Sensory Saturday: St. Patty's Edition

Happy Sensory Saturday! This week, we have done so many sensory activities. It was hard to pick just two for today! These activities are simple to create and easy to offer to baby for open ended play. I like to keep our different sensory bins out for Kingston to have free access to until I decide to make new ones. Usually I make new sensory activities weekly.

For this St. Patrick's Day themed sensory bin, I gathered together a bunch of different textured ribbons and trim in different shades of green and gold - lace, shiny, grosgrain, tulle, and ribbon with sequins attached. I also put in small balls of green yarn, a knitted "B" washcloth that has raised ridges all over it, and different textured shamrocks - one smooth and two glittery ones that had a rough texture.

Kingston dove right in! He grabbed all of the items out in a big clump and then began pulling all of the ribbons out individually. Eventually, he just dumped the entire bowl out and explored everything. It was really fun to watch him and it occupied his time for awhile. We have since played with the sensory bin at least once a day. He loves exploring the different textures. The green ribbon with the sequins and the green shamrocks were his favorite. He also really liked the different textures on the gold trim.

After we explored this sensory bin, we explored a bin made up of all different household items in different shades of green!

In our green sensory bin, we had :  bibs, cloth wipes, pop and lock beads, a cloth diaper, a green fabric block, links, a dragon puppet, utensils, an apple teether, and a circle stacker. Kingston really liked pulling all of the items out. Most of the items were items that he had never played with before. One of his favorites was the green fabric block. I made this for him when I was pregnant, but have yet to give it to him to play with. I was really excited that he liked it!!

At first, he seemed a little overwhelmed by all of the green. He just kept reaching for the fabric block which was the biggest item. He pulled every other item out and dropped them on the floor before he got to what he wanted!

He played with the block for a little bit and then turned his attention to all of the items he had previously taken out! He picked each item up and mouthed it. He liked the pop and lock beads (a bath toy we have yet to use) a lot. We talked about the color green and I pointed at each item and told him the name. 

When he finally grew bored of playing with the items, I took the dragon puppet and did a little "color green" puppet show for him. He was enthralled with the dragon since he has never seen a puppet before. He kept laughing and grabbing at the dragon's big red tongue. It was so sweet! I think I may have been watching too much Sesame Street though because my dragon impression was a little bit Grover meets Elmo.. Oh well, K liked it.

We have many more St. Patrick's Day activities to share so stay tuned! Thanks for reading!