Herb Sensory Table

I've been enjoying working in the classroom enormously! As part of my placement I put together this gorgeous herb and nature sensory table in the babies room-to be explored by children between the ages of 10 weeks to 12months old.

Why

After noticing one of the children in the room appear to be facinated with both the texture and look of a pinecone from the dinosaur table; I chose to try and extend and build upon this interest by creating an open-ended, nature table where the child could revisit their interest in the pinecone as well as explore new textures and smells from the natural environment.

The Set-Up

To set up the table I used what had been the dinosaur table so that the hessian and other materials would add to the texturial learning opportunities and that the mirror screwed to the wall would add to the depth of play.

I carefully added three nesting mirror boxes (from Kmart) to the table, then added some natural items in the mirror boxes, for extra depth, as well as scattering the rest of the natural items on the table in a visually pleasing manner.

In case you're interested here's a list of the items I used:

• Pinecones
• Bamboo Coasters
• Tree Cookies
• Gardenia Flowers
• Parsley Flowers
• Lemon Thyme
• Lemon Leaves
• Kumquat Leaves
• Rosemary
• Lavender
• Coriander
• Olive Leaves
• Mirror Boxes

Exploration

The children in the room approached the table almost immediately and began exploring the items by:

• touching them
• smelling them
• tasting them
• looking at them

The mirror boxes in particular were a huge hit as were the herbs. One child took great delight in exploring the flower, first touching it, then smelling it then completely pulling it apart and exploring the way the petals looked in a mirror box.

As the children explored the items, I spoke to them, supporting them in their learning and helping them to label the items as well as increasing their vocabularies.

The children all seemed very taken with the new addition to the room and at the end of the day the room smelled absolutely divine! Even the parents and teachers who came into the room had to have a look and touch as they smelled the herbs on entry.

Have you thought about creating an area for your little one to explore their natural world?


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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.