I'm so excited to be joining with
Little Bins for Little Hands in their Rice Bin Sensory Challenge!
I'd love for you to join in too and share your experiences. The guidelines are super simple: Set out a bin of white or brown rice only. Please do not create a theme with in the bin or set out a bunch of things for the child to grab rather talk with them if they need some direction or are on the younger side. Maybe a scoop and a container could be acceptable to add. Let your child bring to the bin what they might be interested in to play. Let it be as child led as possible but feel free to help as you see fit with your child.
I began preparing our container whilst Bubbles slept, intending on setting it out once she woke up but Squiggles was so excited I decided to let her play by herself.
When presented with the rice Squiggles first explored the rice with her hands, as I had expected but then she surprised me. She jumped up and headed purposefully to the kitchen draws, normally I would have redirected her but I was interested to see what she was up to so I say on my hands and bit my tongue. As I watched, Squiggles opened up a draw, fished around and then brought out a chocolate scoop! She then closed the draw and went back to the rice which she proceeded to mix and scoop. I was so proud and so amazed that she had thought to get a spoon!
After playing for a little while, scooping, mixing and poring the rice over her hands and feet, Squiggles stood up again. Can you guess what she retrieved this time?
Our dustpan and brush! Which she used to attempt to clean the floor with! I'm so proud of her but also a little sad as I wonder where my little baby's gone to!
Squiggles and I went on to play with other things and when Bubbles woke up I'd completely forgotten about the rice. It was the first thing Bubbles noticed though as she very excitedly asked permission to play. :)
Bubbles added a cup and metal spoon along with Squiggles' scoop and began spooning the rice into the cup. As she poured the rice into the cup she would hold her hand above the cup and enjoy the sensation of the rice flowing between her fingers.
After a little while she abandoned the tools and used her hands to make patterns in the rice, shaking the container when she wanted to start again.
When Numnut arrived home from work, the rice bin was all Bubbles wanted to talk about and she invited Daddy, Squiggles and I to join her in a rice tea party. It was interesting to watch the ways in which the four of us all played with the rice differently-Numnut attempted to make castles, Bubbles had fun scooping, Squiggles enjoyed pouring it over her feet and hands and I had fun burying my hands.It was a fantastic day and a great little family activity. :)
Now you've read about how we interpreted this challenge why not hop on over and read about all the different ways this challenge has been interpreted at these fabulous blogs:
Please always supervise your
infant/child at play. Please stay within arms reach and never leave
infants/children unattended. You know you're infant/child best, use
your own judgement-considering your infant/child's temperament, habits,
behaviour and development before you play with a new play medium.
I like the idea of match designs in the rice and then shaking it to start over - a homemade Etch-A-Sketch!
ReplyDeleteHomemade Eth-A-Sketch, now there's a cool name for it! Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment Emma, it's always appreciated! :)
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