Exploring Hearts Sensory Bin

If Kingston seemed like he had a blast with our Valentine's Day Gelatin Slime Sensory Play, he had just as much fun with this one. We are on a shape kick lately, so Valentine's Day is the perfect time to reinforce the sweetest shape of all: the heart! K's favorite shapes to say are "heart" and "star" (though his Boston accent changes it to "haht" and "stah"), so he was psyched about his "haht" sensory bin! 

I was excited about all of the beautiful textures and colors! I found all kinds of goodies at the Dollar Tree: pink and red hearts textured with roses, pink and red glitter foam hearts, pink and red regular foam hearts, and I added in the red heart shaped cookie cutters. At the bottom of the sensory bin, I layered ribbon in Valentine-y colors (actually these were leftover from the Valentine's Day sensory bin that Kingston played with last year) and large red pom poms. Then, I added a small red cup and a tiny silver spoon for him to use throughout his exploration. 

When he saw it, he was excited to dive right in. Unlike our last sensory play, this one was MESS FREE! He started pulling the hearts out one by one. I continually used the word "heart" and asked him to pick me a heart. We also identified the different colors: pink and red. 

As he dug deeper into the basket, he found the ribbon and began to pull out each strand. He thought it was really fun to keep pulling and unwinding the different strands. The ribbons were different widths, colors, and textures. 

Then he began sorting things into the red cup. First he put in some pom poms, then he dumped those and filled it with some hearts. 

He couldn't help but cheese it up for the camera a bit! Oh that face!

He wore his "King of Hearts" shirt. SO appropriate right?!

Probably the activity he found to be the most fun was putting the ribbons on his toes. He was really serious about this task and tried just about every ribbon size. He desperately wanted to thread the ribbons through his tiny toes. It was adorable!

The best part about this sensory bin was the cleanup! Kingston helped me clean up the entire thing. I asked him to find me all the hearts and put them in the basket. It was as easy as that! Everything will be saved and re-purposed in some other way.

Don't forget to check out the Valentine's Day fun from my co-hosts today!

Still Playing School - Love Potions: Color Mixing on the Light Table

And Next Comes L - Invitation to Play with Hearts and Straws

To see all of the fun activities from yesterday, check them out here:

And Next Comes L - Buttons & Hearts Valentine's Day Invitation

Still Playing School - Stamping Hearts with Recycled Coffee Cup Sleeves

House of Burke - Valentine's Day Gelatin Slime Sensory Play

Make sure you check back to see all of the fun still to come this week!