Shell Treasure Box for Babies

Inspired by big sister Eden's recent play time with shells (see here), I put the biggest shells in our collection into a sturdy shoebox and set my little Ava baby up in front of it. She was so excited, lots of foot wiggling and hand waving!
Naturally, the shells went straight into the mouth for some dribbly fun...

Feely Bag

If you've only got ten minutes to spend doing something with your child and you're looking for an activity that's easy to set up, this is it! I got four items of different textures in a little platter: a flower hair clip, a foam block, a glass perfume bottle and a wooden train. I showed them to Eden and gave the items to her to feel, one at a time. We talked about different words that could describe that item beyond just describing its appearance. For example, the perfume bottle was cold, hard, had straight bits and round bits and smelled 'pretty'. This will give your littlie more words to add to their ever-expanding vocabulary, helps them to think about other properties of an item (beyond only using visual cues) and primes them for the next part of the game.

Treasure Baskets Part 2.

Today I offered Ava a new treasure basket to explore, which contained wooden items. In this 'basket' (which was really a wooden bowl) I put the following: some blocks, two trains, a train track piece, a maraca, a trumpet, some necklaces, some large beads used for threading, a bendy doll, a babushka doll, a rattan ball, a spinning top, the lid of my metronome, a hand massager, a spoon, some puzzle pieces, and a leaf-shaped bowl I got from an op shop for 50 cents! As you can see below, it was a big hit.

Everything went straight into the mouth to be assessed; some were discarded but the ones she liked were grouped around her. My little bower-bird girl!
I struggled at first to find wooden items that were child-sized and gum-friendly, but hit the payload when I was rummaging through the play room. She loved the top (which she is pictured sucking on, above), and was mesmerised by it as Big Sister sent it spinning along the floor. I think I'll keep this one out for a while, Ava seemed to get a lot from it.
Next task: develop a few treasure baskets adapted for my toddler (who's been telling people that she's six years old thank-you-very-much). Wish me luck!

Foam Fun

You have to buy a pack of foam sheets (try saying that five times fast, foam sheets, foam sheets, foam sheets...). They're only 50 cents for a pack of 10 sheets (yup, I just double checked my receipt, 50 cents folks!), and they're such a versatile item to add to your craft box.

I drew some basic shapes onto some sheets with a pencil, then cut them out - keeping the off-cuts too, as they tend to make the most interesting forms. I gave them to Eden with a shallow container of water and a sponge brush, and she brushed the foam shapes with water and stuck them to the window.

 The concept is for your child to create pictures on the windows, - which Eden did, but then she put the sponge brush away and started soaking the foam in the water. She told me she was washing them 'til they were nice and clean, then hanging them out to dry. She also used some squares as sponges, cleaning up the drops of water on the floor ("is messy, messy, messy. That's better, hooray!"). She's been at it for an hour and a bit now, with no signs of abating!

I found this idea at Inspiration Surrounds, Creativity Abounds and will definitely use it again!

Coloured Rice

So simple to make, so easy to use and it provides you with so many play options! I made a few batches of coloured rice yesterday (see the recipe if you want to try it, cinch!) and set up a 'pouring and transferring' table for Eden. I just laid a sheet on the floor, put some mixed coloured rice into a roasting tray and gave her a broad serving spoon (to use as a shovel), a funnel and a cup. Then I put some rice into containers by colour, so she could mix it up herself. As you can see in the photos, she really enjoyed it, and it occupied her in some quiet, solo play for over an hour (woo-hoo)!
          

For a different experience, I set it up again this afternoon with bits from her tea set and some of her play pots, pans and utensils. She had a ball serving rice tea and pouring it from the teapot into the cups (see below).

          

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At nearly six months old, Ava is obviously to young to play with rice in the same way as Eden, so I put some rice into a medium sized ziplock bag and put a few little objects in it (see photo below) and sealed the bag up with masking tape. She mushes it around with her hands (and her feet) to find the objects hidden by the rice. It's actually a very tactile activity for her, even though she's feeling the objects through the plastic, but obviously requires supervision, just in case the bag breaks.

          

Other coloured rice activities which I intend to try include:

• Pouring some into plastic bottles to form shakers.
• Pouring some into a cardboard cylinder and sealing up the ends, getting your tot to decorate the cylinder with stickers or oil-based crayons to make some more shakers!
• Drawing a basic picture (or a letter/number) onto stiff cardboard with a thick marker, covering the picture with PVC and letting your littlie sprinkle rice over it. Leave to set for a few minutes, then shake off the excess.
• Using the rice to make some beanbags (ok, ricebags) from felt. You'd obviously have to do the sewing yourself, but your toddler could 'paint' a picture on the bags with fabric paint, or they could superglue sequins or lace onto it. 

I'm sure there are heaps of other ideas out there, feel free to post ideas you have in the comments section! ~ L.

This post has been linked to Baby Play Friday at Sense of Wonder.

Sandpaper Pictures

Sounds weird, I know, but the concept is really simple. Cut up some wool or yarn in different colours at different lengths, grab a piece of (unused) sandpaper of medium grain, and let your child use the yarn/wool to make pictures on the sandpaper. Cinch! I store ours in a big ziplock bag, to keep all the yarn together.

Sensory Cards

Another one for the bambinos, but young toddlers (1yr-18months) will enjoy it too. It's a lot of work to set up even though it's extremely simple, but mine took about 2 hours to do. All you have to do is stick items with different textures onto some sturdy card stock. That's it.
You can staple it together into a book (don't forget to put duct tape over the spine to protect baby's hands from the staples), join it with binder rings, or use a bulldog clip to hold them together so you can take them apart and rearrange the order of the cards, or take a few out at a time (that's what I did).
These are the cards I made for Ava:
 


On my cards I had satin ribbon, ice-cream sticks, netting (from cheese bags), foil, buttons, pipe cleaners, scrunched up paper, foam which I cut into underwater shapes, felt pieces, bubble wrap, lace, pom poms, and leather pieces. You could also use shells, fake flowers, raffia, wool pieces, fabric scraps, feathers, corrugated cardboard, paper clips, leaves ... whatever you can find!
Ava LOVES this book! She's quite rough with it, as she's still learning to control her little hands, so I lay her down for tummy time and lay a few cards in front of her. Eden and I talk to Ava about what's on the cards (what colours we see, the shapes, how it feels - rough, smooth, strethy, soft, etc). If you wanted to, you could also hot glue your textures onto cork coasters, or into a scrapbook, or onto the sides and lid of a box. Babies love to explore through touch, and this provides a nice sampling for them. Good luck!