Bird Seed Sensory Small World

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We have played with a lot of sensory mediums in the past, but never bird seed. I knew that we had to explore this different bin filler this week for sure. I put together this simple sensory small world using bird seed, a small wooden bird house some sweet faux birds that we picked up at Hobby Lobby, and a birds nest with eggs. When we were at the store, I gave Kingston the choice between these birds or the Safari Ltd Backyard Birds TOOB. He was immediately drawn to the realistic nature of these birds and the fact that their bodies had silky feathers attached to them! 

The bin took minutes to set up, and was very inviting! We took it out to the deck to play and simultaneously listen to the birds making noises in the trees around us <---  a live soundtrack if you will! He couldn't wait to dive right in and went right for the birds nest to examine the eggs inside.

He was really excited to pick up the birds and see what they were all about.

He patted their feathers and said "tweet tweet!" I was so happy to see how excited he was by the contents of the bin.

He loved the little house, and gave it a good peek inside. When he had established that there were no birds inside, he was ready to move on to the next task!

Bird seed is so much fun to dig in, scoop, and pour. As he began exploring the birdseed, he realized that the nest made the perfect receptacle to fill up!

He used his shovel to scoop up the bird seed and put it inside of the nest.

We talked about the different parts of the birds. He pointed out their different facial features and their wings. We stroked their feathers and also talked about their different colors.

Once K was comfortable exploring the bird seed, the fun really started. He dug right in with his hands. We talked about the texture of the bird seed which felt surprisingly silky to the touch. 

He took handfuls of the bird seed and flung them around in the bin. He seemed to love the texture and the noise that the seed made. The birds in the trees outside really started tweeting away at this point which K thought was great. It was almost as if they knew we were making a mess with something they wanted to eat!

He worked his fine motor skills picking up the bits of seed, putting them in a small yellow cup I provided him, and dumping them out. He practiced scooping and pouring for quite a while.

Oh those chubby toddler hands are delicious aren't they?! I can't get enough of them!

Then he got the idea to put the bird seed inside of the bird house. Brilliant right? Another fine motor workout! He pinched finger-fulls of bird seed and dropped them into the small hole, then he wildly shook them out all over the deck. Of course he loved every moment of this!

Then he grabbed one of the little birds and started "feeding" him. He put the little bird's beak to the food and "nom nom nom". Too cute!

Seriously with this face?! (Please forgive the onslaught of photos. Clearly I can't handle his cuteness!)

When he was done exploring the bin, he thought he should take the birds for a practice fly. He said, "He fly! A bird fly!" Then he started zooming the bird around the deck and tossing it here and there. I loved watching his imagination take off. He was so into this bin! Throughout the rest of the day, he kept coming back to it to scoop some more seed or engage in more pretend play with the birds. We will definitely be playing with bird seed again in the future.

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