Sensory Balloons

I made sensory balloons for my daughter that I found on Tot Treasures. They were easy to make and Little Bit loves them. As I was making them she would say 'More balloons mommy.' Each balloon has one of the items listed below inside and feels very different from the others.
We talked about bumpy and smooth and she would ask what was inside.

 Inside the balloons are: 
- rice
- large uncooked beans
- corn kernels
- flour
- small pom-poms
- coffee
- sand

Easy project and she has played for hours with the balloons. So far, they have not busted open. 

Easter Sensory Bin

Recently I put together our first sensory bin, this one is all about Easter. Everything in the bin I bought for a dollar at Wal-Mart or the Dollar Tree. When I put the bin together Little Bit immediately started asking what is was for and playing. She has loved playing in many different ways with all the different items in the bin. It is fun to watch Little Bit thinking, playing and discovering. 

What is in our bin:

Large and small eggs
Foam cutouts: shapes bunny, egg, and carrot
Grass: pink, green, purple
Buckets: mini square baskets, 2 small metal buckets, 2 large plastic buckets
Erasers: various Easter shapes
4 Bendable Bunnies
Stickers: used for matching eggs and on cutouts
Tongs


Ways we use our sensory bin:

Sorting - foam cutouts by shape, large and small eggs, foam cutouts with and without a sticker
Matching - top and bottom of eggs by stickers inside the egg
Counting - eggs, cutouts, erasers, bunnies, etc
Finger Play - bendable bunnies, grass, putting eggs together, picking up items with the tongs,
placing small eggs inside large eggs

Easter Bins that inspired me:

1. Fantastic Fun & Learning - Easter Sensory Bin
2. Mama to 4 Blessings - Easter/Spring Sensory Bin
3. Weiser Academy - Easter Sensory Bin
4. Simply Mommies - Easter Sensory Bin
5. H is for Homeschooling - Easter Sensory Bin
6. 1 + 1 + 1 = 1 - Easter Fun ~ Sensory Bin & More

15 Bean Soup

I found a bag of 15 bean soup in the pantry that I had not used and thought "there are lots of ways we can play with this!" The beans went into a pan and I pulled out paper bowls. Little Bit at first was not sure what to do but after a minute or so she had her hands in the beans finding different size and color beans. 

We sorted the beans by large (Little Bits favorite), medium and small beans. This was a great opportunity to teach her about medium. When she picked up a bean she would hold it next to the large and small bean bowl to see if it matched.

After sorting for a while Little Bit used a spoon for scoping beans and adding them to different bowls. We worked on not spilling and picking up just one bean at a time. Who knew that 15 bean soup could be so much fun!