Gardening Tuff Spot sensory play

Recently, Emma from Adventures and Play invited me to join in with her Tuff Spot A-Z Challenge. During March and April 2015, every weekday a blogger shared a blog post on either their own site or as a guest blog on the Adventures of Adam featuring sensory play based around a different letter of the alphabet. If you're not familiar with Tuff Spots here's an example -Tuff Spot (affiliate link) - it's basically a large mixing tray which you can use for all sorts of messy play and activities.

For our Tuff Spot play I chose G for Gardening. Of course, indoor gardening play isn't a substitute for real gardening, but while it's still too early in the season to start actual planting outdoors, we've been doing the next best thing!

I'm bending the rules of the challenge a little bit, as we don't actually have a real Tuff Spot. Instead, for our large scale sensory play I use a big tray, which is the lid from our outdoor sand and water table. It has a nice rim around the edge to keep everything reasonably contained, and it's the perfect shape for two children to use at once. I usually place it on the floor on top of an old table cloth, or else I have an old shower curtain that I use if we are playing with wet materials. You can also see it in action as Dinosaur Island.

The base material for our sensory play was cheap rice which I dyed black. It's very easy to dye rice, just mix it all up with some food colouring and leave to dry for a very short while. Dyed rice keeps for years and you can always reuse it - even if lots of different colours get mixed together the children don't mind at all!

One thing I've learned about sensory play is how much little children enjoy spooning and mixing different materials. So I provided plenty of plant pots for them to fill. There's a little terracotta one (obviously keep breakable ones for older children to use!), a few plastic ones and lots of new cardboard seedling pots. I put in a couple of our child-sized garden tools, and I also added some spoons for easier filling. I also added some seed markers and some different sizes of coloured pom poms.

Then I gathered together some old pumpkin seeds still going strong from my Halloween sensory tub and made some little seed packets to present them in. For the seed packets I used this fab printable from Twinkl - Create your own Seed Packets (free download). There are several different packets to choose from, and they have a blank front so you can add your own pictures. I found some pumpkin pictures in this Twinkl resource Editable Halloween Pumpkins (free download), and I printed off a couple of pumpkins to glue to the front of the seed packet.

Finally I once again turned to Twinkl to make some simple cards to use for matching game. I created this resource myself using the Twinkl Create function which is available to Premium users. I chose a selection of garden themed pictures, printed them out to make pairs and laminated them. 

I used the cards with Mia to play a memory matching game, and we hid them in the rice to hunt for pairs which she really enjoyed. 

Both children were so excited to see the gardening play all set up, and it reminded me that I should do this sort of play much more often! They both dug straight in, quite literally, and were soon completely absorbed. 

Harry was very interested in the seed packets and he took his play very seriously, filling up his plant pot and planting his pumpkin seeds. 

He wanted to know how we would remember what had been planted, so I gave him a pen to write the names of the plants on the seed markers. A great way to sneak in some writing practice, and his writing was so neat that he'll definitely be helping me when it comes to writing out the real ones!

On the other hand, Mia's first reaction upon seeing the cardboard plant pots was 'ice creams'! She busied herself with filling the pots up with the rice and popping a pom pom on top to make ice cream cones. Perhaps not quite the play that I had imagined, but I loved seeing her little thought processes at work and she had such fun! She also caught on that the pom poms could represent flowers that had grown, and was busy filling up flower pots. She came home this week from nursery with a real bulb planted in a flower pot and is most annoyed that it hasn't started growing yet, so at least this was some instant planting gratification for her!

I must admit that I had worried that at 6 Harry was getting a bit old for sensory play, but I was wrong. Both children played beautifully together for ages, even though they tended to play their own games independently with the shared materials! They both sat their narrating their own play, yet enjoying the other's company. 

Easter sensory tub

With Easter fast approaching, I decided it would be fun to put together an Easter sensory tub. It's been a while since I last made one, and I knew that I had lots of things around the house that I could use to put one together. I love setting up a sensory tub in an inviting fashion, even though I know that my beautiful set-up will be completely destroyed within seconds!

The base material in the tub is dyed rice. This particular brightly coloured rice has been around for a while now, it is the mixed up remains from our dyed rice Rangoli and beach sensory tub. It's very easy and cheap to dye rice, you just need some basic white rice and food dye. Mix up the rice with a few drops of food colouring and leave to dry for a short while. If you want to speed up the drying process you can use a couple of squirts of an anti-bacterial hand gel, but I find that it dries pretty much instantly anyway, and certainly within a few hours.

