Post Holiday Sensory Bin

Here is our wrapping paper and bow sensory bin we came up with using leftovers from Christmas. My son (13 mo) LOVED the bows on Christmas. He played with them while his presents were being opened by other people. Also, I've noticed that while he really didn't have much interest in tearing the wrapping paper off his gifts, he does often like to tear apart a random paper or tissue that he gets a hold of. So, seeing all the sensory bins other people have been doing on various blogs, I decided to give it a try. Here are some photos. (You can also see our light box in some of the photos.)

Yeah, little buddy is very active and tends to get distracted sometimes, but that's ok. He did come back to it.

He decided to decorate the light box all on his own :)

As you can see, I just used a drawer from my plastic storage cart.

Remember, a sensory "bin" can be anything that will hold the necessary items.

He did end up tearing some of the paper up. He carried one piece all around the room with him for a while. I used different types of wrapping paper in the bin. The shiny and see through ones could not be easily ripped. I wanted to see what he would do if he couldn't tear it, but he never got that far. 

Also, an important thing to remember in learning through play is that there are no such things as mistakes and  that messes are ok. Example: I knocked L's cereal on the floor and it spilled right in front of him. Just as I was about to get frustrated, he began picking them up one by one and putting them in the container I had just given him to play with. What was especially great about this is that earlier I had been showing him how to clean up his blocks from the floor (since he LOVES to throw them there, but rarely picks them up). So you can see why I was a little happily surprised! I love how little ones always put you in check and help you remember the important things. Each and every moment can be a teaching moment if you seize the opportunity.

Have you seized the opportunity for a teachable moment recently? Leave me a comment about it!

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Brown Bear, Brown Bear

This week we are continuing our study of animals. We are focusing on the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? by Bill Martin, Jr./Eric Carle.

The first thing we did was read the book and put up the animals on the felt board. My class is really into the felt board right now as the librarian has been coming and doing felt board stories once a month. They like to use the pieces to retell the story or make up their own story to act out.

Here is the website that I printed my felt board pieces from because they are just the right size for the felt board, but if you want larger images, you can also use this site.

After we read the book, I used the felt board animals to ask the children questions about animals such as: How many legs does the horse have?, Are there really purple cats?, How many of the animals have tails?, etc. This can lead to the kids coming up with questions of their own and if they can't figure out the answers, this is a great opportunity to say, LET'S GOOGLE IT! Never be afraid to say you don't know the answer in front of the kids even if you do know the answer. It is always more beneficial to take advantage of a teachable moment and let the kids figure out how to find the answer on their own!

The next step in our plan is to make a class book imitating the format of Brown Bear, Brown Bear by using the children's photos and having them write their own name. So it would go something like this: Sam, Sam who do you see? I see Lisa looking at me, etc. We will laminate the book and place it in the library area of the classroom for children to look at and tell the story on their own.