Starting this month, we will be participating in a monthly sensory bin challenge put together by the awesome Sarah of Little Bins for Little Hands! She posed the question, what would happen when our children were presented with simple sensory bins? Sensory bins without the prompting, direction, or the preconceived ideas that we typically add to our bins. I love this idea. It is so fascinating, and generally K really loves simple sensory fillers. This months challenge couldn't have been a better one for us: DIRT! We are loving exploring nature and some dirt sensory play was a perfect fit for us.
Want to learn more about the challenge? You can read about it over at the Monthly Child-Led Sensory Bin Challenge!
This bin couldn't have been simpler to put together. I dug some dirt up from the backyard and filled a small clear bin. I placed the bin in the middle of our deck and simple said, "Dirt!"
Kingston examined it for a minute, before proclaiming, "DOOT!" This may possibly be one of my favorite word adaptations of his. He ran over to his sand table and grabbed a shovel. After a couple seconds of poking at the "doot", I could see his wheels turning. He had a better idea.
He ran over to the table where we had our rocks from our rock hunt drying in the sun. He quickly grabbed one, yelled "A RAHCK!" and ran over to the dirt bin with a look of triumph (which I was lucky enough to capture!)
He continued to grab a bunch of rocks and fill the dirt bin up with them. He was completely absorbed in his rock transfer project. The look of focus as he moved the rocks into the bin was so much fun to see. All I did was sit there and watch the magic happen as he transformed the empty bin of dirt into a beautiful toddler-made rock garden!
The best part is that he was so engaged. I didn't have to provide any ideas or any theme. He created his own! When he was satisfied with the amount of rocks in the bin, he arranged them, counted them, and stacked them. He didn't get his hands very dirty, but he showed me exactly how HE would have set up his dirt bin!
Make sure you check back every month for more sensory bin challenges, and don't forget to go see what other child-led fun and learning happened when my fellow bloggers set out their bins!
"Doot" -- too cute! I love how focused he became on his own project too!
ReplyDeleteThanks Carla!! He was very drawn to doing his own thing!
DeleteI love "doot" - such a cute word! :) He looks like he knew just what he wanted to do with it too!
ReplyDeleteMe too Emma!! It's so stinkin cute and he says it daily now!
DeleteWhat a gorgeous variation of the word dirt. I love that he took the bin and made it is his own with the rocks! Can't wait to see how he interprets next month's bin!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Victoria!! I can't wait to see what he does every month too. Such a fun challenge!
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