Cornflakes and Diggers

I found an old box of cornflakes in the cupboard and instead of throwing it away, decided to put it to good use. For PLAY.

 

 I put the cornflakes into a tub and then added a few small diggers and dumper trucks.

 Hartley got into the tub straight away.

 

He loved listening to the sounds of the cornflakes crunching when he drove his trucks over them.

  

 He enjoyed filling up the dumper truck and emptying it again.

 Hartley spent most of the afternoon lying down in the tub. For some reason he found the cornflakes comfortable!

 At one point I even thought he was going to fall asleep in the bowl of cornflakes, funny boy!

Planting Sensory Tub

 Hartley loves digging so I made him a planting sensory tub. Perfect for using either inside or outside.

I put new child friendly soil into a tub and then added a few pots, utensils and a watering can.

Hartley loves filling up the pots with soil and then emptying them again. He also explores the soil by feeling it with his hands and making marks in it. 

You could also add pretend flowers or seeds. I might also add water in the watering can so Hartley can explore what happens to soil when you add water.

Brush Treasure Basket

Hartley still loves his treasure baskets. I thought I would put together a sensory one with just brushes.

I collected brushes we already had from around the house but you could include any brushes you want.

In out treasure basket we put in:

a selection of paint brushes in different sizes

a nail brush

a shaving brush

make up brushes

tooth brush

hair brush

All the brushes are either new or washed so they are safe to use.

I left the treasure basket out so Hartley could play when ever he wanted. He loved exploring the brushes. He often brushed his own skin. He loved how this felt.

Here are some cute pictures  of him brushing his toes.

 He then brushed my toes and we had lots of fun tickling each other with the brushes. This was initiated by him, which made it even more lovely.

Gloop Shape Hunt

I was trying to decide what to do this afternoon with the children I look after, so searched the cupboards and found cornflour, this could only mean one thing - GLOOP!

If you haven't made gloop before you really should, it only needs 2 ingredients

Cornflour and water, you can add food colouring to make it even more fun.

Gloop is a magical mixture which can be both solid and liquid and its lots of fun for children and adults of all ages!

I added some coloured shapes to encourage shape, colour and number recognition. 

The children loved exploring the gloop.

 They felt the gloop with their hands and made marks.

 It was great fun to watch the gloop drip off our hands.

One of the children even decided to put some lentils from another sensory tub into the mixture! I love sensory play!

We also played hunt the shapes. I would ask them to find the red heart or the purple star. This not only encourages shape and colour recognition but is also a good way to get the children to start exploring and touching the gloop.

Sensory play is brilliant for encouraging language. I constantly talk to the children about what they are doing and what it feels like. We came up with some great words.

Slimy, slippery, gloopy. For Hartley and I talk to him about what he is doing and what I think it feels like.

Sensory Dinosaur Play

 

  

I set up a sensory Dinosaur tub for Hartley and his friends to play with. 

I used lentils, fir cones, twigs, bark, stones and other bits I found in the garden but you could use anything to create a great sensory activity. 

Hartley and is friend loved exploring the tub and Playing with the dinosaurs.

Here Hartley is roaring like a dinosaur.

We also used this sensory tub as a starting point for other dinosaur activities. We also shared some dinosaur stories. Here are our favourites