Of course the rice does end up everywhere. I place the tub in the centre of an old table cloth to try and minimise the mess, but I've found that it's easiest to just clear as large a space in the room as I can and stand by with the hoover for when they've finished, making sure to brush the children down thoroughly before they stray into the other rooms! I also make it clear to them that any rice that ends up off the tablecloth will be hoovered up, so there will be less for them to play with next time.

I found our small plastic eggs very cheap in the Costco sale a few years ago, they are exactly the same size as real eggs and came filled with tiny sweets. I've also seen similar ones in the supermarkets over the years. I arranged them inside a cardboard egg box. I find that my sensory tubs are more successful if there is some sort of activity for the children to do, and with this tub I provided spoons so that they can fill the eggs and the compartments of the egg box with the sensory materials.

The pastel pom poms were in the craft supplies that I was sent by Craft Merrily as a MAD Blog Award finalist. I don't remember exactly where the (somewhat misshapen) little chicks came from, but they are quite easy to find in craft shops at this time of year and it's a nice activity to hide them inside the plastic eggs.

As you can see, it was the first day of the Easter holidays, and Harry was having a onesie day! At the moment I'm working on colours with Mia, so we used the egg box together for sorting and naming colours using the pom poms. Including a good range of pom pom sizes also lets you sort by size and order from largest to smallest. Her favourite activity though was using the spoon to fill the eggs and then putting them back in the egg box. I had to go and retrieve all our other plastic eggs so that she could fill them up!

Being that bit older, I wanted to encourage Harry with some small world play, so I included some shredded paper with the idea that he could use it to make nests for the chickens. Again it's something left over from previous crafting projects. He didn't disappoint, and made up some lovely stories with the chickens, also putting them inside the eggs, and then building them nests and making sure that they had plenty of food. I also caught him pretending to lay an egg himself!

We had a lot of fun with this sensory tub and I know that it will be coming out again and again over the Easter holidays, before I adapt it into a new theme!

Some of my other sensory play ideas:

Spring sensory tub
Firework sensory tub
Halloween sensory tub
Beach sensory tub
Dinosaur Island

A Halloween sensory tub

I really love making up sensory tubs for the little ones to play with. Yes, they can be messy even though I lay out an old table cloth underneath, but to be honest the living room usually needs a hoover anyway so it's not that much extra work to clear up afterwards! 

For Halloween I decided to make the children a Halloween themed sensory tub, mainly using bits and pieces that I already had around the house.

This Halloween sensory tub has the same base material that I use for all my tubs - coloured rice. It's really easy to colour rice, you just need a big bag of plain white rice (I use the supermarket value brand) and some food colouring. In a big bowl, mix up the rice with the food colouring. If you add a squirt of anti-bacterial hand gel it will dry quicker, otherwise you can just spread it out on a tray and leave it to dry for a few hours or overnight.

I also used a big handful of pumpkin seeds which I saved from our pumpkin last year. I just scooped them out, cleaned them up, and left them out to dry. They have lasted fine from last year, I just need to watch that they don't end up in any little mouths!

I added some suitable coloured pom poms, and a selection of Halloween themed plastic toys, including glow in the dark bats that I picked up in the post-Halloween sales last year. I also found some Halloween foam cut outs and sequins which were left over from Halloween craft kits.

When I gave the tub to the children to play with I also laid out a selection of spoons, little pots and bowls. I love seeing what they do with the materials. Mia tends to spoon the rice about for a bit before getting bored and throwing the rice about. Harry will play for ages. He made Halloween soup in the bowls, and then moved on to small world play with the plastic pieces, in particular the witch keyring and the bats.

Another sensory idea for little ones at Halloween is a Halloween ice block excavation activity. I've also written about a couple of crafts which are brilliant for toddlers at Halloween - some really simple Halloween window decorations and a make a monster kit busy bag activity. If you are planning a Halloween party for young children you might like my post with ideas for a Halloween party for little ones.

Here are some of the other sensory tubs that I've made:

Fireworks sensory tub
Beach/underwater sensory tub
Dinosaur Island
Spring Sensory tub

Sensory play with Dinosaur Island

After the success of my beach sensory tub, I remembered an idea that I'd had for a long time - to make a Dinosaur Island small world play scene for a long time, ever since I saw this amazing Dinosaur Island post over on the wonderful Filth Wizardry.

I looked it up again when I was writing this post and I was surprised to see how many elements I'd included in my own Dinosaur Island - it was obviously all stuck there in my head somewhere! So here is how I made Harry and Mia their very own Dinosaur Island.


