Sensory Saturday: St. Patrick's Day Week 2

It is officially St. Patrick's Day weekend and we are finishing up our final activities and crafts in celebration of the holiday. This week we did a few St. Patrick's Day sensory activities that Kingston really enjoyed!

St. Patrick's Day Sensory Box : 

For this first sensory activity you will need: an empty clear container (I used a container saved from some cherry tomatoes), green pom poms (the sparkly kind are my favorite), St. Patrick's Day table scatter (can be purchased at the Dollar Tree), a green foam shamrock, green gems, and a glue stick.

You could use any sparkly, green sensory item that you think is appropriate to put inside the box. However, just make sure that it is large enough that it cannot slip through the cracks of the plastic container and doesn't pose a choking hazard.

I used the glue stick to adhere the green shamrock to the top of the container. It not only provides decoration, but also a tactile sensory experience for baby. Then I simply put the items inside and closed it! I filled it just enough so that it wasn't too heavy for Kingston and also provided plenty of room to shake the items inside. K loves shaking things!

Similar to all of our other sensory activities, this one requires plenty of supervision, especially if your baby or toddler is old enough to open the container themselves. If you want to secure the box further you could use tape or glue. We had no problems with the box coming open though, and Kingston went wild with it!

View of inside:

I sat Kingston in a chair with nothing else around him and handed him the sensory box. We have never used a box for sensory before, so K was excited to explore it. He immediately started banging it like a drum. I think this baby is ready for some musical instruments!

I used action words like: tap, shake, and pat. He thought this was really funny. After he shook it for awhile, he started throwing it off of the chair and laughing every time I would give it back. Then he started turning it around and around like the steering wheel of a car!

When he started losing interest in the box, I brought him on the floor where I was sitting and opened the box with him. I let him touch everything inside, but not put anything in his mouth. Then I took out all of the green pom poms and let him explore them. We played a game where I picked them up and dropped the handful down over his head. He loved it! Then we practiced counting them. We spent a lot of time with this sensory box and Kingston seemed to really enjoy exploring it.

Exploring Swag and Garland:

For this activity, I picked up some garland and St. Patrick's Day "leis" at the Dollar Tree. I love letting K explore decorations and things that are usually "off limits" to littles. Just be cautious with this type of wired garland. I had to twist the ends to make sure there was nothing sharp and pointy.

Of course everything went right to the mouth!! He liked bunching up the swag and rubbing it all over his face and mouth. He also liked feeling the contrast between the hard plastic separators and the soft green and white clovers.

The garland was fun for him to try to untangle. He liked stretching the wire out and smacking it on the chair to here the swishy sound. He did this over and over.

We hope you have a wonderful St. Patrick's Day!