We had amazing temps today in CT...maybe they just felt amazing because we have been so cold and have had snow on the ground up until Monday. However, 77 degrees was exactly what we needed for a multitude of reasons. For starters, the boys were diagnosed with strep yesterday, followed by myself being diagnosed with strep and an ear infection. After having a dose of antibiotics in all of us, I decided that everything that could be washed needed to be. I also decided that I was not going to be inside to disinfect everything, nor did I want to miss out on spending time with the boys since they are feeling 100% better. This is where one of today's sensory ideas came from.
I took every building block, train, play animal, and every other non porous toy and stuck them in the kiddie pool we pulled out for the boys. My goals for the boys were simply to play with different textured cleaning cloths (sponges, scrubbers, cloths), and for the boys to splash in the water and to play with bubbles. Carter wanted a nap, and Pierce was very eager to help fill the pool and attempt to spray mommy with water. Pierce took this activity farther than I had imagined, and decided (even though I warned him it was very cold), to jump in the pool. This provided him with a ton of fun jumping in and out of the pool, and he also had a blast scrubbing all of his toys clean. He even started calling it a car wash while washing his cars.
It took us about an hour and a half to wash the toys; not because they have that many toys, but because he just had so much fun cleaning, splashing water, and learning about what makes mud, what germs are, etc. Carter woke up in time to play at the end (and just when Pierce was laying down for a nap). Carter discovered how much fun it was to dip a watering can into the pool of soapy water and then dump it out. He was also able to learn how easy it was to make copious amounts of bubbles this way too. He didn't dare go into it like Pierce did, but he still enjoyed standing on the side and playing.
We also discovered that the bucket full of army men we have is perfect for the sand and water table. The men can have fun sliding down slides, hiding in buckets, and trying to dig through a pile of sand. Imaginations were running wild with the boys and the army men. It served as a simple reminder to take a look at toys and see if they can possibly have a second use, before purchasing more.
Do any of you have some simple outdoor sensory play ideas?
No comments:
Post a Comment