For the base I used the lid from our sand and water tray. Something like a tuff spot (affiliate link) would also have worked really well, although there would have been a lot more space to fill.

I made some playdough (using this simple recipe from The Imagination Tree) with plenty of black food dye for a volcano centerpiece. I used some red and yellow shredded paper left over from Easter baskets for the lava. Then I placed a shallow plate filled with water for a lake, and the rest of the island was built around that.

To fill the rest of the tray I used some black dyed rice around the volcano which was leftover from our firework sensory tub. That meant that it did have stars and glitter in it, but that didn't matter! Then I made a beach with some cheap mashed potato mix, and added porridge oats and shredded wheat to make some different areas on the tray. I put some stones at one end and some green shredded paper for vegetation. I had also bought some value noodles, so I cooked up a few and put them in a shallow bowl to one side.

The scene was finished with all our plastic dinosaurs, some of which were mine when I was little!

Harry played with Dinosaur Island for a long time. He was surprisingly tidy, which was nice after all my hard work. He told me that he was 'making up stories', and I eavesdropped on a few which was wonderful. His favourite part was the volcano, and he liked how he could make dinosaur footprints in the playdough.

While Harry was playing with it I occupied Mia on the floor with some of the dry materials and some pots to pour things in and out of. I didn't want to let her anywhere near it! But after a few days when Harry was finished with it I let Mia at it. She enjoyed playing with it too although the dinosaur significance was lost on her, she just enjoyed grabbing handfuls of everything, filling up the volcano and throwing it all about.

If you are interested in making sensory tubs or small world sensory play then you might like to see this tray repurposed for gardening themed sensory play.

A Spring sensory tub

I woke up this morning to sunshine (actually that's not quite correct, I was woken by a wakeful toddler in darkness, but by the time I opened the curtains there was sunshine) and a slight warmth in the air. In the hope that Spring might finally be on the way, I put together this Spring sensory tub to keep the little ones occupied for a few minutes.

The base of the tub is dyed rice, left over from my previous beach sensory tub and my dyed rice rangoli. I added a few glass pebbles and some shredded green paper. Then I put in a couple of small flower pots and spoons, some baby animals from the farm set and some cut out flower shapes. I also added a few small pieces of green card and some flower foam stickers.

I have an old tablecloth that I keep for this sort of play, in the vain hope that it might not all end up on the carpet. Sensory tubs are good because they can both play with them together, as long as I make sure that I have two of everything. They hold Harry's attention for much longer.

Harry asked me what he was supposed to do with it, so I told him that it was up to him what he did. It was fascinating to see where he went with it. First he filled up one of the flower pots with rice, then he planted the 'seeds' (the glass pebbles) before sticking the card flowers in the top of the pot.  Then he buried the flowers in the rice and talked about how it was Winter, then dug them up for the Spring.

His imagination then took a different turn as the flowers became dinosaur bones, and he dug them up, naming each dinosaur and type of bone as he did so (I see potential for another game here). Finally he sprinkled the rice through his fingers as rain and made a flood.

I always thought that sensory tubs were aimed at younger children, but having watched my two, Harry (4) played with this for a lot longer, and I could really see his imagination at work. I'll definitely be getting it out again over the next few weeks!

At this time of year, young children might also enjoy an Easter sensory tub.

Some of my other sensory play ideas:

Easter sensory tub
Firework sensory tub
Halloween sensory tub
Beach sensory tub
Dinosaur Island

Firework sensory tub

Since I created my first sensory tub, I can't stop thinking of ideas for new ones. I don't think that Harry would have had the patience for them as a toddler, but now that he is a bit older he has really enjoyed playing with the couple that I have made. Mia loves joining in too, although she does have a habit of splashing her hands up and down in the rice, then losing interest and wandering off, scattering rice about the house as she goes.

This sensory tub has a firework theme, to tie in with Bonfire Night on the 5th November. Bonfire Night, also known in the UK as Guy Fawkes Night, is an annual event which commemmorates the arrest of Guy Fawkes in 1605 as he guarded explosives placed in the House of Lords by members of the Gunpowder Plot aiming to assassinate King James I of England and VI of Scotland. Most of the conspirators fled, some were killed, and eight of the survivors were hung, drawn and quartered. Today Bonfire Night is celebrated with bonfires, fireworks and parades.

I didn't really fancy giving Harry matches and firewood in the sensory tub, nor did I really want to touch on the gruesome history associated with Guy Fawkes night just yet (you can read more about Guy Fawkes night here if you are interested), so I decided to concentrate on the firework aspect, as he will be going to several firework displays over the next few days.

