Continuing on in the alphabet sensory bin series, the next letter I chose was the letter P. There are so many fun P objects that could go into this bin, making it difficult to limit myself on the number of items to include. I guess that means I will have to do another sensory bin for the letter P.
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| Look at all that letter P goodness! |
Materials
- A large plastic bin
- Various objects beginning with the chosen letter, which in this case, was the letter P. I used:
- A large foam letter P
- A smaller plastic letter P
- Pine cones that we collected on our walk the day before
- Pinwheel
- Pom poms
- Pipe cleaners
- Play food pineapple and pizza
- Pretzel teething toy
- Puzzle pieces
- Puppet
- Pinocchio story book
- Pooh Bear figurine
- Pteranodon magnet
- Pterodactyl magnet
- Pug puppy that breathed in and out
- Piano magnet that plays "The Entertainer" when the keys are pressed
- Potato
- Pig that oinks when squeezed
The Invitation to Play
I tossed everything into the bin and left it on the living room floor. As usual, both boys were anxious to rip the lid off the box to see what was inside.
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| What will they choose first? |
My niece F had just been dropped off and was sitting on the couch, pouting as she usually does when she first arrives here. She chose to ignore the sensory bin until she saw how much fun the boys were having. She approached the bin tentatively and eventually picked out the pug puppy. J reached for the large foam P and the pine cones first, while K chose the potato. Clearly, toddlers are strange. All those fun objects in there and he chooses the potato...weird.
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F approaches very tentatively
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Here are a few of the things the kids did with the objects:
- J lined up the pine cones to count.
- J, K, and F all took turns blowing on the pinwheel.
- J did a little magnet play by sticking the two dinosaur magnets and the piano magnet on the fireplace.
- J and K took turns pressing the keys on the piano magnet to play the music. Then they started dancing. F was concerned that the batteries would die soon.
- F twisted two pipe cleaners together and turned it into a bracelet and a few different shapes.
- K tried to eat the potato.
- F really liked watching the pug puppy breathe in and out. She kept telling me that it was "purring." Again, she was concerned that the batteries would die. At first when she saw the pug in the bin, she was like, "That's a dog. It doesn't start with P. It starts with D."
- J made letters using the pine cones.
- J laid out a few of the puzzle pieces, but didn't try putting the puzzle together.
- K took the play pineapple out and disassembled it. He also tried to eat the play pizza.
- J and K took turns chewing on the pretzel teething toy. This teether has always been popular for some reason.
- K spent some time cleaning up the pine cones, placing them back into the bin.
- F and J made letters using the pipe cleaners. F also made "water waves," a mustache, and a crown from a yellow pipe cleaner. She also put one under my chin like a beard and told me I was now a vampire. (Huh? Okay...)
- F made an alien using a green pom pom and a white pipe cleaner.
- J talked on the phone.
- F made antennae using the pipe cleaners and held them on her head. She also made a curly yellow one, placed it on my head, and told me I looked like a cow. (Gee...thanks?!)
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| F made an antenna |
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| F building an alien with a pom pom and a pipe cleaner |
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| "Hello?" |
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| Time to clean, mom! |
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| F twisting two pipe cleaners |
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| Helping F twist those pipe cleaners some more |
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| K and the pinwheel |
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| J and the pinwheel |
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| Magnets on the fireplace |
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| F's turn with the pinwheel |
This sensory bin was a huge success! They all spent the better part of an hour playing with it (it probably would have been longer, but we had to take F to school) and I love how creative all three of them were with the different objects.
