Upcycled: Paper Roll Sensory

I got this idea from Kid's Activity Blog and I LOVED the idea. Up cycled, sensory, easy, and cheap! I have been saving our tubes for something and now they had a purpose!

I only had two real fabric scraps I thought I wanted to use, minky and satin. I decided to get crafty with the rest and pulled out my "junk craft" drawer. I had foam pages that were a perfect fit for the rolls I got at the dollar store! I then decided to jazz a few of them up. Googly eyes, pom poms and rubber bands!

I didn't have a curtain rod, nor did I know where to put it, so I had to get thinking. At first I was simply going to use some extra clothes line I had, but then stumbled upon my old cloth diaper rack! Perfect!! I loosened the dowels and slid them on. Then I anxiously waited for Tegan to wake up...

And she loved it! She loved to "squeeze" each one. Minky was her favorite, but she was exploring each tube  sensing the differences! Perfect!

She loved "rolling" them too

                             I kept it up all day and she kept going back to it for a squeeze or two.

At most this was $3 if you didn't have these supplies on hand! And Kid's Activity Blog had a great idea to repurpose these AGAIN...use them as paint rollers once finished as sensory rolls!

Why the cutest sensory bins aren't always the best!

It is Murphy's law. You put a lot of effort into something, you are convinced your little one will love it. And then they don't look twice at it! Haha! That was my luck with my Ivory Soap experiment. I think Tegan was a little too young to appreciate the bin, and the soap smell was also strong. But it was fun to put together!

We did Ivory Soap two ways: Ghost mud and microwave mud.

Ghost mud was a great texture, but I would reserve the texture for older children. It is highly mold able and best appreciated making things such as snow men. We simply grated two bars of ivory soap, added toilet paper and slowly added water, mixing together. Of all the sensory items in the bin, this was her least favorite. I think it was just too thick and the soap smell was strong.

Ghost mud on top, microwave mud on bottom 

Microwave mud was so much fun! Again, this is a project that would have been awesome for older children. Watching the soap in the microwave was so much fun for me! Now, this once cooled is textures like snow. A must for snow themed activities. Tegan did play with this and had a lot of fun in the soft texture.

I also added slime, cotton balls, and shaving cream. Shaving cream is one of Tegan's favorites :)

But we got maybe 10 minutes of play and she hasn't looked at it since! Oh well, on to the next project! It goes to show that sometimes the most simple play is the biggest hit.

Cheap and Easy music fun!

I stumbled across this idea and thought to myself what a great way to encourage fine motor skills! Tegan has been using her 'pincher grasp" for quite some time, and this activity encourages her to use it with a beautiful musical reward.

This is a very cheap activity, and it kept Tegan busy for quite awhile! I had a small cardboard box and band sitting around, so for me it was free!!

I noticed my pack had not only different colors, but different band widths. When placing the bands on, I also noticed that if you twisted them, a different sound would emit! This would be a great learning experience for older children!

After I was done I let Tegan play and she was enthralled of the reaction of plucking the strings.

Unlike most sensory play, this one lasts and lasts and she has gone to it multiple times!

Thanks for reading and let them be little!

Shaving Cream and Water Beads-an awesome duo!

So,  I think I have found one of my personal sensory mix ups today! It late morning here, and Tegan is having a rough time this morning, very clingy and nursing a lot. I finally put her down  for a nap and it has been a tough time. We've already had two sensory playtimes to help distract her and get her in a good mood. For quick set up, I always use my cloud dough. It's a favorite here and gets her distracted for a little it while Mommy does things! Like, drink coffee so I don't go crazy, LOL!

                 But the big winner today has been this new combo, water beads and shaving cream!

Wow, let me tell you, the texture of this is AMAZING! I had just as much fun with it as she did! The shaving cream made the beads feel cool, even though they were at room temp. And the squishy-ness of the cream was very nice with the slipperiness of the beads.

Like most of this morning, she needed this activity to have lot of mommy guidance. I think if she were in a better mood she would have dived more in, but nevertheless she had a blast.

You could soak the beads in coloring to make a nice contrast I personally liked the transparent look of clear on white :)

For clean up to save the water beads, I simply scooped them into a pasta strainer and rinsed :)

Thank you for reading!

Play Dough

Play dough fun! I was recently gifted some play dough and I wasn't for sure if Tegan was old enough to play with it. But I decided to give it a whirl!

Is there anything that remind you of childhood as the smell of play dough? Not me! The best part of sensory activities is not only watching your child explore; its partaking in the exploring with them!

Tegan just turned 11 months but she had fun pulling apart the play dough. She did a good job and not eating it, and didn't try to put it in her mouth! She liked it best when I rolled it into a tube for her so she could pull it apart!

And how adorable is this strawberry dress??

August Sensory Party-On the Farm!

Wow! So much has happened. We are now moved into our new house and settling in. Today we had a sensory party to get more people involved in messy play and it was amazing! Thank you to all who came out!!

The Theme was "On the Farm" featuring all thing animals and dirty!

Tegan helping set up the "sheep" balloons

Here was the set up for the "messy" portion of the play. We protected our carpets by laying down paint covers. 

Let's introduce some of the activities. 

We had three pools; I realized I didn't get a up close photo of one. The first was "green pastures" which was green sphagetti and horses. This was a lot of fun for all the babies. The second was "muddy pigs," cornstartch mud and piggies. This was by far the favorite of all. The third was "dirt and worms" which was gelatin and the texture seem to throw a lot of babies off!

I also had sensory bins:

These where a huge hit. Kids loved "gardening" in them. 

We also had a few activities. Due to people reclining photo permission, I didn't get a lot of photos! But we had "milking" the cows, and Tegan really took it to heart making a huge mess! She had a blast. This activity requires gloves, non toxic white paint, water, and a little cornstartch to thicken. Mix all into a bowl and gently pour into gloves, tying top closes. Take a nail and make a small pin prick to the "udders" and let them discover the gloves however they want! Most found it fun to just shake them ;)

We also loved this little on getting a early start on sensory play! She loved splashing her feet in the "mud"

So much fun! Thank you for reading and remember, Let them be little!