Using some "Common" Sense

Now that Sean is in school 3 mornings a week I am able to spend some time with Miss Liv with my undivided attention. She started taking her own Gymboree classes 2 mornings a week, which she loves. I absolutely love Gymboree! I am not getting any perks for praise, but if you have little children from birth to age 4 and a few extra bucks in your pocket I would highly recommend the play & learn and art classes. Sean started doing the play & learn classes at 1 and a half and is now doing weekly art classes so we have been Gymboree fans for a while. Its a great way to get your kids moving in a structured but fun environment, you get great ideas for play, make some new friends, and they throw a mean birthday party! Aside from her classes we have been doing a lot of play together and taking walks now that the weather is warming up. I’m discovering her likes and dislikes and enjoying watching her excitement of trying new things.

By now you know I am a HUGE sensory fanatic and play based learning advocate so I’ve been creating new sensory experiences for Miss Liv. Sensory play can be very calming (which is why we love water play), increases motor skill, and builds language as you play with your child. As of now she loves any kind of water play so I will simply through a bowl of water with spoons and scoops on the kitchen floor over a towel and let her have at it, or let her explore in the water table out back. She also loves destroying blocks and grooving to some kid tunes, so I whipped up a few sensory items for her to play with last week with blocks and music in mind.





Bubbly Water Table Play



Simple Water Play

 

The first are super easy, cheap, and are all over blogs, pinterest, and often done in most day cares…Sensory Bottles. Sensory bottles can be as simple or extravagant as you like. I gathered up a few bottles from our recycling bin. For small hands I would use the tiny water or juice bottles and for older kids regular water bottles would be fine. Next, gather up some fillers from around the house. I wanted to appeal to more than 1 sense (sound and sight) so I filled 1 bottle with some dry beans and pom poms(sound), 1 with dry pasta(sound), one with soaked water beads and food coloring (sound/sight), 1 with oil and colored water (sight), and 1 with colored water and glitter(sight). I filled the bottles about 2/3 full and tightly closed the bottles. I also secured them with a line of hot glue around the rim to deter Sean from opening them but you could also tape the cap on as well. I placed them in a basket and let her play. She loved rolling them on the table and jamming to some music with the noise shakers. Easy, cheap, fun!

 

 

 

 

 

For the sensory blocks I purchased 2 wood blocks from the craft the store for a dollar and some sheets of textured paper (shag, animal print, leather, felt, tissue paper). All you do is lay the block on the textured paper and use a pen to trace the square, cut out the square, and adhere with Modge Podge craft glue. These are her favorite; she plays with them alone and with some of her other wood blocks.

Babies use their senses to navigate all of the new stimuli they are bombarded with in those early months of life so providing a variety of sensory experiences really helps them to understand how the world works. For me it’s like watching little scientists make observations and discoveries.

 

 

 

What ways do you help your child explore their senses?