Sensory Baby Play: Exploring Oats

The day after Kingston got home from the hospital, he was acting like his normal happy little self. I'm glad I took advantage of his good mood before the Roseola made him a miserable, exhausted, little nugget! At least he was able to have fun one day this week. On this day, we explored oats. Go figure, just a week later he would be taking oatmeal baths instead of playing in them. Oh the joys of parenthood!

This sensory activity is a common one, made using a common everyday household item: oats! I threw in two of Kingston's stacking cups and the potato masher. Why the potato masher? I like to choose a new utensil every time I do a new activity with K. Recently I used the whisk, measuring cups, and a slotted spoon during other sensory activities. The masher seemed like a really fun choice! I chose to put the oats in a really interesting shaped dish (we generally use it when we make mussels) to jazz up the presentation a bit. 

I bought a blue chevron splat mat at Home Goods and set that up for easy mess clean up. It also made a super cute backdrop! Dada sat Kingston in front of the oats, and he was immediately intrigued. He tentatively reached a hand forward, and then dove right in! He liked the texture of oats right away and started taking handfuls out to throw on the floor. 

Taking a closer look!

I was surprised that he didn't put any of them in his mouth. He did, however, offer some to the dog who happily obliged. I had to banish Krull from the room because he would have attempted to eat the entire sensory project. Kingston would have watched the entire time and laughed .. what an enabler!

Notice the poor marks on his little legs from all the hospital stickers! That stuff takes FOREVER to come off!

After intently exploring the oats for a bit, K turned his attention to the potato masher. I knew it would be a hit! He picked it up like it was a treasure. Then he decided to use his auditory senses to make beautiful music. Kingston's beautiful music consisted of smacking the masher against the bowl, floor, and cabinet repeatedly. It was pretty adorable to watch how thrilled he was with himself. Then, of course, it went straight into his mouth!

Check out these faces!

I purposely chose one stacking cup that had a mostly solid bottom and one that had holes big enough for the oats to fall through. I showed Kingston how to fill up the cup and sift the oats into the dish. I think I had more fun with this part then he did! He did practice trying to fill the cup and dump it out.

He went back and forth between playing with the masher and digging his hands into the oats. I showed him how to use the masher to move the oats around. He did a great job using his fine motor skills to maneuver the masher. I was also able to get some great shots of him hamming it up for the camera!

This is what he does when I say, "Clap your hands everybody!" 

As most of our sensory activities end, Kingston wanted desperately to tip the entire bowl over and get into it. Since we were on the splat mat, I had absolutely no qualms about letting him do so. He wiggled his little toes in the oats for a bit, and we took turns making it rain oats. This activity held his attention for a long while. I find that most of these simpler sensory activities really do hold his attention, because he is so engrossed in exploring every detail! 

"Stop with the pictures Mama!"

Interested in seeing some other oatmeal sensory activities? Here are a few favorites:

Oatmeal Sensory Play - Plain Vanilla Mom 

Super Easy Sensory Play: Oatmeal - Fun At Home With Kids

Oatmeal Sensory Bin - Train Up a Chld

Like this activity? Come back tomorrow to see the activity that we did with the leftover oats when Kingston was done exploring! 

Feel free to check out all of the posts in the Sensory Baby Play series:

Exploring Dry Pasta and Couscous

Exploring Ice

Exploring Oats