rice bin

I don't know if it was this particular activity or the fact that M is getting older and more attentive but the rice bin was a huge hit.  I always leave the length of our activities up to M.  When he gets tired of something or decides to do something else we stop.  This was one of the first activities I had to drag him away from (literally).

Our rice bin was made up of a plastic bin, a 5 pound bag of rice, and miscellaneous plastic toys and containers.  We played on a trash bag cut so it would lay flat.

We had a little spill over onto the floor but it was easily cleaned up.  One of the things M liked doing the most was filling up a small tupperware cup and dumping it back into the bin.

The container I used has a snap on lid so I'm hoping we can reuse the rice bin multiple times.  In the future I might add something to it, like lentil beans or small pieces of pasta, to change the textures.  If our little plastic pool had still been out I think I would have put the rice bin in the pool, which would have made for super fast and easy clean up.  I'll also add different toys since M really enjoyed "digging them up."

Some things we used were plastic building blocks, plastic toy figures, small plastic cups, magnetic letters, and some old baby links that we haven't used in quite a while.  Other things that might be good- measuring cups, measuring spoons, little trucks to drive through the rice (M would love that), buttons, rocks, Easter eggs, cooking utensils, etc.  You can also use food coloring to change the color of the rice (be sure to let it dry) and I think you might even be able to buy colored rice at some places.  This was similar to our cornmeal beach and jello bowl activities that we tried months ago.  I love these types of hands on sensory activities because M loves exploring so much.  You can do this type of "sensory bin" with a variety of things - jello, cornmeal, rice, beans, shaving cream, soapy water, confetti, macaroni, ice (great for a hot day), etc.  It's fun and easy and toddlers love it!

treasure hunt

Our blog has been on the slow side lately because two weeks ago we moved into our new house.  We've been doing a lot of unpacking and rediscovering the toys I had put in boxes weeks ago (I didn't put them all in boxes weeks ago but for the ones I did it's been like Christmas in July for M).  We haven't done too many "out of the box" activities because we've been so busy.

This afternoon M and I went outside to play and kind of inadvertently began a treasure hunt in the backyard.  M loves all things small and since we've been spending more time outdoors this summer he's discovered rocks.  He finds one or two and carries them around in his hands.  He did this today and I decided to grab his bucket and take him on a treasure hunt.  After about the third "treasure" we found he seemed to get the hang of it.  He was surprisingly very picky about the things he put in his bucket.  Here's how it went....

- I would spot something.

- I would say, "look M, a treasure!" and point it out.

- M would pick it up, inspect it carefully, and either put it in his bucket or throw it back on the ground in disgust (i.e. this is definitely not a treasure).

Some things that made the treasure bucket: at least 4 rocks, a three-leaf clover, a twig, a few flowers, an acorn, a weed

Some things that did not make the cut: a dandelion, a piece of mulch, a handful of grass M pulled up

As I said, after the first few things I found he really got into it and liked filling up the bucket.  Of course, we had to stop our walk a few times to dump out the bucket, inspect everything again, and put each thing back in.  

One of the things I liked watching M do was balance while walking and holding the bucket.  Tricky...

Overall, a good little unexpected activity.  I'm sure it's something we'll do again many times but it was fun to see him enjoy it at this stage.