clean up takes longer but she is really enjoying herself!

We squirted a ton of paint into a ziplock and added a pieces of paper.  She moved it around with her hands and then used a roller.

We put the bag on the floor after adding more paint and Tootsie stomped around for while.  

Tootsie wrote all over her paper with a white crayon and then painted it with water colors.  I added her name when she wasn't looking.  She loved finding it!

Tootsie made apple prints and then added streaks of purple with a paintbrush.  You can't tell from this photo but the apple has a bite out of it.  She tried to sample it while painting!

Easel painting.  Tootsie asks me to draw shapes a lot for her to paint.  I added a butterfly made out of capital Bs.

Thanks for checking us out!  We have lots more to share in the next few days!
Kate