I'm not one of those bloggers who spends their days coming up with unique/cheap/sensory games for their kids. My kids play video games. They play with legos. They play with my phone. Every once in a while though, I come up with something a little different. Today it was an inspirational bag of mixed beans from the grocery store!
I hate beans, so when I saw this bag of beans, it looked more like arts & crafts materials than food, but it can be a sensory toy too.
It's a pretty simple idea - dump some mixed beans onto a tray or bin (or onto a table if you're brave) and have your preschooler sort them by type, size, color, shape... it's up to him & you.
We sorted into an ice cube tray because I had one handy, but you cold sort into an egg carton, a muffin tin, little bowls, or even just piles. The idea is to work on concepts like big/small, same/different, colors, shapes. And it's fun for kids to play with them. They have a nice tactile feel, too.
With the stormy, snowy, icy, cruddy weather we've had, this was a fun and easy indoor activity for a bit.
So the other day was miserable and rainy. And I was "over" Play Doh. And Chris was sick of coloring. And we were all tired of tv, trains, books, dinosaurs, and everything.
SO I decided to let him do something messy, but not REALLY messy.
I got a tray (I think I paid all of $1 for it at Ikea, but I already had it). I dumped a bunch of rice onto it. That's it. The tray mostly contained the mess and anything that ended up on the floor was easily vacuumed up.
Chris spent about an hour scooping, pouring, piling, drawing. He employed dinosaurs and trucks, not to mention kitchen tools.
I think next time I'm at the store, I'll pick up a bag of dry beans to create some additional textures for him to play with.
A few tips - it will get on the floor. Just vaccum. And it's probably a good idea to use rice you don't need to eat for dinner that night. I think toddler hands are pretty gross and I certainly had no intention of eating that stuff.
