Construction Sensory Tub

Our latest thematic unit is about tools and construction. Our very first activity was to explore the new sensory tub I put together.

I used the rice that we had for our transportation tub as the base and added a variety of materials I had on hand. 

I made a pile of decorative rocks and cut up some paper tubes I had saved from glow sticks.

I also wadded up some packing paper that came in a box we recently got from Amazon. Finally, I added the few construction vehicles, props, and "guys" that Trip has.

He was pretty excited when I took the lid off this tub. 

He put one of the guys right to work driving the truck 

and checking out the building.

The next time that we played with the tub, Trip discovered the wonders of the empty Barrel of Monkeys.

He filled it up with rice and enjoyed pouring the rice out into the dump truck.

He was also very interested in the paper boulders. He liked opening them and then crumpling them back up. 

A little while later, he was all the way in the tub, exploring it to its fullest.

Transportation Sensory Tub

I'm always glad to see how much Trip enjoys the sensory tubs that I make for him. Whether they're simple like this one, or more elaborate, he just loves playing with them.  This time, Trip and I dumped bags of brown rice in a couple of containers, added some cars, trucks, planes, etc., and got right to playing.

I also gave Trip an empty parmesan cheese shaker to move rice from one container to the other.

He really enjoyed pouring the rice. 

He also had a fun time reenacting scenes from Cars 2. Here, Mater is towing Lightning McQueen who is saying, "Yes Mater, you are the bomb!"

Lightning McQueen and Mater also introduced themselves to the monster trucks and had a conversation. :) This stage of imaginary play is really fun to watch!

Farm Sensory Table

Trip's water table transformed nicely into a farm and he really enjoyed the results.

I filled one section with wood shavings and the other with a mix of steel cut oats, wild rice, and the bottom of a couple of other bags of grains. I also filled a bowl with glass beads to make a little pond.

Then, the animals came to live on the farm.

Finally, it was all ready for Trip to wake up from his nap.

As soon as he saw his farm, he was ready to play.

Soon, the pond was filled in with grains.

Trip enjoyed scooping "hay" from place to place and feeding his animals.

The farm became more and more of a jumbled mess as the two weeks went on, but it didn't matter because Trip was having so much fun.

Z Week- Zoo Sensory Tub

There are many great zoo sensory tubs out there in the blogosphere, giving me the idea to make one for Trip. My mom found us a set of alphabet animals at a yard sale last year which has been perfect for many letter of the week activities, but especially this one. I used a few containers from around the house to make cages and reused some materials from other sensory tubs to fill them.

Some cut-up tissue paper made good grass.

The materials from our nest of numbers a few weeks ago came in handy again as did the plastic fences from Trip's farm set.

Some batting and decorative glass beads made nice snow and icy water.

Our beans from B week made a good home for the hippo and also double as food when Trip wants to feed the animals.

Trip has had a great time feeding the animals, making them stand on the edges of the tub, and having them play football.

N Week- Numbers Sensory Tub

I put together a super simple numbers sensory tub for N week with things that we already had:

some number cards,

foam numbers,

and number magnets,

all on a base of spiral pasta and our rainbow rigatoni from months ago.

Trip was especially fond of the foam numbers since he hadn't played with them before.

Penguins in the Snow Sensory Tub

I had the pleasure of creating this sensory tub for a little friend of ours. She just recently turned two and likes penguins, so I wanted to come up with something that would interest her.

After a little research online, I came across the pattern for these super cute penguin finger puppets. They were fast and easy to make and turned out great. The two larger ones pictured are from the pattern. Once I made those, I figured they could be the daddy and mommy penguins. Since our friend is going to have a baby brother in a couple of months, I decided to freehand some smaller penguins to be her and her brother. I put the penguins on popsicle sticks so that they could stand in the "snow" but they are not glued in place, so they can still be finger puppets.

I filled the tub with cotton balls, stuffing, small squares of bubble wrap, pieces of two different snowflake ribbons, scraps of light blue paper, white foam circles, and pipe cleaner snowflakes. 

I also made some fun white and glittery snow dough to accompany this tub. I sure hope she enjoys it!