The basis for the sensory tub is rice, which I dyed black. I just buy the cheapest value rice, tip a good amount into a bowl, add a fair bit of food colouring (at least half a teaspoonful) and mix it all about. If I have some, I add a squirt of anti-bacterial hand gel in, as this helps it to dry more quickly, although I do find that it dries quite quickly by itself if it's spread out on a tray for a few hours. I also had some sunflower seeds around from the garden so I added them in for some variety, I like how the stripes look like clouds in the sky.

Then I added some glitter, sequins and a few pom poms. Harry needs an activity to do with the rice, so I found some star shaped cake cases and star shaped chocolate moulds which I bought in the sales last January and he hadn't seen yet. Along with a couple of teaspoons, they were ready to make some firework cakes.

I put the sensory tub out on an old table cloth to try and contain some of the mess, then let them at it. Mia dug in and found a shiny star straightaway - bursting into a rendition of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Harry spent ages filling up the various cake cases and passing them to me. I was really surprised how long this sensory tub kept them busy for.

If you are looking for more sensory tub inspiration you might like some of my other ideas:

Halloween sensory tub
Easter sensory tub
Spring sensory tub
Beach sensory tub
Dinosaur Island sensory tub
Gardening sensory tub

Beach and underwater themed sensory tub

I have long been in awe of sensory tubs. I first saw them over at Counting Coconuts, and have recently discovered that Anna at The Imagination Tree has some brilliant ideas for sensory play too. Basically it's a large tub filled with sensory materials - often with a base of rice or beans, then different objects, either for general play like spoons and cups, or themed around a particular topic.

I thought that they seemed like quite a lot of work to put together, and would create a lot of mess. I also wasn't exactly sure how Harry would play with them. But we had some dried rice left over from making our Diwali rangoli the other day, and after letting him dig about with his toy diggers I decided it was time to give him a bit more structure.

I cannot fully describe my pride when, in just a few minutes, I produced this:

It's made inside an old, shallow biscuit tin. I used the coloured rice that I already had for the sandy beach, then I dyed some more blue for the sea. I sprinkled glitter into the sea, and made some waves around the beach with shredded paper. I added shells, some beaded bracelets, and a few bits of pirate Playmobil from my old collection that Harry hadn't seen before. Then I found a couple of little dolls - we even had a mermaid - and a plastic dolphin. There are some random pom poms in there too for a different texture. It was quite a wrench giving it to Harry to play with.

Can you see that gleam in his eyes? He was so excited, he had never seen anything like this before and he couldn't wait to get started.

He was most fascinated by the treasure chest, and he just wanted to bury it in the sea so that the lady on the beach couldn't see it. There was a little spade in there to help with the digging. He played with this sensory tub for a lot longer than I expected, and he particularly loved it when I joined in and made up little stories with the dollies, which he then copied. In the end it didn't create nearly as much mess as I thought it would, and I loved putting it together. Harry played with it all for quite some time too, and I've popped the lid on to keep it for another day. I suppose it could have come off worse! I'm definitely going to have to come up with some more ideas, preferably ones that involve mixed up dyed rice.

How to make sensory bottles for babies and toddlers

Even really small babies like to watch you shake sensory bottles, and older babies and toddlers enjoy playing with them too. They are really easy to make, most materials are readily found around the home, and they will last for ages. All you need are some clean plastic bottles and some imagination. Just fill the bottles with interesting things and seal them tightly. 

For my sensory bottles I used lentils, quinoa, dried mung beans, coloured water, water with washing up liquid and coloured water with sequins and glitter. 

I used plastic bottles I had collected from free samples of fabric conditioner, and I sealed them with electrical tape. You could make smaller bottles with hotel sized toiletry bottles or use larger drinks bottles. You could either make a matching set, or use a selection of different sized bottles for variety.

Some other things that you could put into sensory bottles:

Rice, try dying some with food colouring

Sand

Olive oil

Sequins

Tiny toys, such as those from from Christmas crackers or small Lego pieces

Coloured beads

Coloured shredded paper

Tinsel

Ribbon

Pieces of fabric

Confetti, or pieces of coloured paper
Tiny pictures, or letters and numbers cut from magazines
Dried pasta

There are also many resources on-line with further ideas for example more educational bottles which would appeal to older toddlers, like magnet and counting bottles. 

Make sure to seal the lids of the bottles very well with tape or a glue gun, and only allow babies and toddlers to play with them under supervision. Check them periodically to make sure that they are still safe for your child.