bean boxes!

We've had a lot of rain lately so we've either been finding indoor play areas, going to friends' houses, or figuring out new things to do here so we don't go crazy. We've made a lot of things out of leftover holiday and shipping boxes (airplanes, race cars, art easels, etc.), and here's one I wanted to share. I'm sure any of you with kids in daycare (or early childhood teachers) have already seen it, but I forgot how much fun it really is.

Bean boxes! We got a few bags of dried beans and gave them each a big box with a removable lid. I gave them a bunch of different cups and spoons, and they will spend forever scooping, piling, sorting colors. There's something that feels very cool about smooth beans in your hands...I even play in the boxes with them sometimes. We've only been using them for a few weeks, but today when they begged for them and wouldn't stop even to eat lunch, I figured I should share in case anyone else is looking for a fun inside activity that they can do on their own. Mine do it at the kitchen table so I can see them but still wash dishes or cook

What are your fun inside activities right now? I know some of you were/are pre-K or daycare teachers. Share!

 

That sounds like fun! I am always needing new ideas, looking forward to hearing some more!

 

I have something like that and it's called a sensory box. Right now, ours has shelled corn and some random noodles. I would like to change it out to something new. Here is a web site with all kinds of ideas for those types of boxes!

Sensory boxes

 

What kind of boxes do you use?!? That sounds neat... I may have to try that. I had Annabella in the sink the other night for a bath-just her-and I gave her a bowl and a cup. I poured the water in the bowl into the up and vice versa. She LOVED it!

I've done putting snow in the sand/water table and bringing it inside. That's usually a huge hit. You can put the snow in the sink, heck even the bathrub, or a big bowl-anything. I saw a craft on FamilyFun.com I believe(become a fan on FB, you'll get great graft ideas/recipes-LOVE them). You take your coffee filters, cut them into shapes of hearts(for Valentine's Day), and then cut them like you would paper snowflakes. Then you water color them. I may do that this week with the kids.

I love oobliq. I haven't done it with the kids in a long time, but it's so relaxing for whatever reason. Water/Cornstarch, a bin of some sort to contain it. Relaxation in the hands!

I have a friend online who posted this recipe the other day. She said it's super easy and her kids love it(2/5)! Cheesy Crackers

 

Sensory boxes are a box to put fun things in for sensory building. It can be water and some ocean animals and add bubbles, it can be dried leaves and frogs and insects, mud and trucks, sand and dinosaurs. The ideas are limitless. I like referring to that web site I posted for ideas.

This is what I use for our sensory box: My sensory box

I only bought one in the store not 5! I like it b/c I can store it under our bed since we don't have tons of storage on the main floor of our home and it's long enough so there is plenty of room for all 3 of my kids to sit around it and play.

 

I use a big roasting pan (and just empty it back into a plastic bag when we are done), I use all kind of beans, alphabet pasta, macaroni, oats. I give them bowls, cups, spoons, measuring spoons, metal spoons, basically whatever is close by and I think they might like.
And in our water table I do all kinds of bigger stuff - water with bubbles, food coloring in water, ice cubes.
I also give my kids ice cube trays filled with different colored water and eye droppers and and they use the droppers to transfer the water. Similarly you could use tweezers with beads or thongs with bigger things to grab.

more ideas anyone?

 

I was thinking about getting "brave" to try this... then saw that the kids were throwing the dominoes up in the air... and figured I didn't want to deal with beans everywhere! maybe I'll start it outside... or maybe they will surprise me! I love the idea of the sensory box

 

i have a small rubbermaid full of rice & various measuring cups, spoons, funnels, etc that is kept in the kitchen & the girls can pull out & play with whenever they would like. we have a smallish kitchen, so when they're done i just do a quick sweep & we're good. the girls are pretty good though about keeping everything in the bucket. when i first set it up, they both tried purposefully dumping a measuring cup full of rice on the floor, so the rice bucket was immediately put away & they had to help sweep up the rice. now that they understand the rules about the rice, any rice that ends up on the floor is usually accidental.

i like the idea of switching out the stuff in the box. beans would be great.

i came across this the other day - i thought that would be a lot of fun, just in a ziploc bag to smoosh around.

 

Oooh, I love some of these ideas. Shaving cream is always fun and even better in a bag to contain the mess!

For our boxes, we're using the cardboard gift boxes tha came with two gifts by DH got me from the store Anthropologie - they're big and really sturdy with a string that ties the top on. And free, though the store's not cheap...

We actually painted cereal boxes first and used those (I just pulled them open and retaped them inside out so they opened like treasure chests with lids) before I got my birthday gifts and liked the big boxes better! Cereal boxes are fun to paint if you flip them inside out - they stand up so it's like painting on an easel.