SENSORY BOXES AS A TEACHING TOOL

I love playing sensory boxes with the LO. It's simple to make, super engaging and provides a number of learning opportunities.  For this sensory box, I have uncooked elbow pasta, but you can use anything... sand, salt, pompoms, etc.  Whatever you like really. 

BUSY BIN: COFFEE CUP HOLE FILLER

Do you know there's a lot of free stuff out there for the taking? Amazing what you could come up with a little creativity.  Here is the LO playing with coffee lid hole covers (I am not sure what you actually call them lol) that I got from a coffee shop. 

BUSY BIN: STRAWS

 Are you familiar with task boxes? I LOVE them.  Task boxes aims to help children concentrate and focus on a tasks.  Task boxes are very structured.  They have one goal in mind -- transferring one object from a container to another container, sorting objects by color or completing a pattern.  They could also be easily made using a shoe box.  Though I love the idea of task boxes, I do not like the idea of how much space it will take if I were to make them.  We live in a 480 square feet after all.

LO'S FIRST BAG

The LO is obsessed with my bag.  She dives into it and go for the good stuffs -- my wallet, keys and planner.  She walks around the house with my bag in her arm or my Iphone in her ear.  I figured, I can buy her her own very bag and found this in Amazon: Kidoozie My First Purse

PAPER PLAY

This is an accidental activity for the LO and it kept her occupied for 20 minutes! (20 minutes of free time for me! wow!) I was going through our mail and tearing the ones we don't need while the LO was having snack.  When she finished eating, she tried to reach for one of the envelopes so I figured "why not?, what's the worst thing that could happen?". I handed her my pile of torn papers and she looked at each one of them as if its the most interesting thing. 

DIY COLOR BIN

I made a color sorting wheel for my class today.  My kids for this year are much younger than what I had last year.  I have some color sorting boards from Lakehore but they seemed too distracting for my little kiddos. 

DIY SENSORY BOX

This is my friend's son Duke.  (He is also my daughter's soon to be boyfriend).  My friend Cita made him this amazing sensory box using common household products and a diaper box.

PLAY AREA FOR 10 MONTH OLD

The LO has a new play area again now that she is 10 1/2 months (FYI this is the 3rd time I have rearranged our apartment!).  She is now cruising and standing up on her own.  She needs a much bigger space where it will be safe for her to explore. One side has the sofa for her to hold on as she cruises, one side has a shelf for her toys and I propped pillows on the wall.  The other side opens to the living room where she could explore even more.