Sensory Boxes

Lately I've been amazed at how much my son is learning, everyday is something new. When I start singing to him or when I play music he claps his hands. He is learning how to pick up items and put them into there places. He mimics us when we laugh or make funny sounds. The list goes on and on. Since watching him learn so much, I really wanted to start him on something that he could understand. 

So lately, I've come across sensory boxes.

These attract your child by being:

• visually appealing (so many colors and bright fun objects to look at)
• textually appealing (anything from soft pom-poms to grainy rice, pasta, when the child is older sand and rocks can be added to the list)
• audibly appealing (the crunch-crunch of objects being buried into small pasta or rice and the soothing sound of water or sand being poured)

What are these you ask? Well the above bullets pretty much explain it. But to narrow it down further, they are basically fun filled boxes that have safe activities from the age of  toddlers to school aged children. 

What's the point of these? Building a bond with your child is one of them also a sensory box can help develop skills such as:

• Fine Motor (placing small objects into small areas, using tongs or tweezers to pick up objects)
• Transferring (moving objects from one container to another also pouring, scooping)
• Matching (colors, shapes, objects, etc.)
• Patterns (big, small, big, small or flower, butterfly, flower, butterfly, etc.)
• Counting (how many animals, trucks, flowers etc.)
• Sorting and Classifying (into other objects such as ice cube trays, small buckets, egg platters)
• Specific skill recognition & reinforcement (colors, letters, shapes, themes, etc.)

So the next question is where do I start?!

The best thing about this(I think)is that you get to be in touch with your creative side. Although, I am not the most creative person I know that I can pick out a few fun things for my son to play with on a rainy afternoon. The possibilities are endless! Here are just a few bunch that I picked off the internet.

Dried Beans
White Rice
Silk (faux) Dollar Tree Fall Leaves
Shredded Paper
Oatmeal (dry, uncooked)
Fish Tank Gravel (older children)
Small Pebbles/Gravel in Earthtones(older children)
Rainbow Rice (homemade) 
Coffee Grounds (Dry)
Rainbow Pom-Poms
Faux Flowers and Faux Green Leaves (cut off Dollar Tree Vines)
Moon Sand (older children)

Mini animals

Cotton Balls
Birdseed 
Dry Pasta
Un-popped Popcorn

Plastic Eggs

Play Coins(money)

Beaded Necklaces

Buckets

Small cups

Shovels(to scoop with)

and much much more! Use your imagination!

I'll be posting more on the sensory boxes soon, so that you all can maybe get a better idea about this. 

Stay tuned, I can't wait to get in touch with my fun-mom side!

Love, Jess