I realize this is an art blog, but my two and a half year old is not really interested in art projects quite yet. So I try to do activities with him that appeal to his senses. And well, isn't art about your senses? The way you view something, the way something makes you feel. So, hopefully, he can still learn about elementary art ideas such as shape and color through sensory play. I'm hoping he becomes more interested in actually CREATING art projects when he gets a bit older. Below, is the apple sensory bin I put together for him.
First, we have a new sensory table in our kitchen! I know my son will NOT be neat and tidy with any sort of sensory activity and I didn't want to always be getting something out and putting it away. I wanted a dedicated spot to store a sensory bin and our light table. An area that he could go to let me know he wanted to do these sorts of activities. My son has a speech delay so he cannot verbally communicate what he wants yet. This works out well, because he can pull me over and point to what he wants to do. The sensory "corner" simply consists of an old end table that has lived in almost every place I've lived in my life (it was in my mom's house when I was growing up and I took it with me when I moved out). A rubbermaid container holds the sensory bin materials and can be stored underneath the table. Our light table can fit on the shelf below the tabletop and the bin on top of the light table contains the messy play. The materials we use on the light table are stored in a separate cupboard.
Okay, onto our APPLE SENSORY BIN!
Above, the materials I gathered for the bin. The apples are fake. I got them from Dollar Tree. Other dollar store items include: puff balls, pipe cleaners (that I twisted to give them a fun shape), plastic shot glasses, measuring cups and spoons and trays for sorting.
I also bought the large white plastic bowl from Dollar Tree. I put oats in the bowl and mixed the red, green, and yellow materials. Gave him an ice cube tray for sorting or pouring or whatever he wanted. You could also add cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice to the oats to give an added sensory experience.
Here it is in the sensory corner!
Isn't it fun that Big Sister is into it too! ;-)d
Pouring and dumping the oats!
It's really nice that Kellan's big sisters like to play in the sensory bins too because they use the tweezers and they sort. Things he doesn't quite do yet, but it is great they model this for him to see. He doesn't say the word apple yet. But when we first opened the bin, I said, "Kellan, where are the apples?". He picked them right up and showed them to me!
He even made a two syllable vocalization where I knew he was trying to say apple. This was a huge accomplishment for us!! :-)
Just as a quick sidenote....I also cut up pipe cleaners and emptied an old parmesan cheese container so he could work on fine motor skills by putting the pipe cleaners in the container.
Unfortunately, he was not into this activity at all. So no pictures of him playing with it. Oh well, you win some, you lose some. ;-)
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