"Sensory box" is a fancy term for a box with stuff in it that kids can play with. Yep. A box of beans or rice or lentils or pom poms or noodles or sand if you're very brave (or have it outside in which case it is called "a sandbox") I assumed that everyone sort of knows about them, but in talking with a friend I realized I was wrong. So here are some ideas for making a sensory box and some thoughts about why they're not really so messy.
All you need is a box and a large quantity of something small and inexpensive. We started with lentils in a small box. Then, with four little hands now wanting to play, I cleaned out one of my wrapping paper boxes and decided to just go for it. Our new sensory box is a great size, it has a lid, and it can be slid under furniture and out of the way.
At this point, Max and Charlie use measuring cups, plastic containers, small trucks, their play kitchen pots and utensils, ladles and big spoons and really any other scooping thing they can find. We've added little dinosaurs, matchbox cars, and some of those little junky toys you get from birthday party treat bags and have no clear use for (like rubber finger puppets, fun for two minutes and then made to be stepped on by parents and/or clog the vacuum cleaner). They sit and dig and dump and bury for long periods of time, they share, take turns, make up stories, and negotiate personal space as they make and demolish mountains and roads.
A few ideas to make sensory boxes neater/ less stressful:
1. Put a sheet or drop cloth down before you start. When you're done, pull up the edges, let the beans slide to the middle, and you dump them back in. Then sweep, sweep, sweep.
2. Use beans that are larger so you can just sweep them up or lentils or oats that are easy to vacuum up.
3. Then THROW THEM AWAY or dump them back in! Someone once said to me, "But isn't is gross to dump the beans and whatever else you sweep back in the box?" We have definitely scooped up big piles of beans and dumped them back in, but we're not eating this stuff! We're just playing with it. After you've gotten the big piles back in the box, let kids use the dust buster or a little hand broom and dust pan and you help too, and then throw away the beans that are left which probably cost you less than fifty cents. Then wash your hands. Done.
4. You don't need to buy anything except the beans or rice(unless you buy huge quantities and have those too!) . You probably have a cardboard or plastic bin in your house that would work. Having a box with a lid is helpful. You also probably have some spoons or measuring cups and plastic cups or containers. That's really all you need. You could use cleaned out yogurt containers or the measuring lids from kids' liquid medicine. There are ton of little, cool things you can add or do, but this doesn't have to be expensive or complicated to be universally fun for kids.
A few links for sensory box ideas:
http://www.inlieuofpreschool.com/7-must-see-sensory-bins/
http://www.littlehandsbigwork.com/2012/05/magnet-sensory-bin.html
All you need is a box and a large quantity of something small and inexpensive. We started with lentils in a small box. Then, with four little hands now wanting to play, I cleaned out one of my wrapping paper boxes and decided to just go for it. Our new sensory box is a great size, it has a lid, and it can be slid under furniture and out of the way.At this point, Max and Charlie use measuring cups, plastic containers, small trucks, their play kitchen pots and utensils, ladles and big spoons and really any other scooping thing they can find. We've added little dinosaurs, matchbox cars, and some of those little junky toys you get from birthday party treat bags and have no clear use for (like rubber finger puppets, fun for two minutes and then made to be stepped on by parents and/or clog the vacuum cleaner). They sit and dig and dump and bury for long periods of time, they share, take turns, make up stories, and negotiate personal space as they make and demolish mountains and roads.
A few ideas to make sensory boxes neater/ less stressful:
1. Put a sheet or drop cloth down before you start. When you're done, pull up the edges, let the beans slide to the middle, and you dump them back in. Then sweep, sweep, sweep.
2. Use beans that are larger so you can just sweep them up or lentils or oats that are easy to vacuum up.
3. Then THROW THEM AWAY or dump them back in! Someone once said to me, "But isn't is gross to dump the beans and whatever else you sweep back in the box?" We have definitely scooped up big piles of beans and dumped them back in, but we're not eating this stuff! We're just playing with it. After you've gotten the big piles back in the box, let kids use the dust buster or a little hand broom and dust pan and you help too, and then throw away the beans that are left which probably cost you less than fifty cents. Then wash your hands. Done.
 |
| DONE. : ) |
A few links for sensory box ideas:
http://www.inlieuofpreschool.com/7-must-see-sensory-bins/
http://www.littlehandsbigwork.com/2012/05/magnet-sensory-bin.html
