Sensory Playdate

Robert is out of town this week so I've scheduled some fun activities to keep me and Abby busy. Today we had friends over for a Sensory Playdate. Are you a Pinterest fan? I love Pinterest  but I tend to pin and pin and pin and actually do very little. Well no more! Today we put some of those pins to the test.

First we made I SPY bottles. I didn't get a picture of a completed bottle, but basically we had the girls put tiny trinkets in empty water bottles (I shopped at the dollar store yesterday and picked up animal beads, pom poms, glass pebbles and some foam shapes) and then we filled the rest of the bottle with rice. As you turn the bottle, the trinkets appear and disappear. I like the idea of taking a photo of your trinkets beforehand to find in the bottle as you search -- perhaps we'll do that next time.

Getting the tiny objects into the bottle put fine motor skills to work!

We ended up dumping the rest of the rice into a tub and let the girls dig for the buried treasures with their hands.

Next up was water play. I recently stumbled across a blog I fell in love with called No Time for Flashcards and she had the cutest idea for Arctic Ice Sensory Play. I picked up some Arctic creatures but somehow they didn't make it into these pictures...I think they were in the second tub. Little Emma loved playing in the icy water and we eventually had to put it away because her hands were getting too cold!

Our friend Brodie who had a baby boy just four days ago (!!!) came over with her daughter Madi and they brought some dyed spaghetti. She said she tossed it with just a little bit of olive oil. The stringy, sticky mess was a big hit!

I gave the girls a colander, some tongs, a whisk and a big slotted spoon. They loved transferring the spaghetti from one tub to another.

Chef Maya at work.

Kadence added a little taste sensation to the experience.

Are you ready for this? Next we stripped the girls down and my friend Jennifer brought out her pudding paints. She mixed food dye into some vanilla pudding and we put the "paint" into a deviled egg pan I purchased recently. Voila! Instant art palette. Abby seemed to enjoy this activity the most. They all did such a great job with the different types of paint brushes.

 

Whew! Looking through these pictures makes me realize we might have had a bit of sensory overload. No wonder Abby fell asleep within minutes today for her nap. Thanks, friends, for the fun morning of play!