Before I sat Kingston down to play with his bin, you know I had to change him into a matching bird diaper! Hey that is one of the most fun parts of cloth diapering, matching! Not only did I put K in a bird diaper, Mr. Benjamin Bear had to join in on the activity in his matching cloth diaper also. (Kingston's newest friend fits perfectly in his diapers, so I can't resist dressing him in one!) Check out this cuteness:
I set Mr. Bear next to the bowl of feathers and set Kingston loose. He couldn't get over to the bowl fast enough! As he made his way over, I explained to him that we were going to play with "pretty birdie feathers".
I expected him to take giant handfuls of the feathers out of the bowl, but he was happy to examine one at a time at first. He pulled each one out and looked at it. This gave me a great opportunity to go over colors with him. We named the color of each feather. Then we counted feathers. As he closely looked at each one, I kept saying "Feather, feather, feather" over and over again. I was extremely shocked when Kingston reached his hand in the bowl and said "Feh-Ther" clear as day! My jaw literally dropped and I clapped maniacally for him. He has since refused to say it again, but I was thrilled. I could have ended the activity then satisfied with what he learned! But he was in love with exploring this bin.
"Hmm.. which color should I choose next?"
Then K started to get wild, ripping large clumps of feathers out and dropping them all over the floor!
Every so often, a certain color would catch his eye and he would separate it from the rest, pausing to examine it more closely.
This is my absolute favorite picture from the activity!
Spying all of the feathers that he had dropped on the floor, Kingston bent forward and started pushing them all around the floor. He gathered them into a pile and then pushed them around over and over again, feeling the downy texture in contrast to the rougher carpet.
Then he surprised me by picking each feather up and putting it back in the bowl! Seeing his interest in assisting in cleanup, I encouraged him by counting and clapping as he put each feather into the bowl.
After he filled the bowl, he dumped it back out and started again. It was great to watch him practice his cleanup skills. Now if only I could get him to cleanup his toys!! He played with the feather sensory bin on and off for the rest of the day. I was picking up feather bits and stray feathers forever afterwards, but I was thrilled that such a simple activity held his interest for so long!
Our zoo animal theme has officially come to an end! We had a lot of fun learning about different animals. Our next theme is .. drumroll please... Transportation! The month of September will be chalk full of transportation themed activities and crafts (and also birthday party posts!) Stay tuned for some serious fun!
Are you are interested in reading the other posts in our Baby-School Zoo Theme series? Here they are in one convenient place!
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Feathers are such a wonderful sensory play item - and so colorful too!
ReplyDeleteTotally Emma!! Kingston loves feathers!
DeleteIt looks like he had a great time. I love that the teddy bear was a playmate for the sensory bin activities. Thanks for sharing on Artsy Play Wednesday. I pinned it.
ReplyDeleteThanks Theresa! He sure did! :)
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