Halloween Sensory Box

The last post in our Halloween series before the day itself is upon us, and of course I just had to make it a sensory box! :-) This one is suitable to engage children 6 months - 3 years old, and takes the form of a Halloween treasure hunt for little toys buried in the lentils. Lentils are a lovely sensory material, they feel so wonderful running through your fingers, pour beautifully, and have the perfect Halloween themed colours! They're also completely safe for infants still in the oral phase.

For this activity you will need:

• Large plastic tub
• 4 bags orange lentils
• 1 bag black lentils (french lentils)
• Assorted Halloween toys (from dollar store)
• Scoops, cups, cardboard tubes
• Drop cloth

The set up is super quick...first pour all the lentils into the tub....

...and mix them together (Don't they look wonderful?)...

...Then get your treasures ready...

...These are the ones I chose to use...

...Now hide some of the treasures beneath the lentils, and use some for decoration...

...and your done! :-)

When Bean and I sat down to explore the box, she took her time exploring all the different items one by one as she uncovered them...

...She enjoyed pouring into the tubes and cups...

...but most of all she loved pouring on herself! (hence the drop cloth)

Once almost all the lentils were scattered and piled on the drop cloth, we told lots stories with the characters from the box (currently one of Bean's favorite kinds of play).

All in all it was a great way to start our Halloween celebrations and to introduce some more Halloween themed characters and toys for story telling and imaginative play. 

I hope you've enjoyed our Halloween series and had fun with some Halloween play yourselves. Now all that's left for us to do is get our costumes and treats ready for the big day tomorrow...

Happy Playing & Happy Halloween! 

Sea Treasure - Sensory Box

I have to give the credit for this activity in large part to my husband, who accidentally invented the main material used in its making! You're probably wondering "what on earth are those blue things?"...Well, Bean has named them 'Curly Whirlies', and they're actually the debris from when my husband was drilling holes in some big plastic barrels for planting. They're all sprially and some of them are very springy, Bean found them fascinating so I just had to use them in some way!

We haven't done so many sensory activities over the winter, mostly due to the mess factor as we usually do this kind of play outside. But the weather is warming up and it seemed a good opportunity to get stuck back in with a sea themed sensory box! 

This sensory box is one with a twist, as well as being a sensory activity it's also a treasure hunt game. Hidden beneath the curly whirlies are little glass gems shaped in sea themes such as shell, sea horse, star fish, and I included a small pot to gather the treasure in. 

The materials used are as follows:

• Curly whirlies (you could also use blue aquarium rocks or anything else blue that can get wet)
• Aquarium plants (borrowed from our under the sea playset)
• Plastic boats (borrowed from our water table)
• Plastic anchors (found at op shop)
• Duplo people
• Jar or small container
• Sea gems (found at dollar shop) 

I set this up one night for Bean to play with the following day, and it was very well recieved! I think as much as anything she was just so happy to get back in to sensory play outside, which was a big highlight of last summer. 

She started off with some imaginative story telling using the people in the boats, and was interested to have me explain and demonstrate what the anchors were.

I has already anticipated that she would want to add water to this tub, because I mean...who wouldn't? And of course after a little while she went to get the hose. She enjoyed swirling the water around with the curly whirlies in it, it felt wonderful...and it was then that she discovered the treasures hiding underneath!

Well, needless to say we did a LOT of treasure hunting that day (and the next)! When she was losing interest in finding treasure in the tub, we added the gems to our sand pit and dug for buried treasure in the sand. 

All in all this was a lovely box to play with and a really nice start back into using our outdoor space again :-) Roll on summer! 

Happy Playing!