Tuesday 4 October 2011

*New* Ocean Sensory Bin

I know I am raising a nerdy kid when I reached home at 10.20 pm last night and the first thing the kiddo said to me was "Up".

During class, I could see that he was tired and he said bye-bye several times but he came back into the room again and again!!

He is delaying his bed time nowadays and napping longer.

He played with his ocean sensory tub for a while and I got the feeling that he didn't like it because he made it pretty obvious:

Ok, ok, I admit it's boring... 

On Day 1, he pretended to be bitten by the shark

Then, he quickly lost interest and started to 'read' the mat. ??

Last night was worse, he'd rather eat stickers he removed from the world map

Then, he added the stickers, the silicone letters, the wedgits and finally HIMSELF into the bin

OK...I get the message! The bin is a flop :p


I added some seaweeds and a ship but still hmmmm......it still didn't feel right.

So, I moved his Tot Trays Shelf...

..and I made an entire Ocean Wall for him!
Some cheap ocean creature stickers that didn't stick well. It's ok cause I got a 3D effect
Some glow in the dark sea animals. Can't really see in the picture
Some foam seaweed and anemone
I was going to make bubbles and sparkly seaweed but I was exhausted. It was 2 am already.
Work in progress!

His mini easel with the magnetic sea creatures
A book on sharks from Grolier. (More about this later)
Mr Turtle that Daddy bought long time ago
Cloud B Constellation Sea Turtle

Some sea animals flashcards
A pointer made from a pencil and IKEA sea turtle finger puppet

Tadaa!
The *new* Ocean Sensory Bin :) or should I call it Version 3.0?
I whipped it up before leaving for work.
It was supposed to be a surprise for him tonight but he caught a glimpse of it..

Ingredients:
1. Daddy's model ship :p
2. Some K kids bath water squisher (a whale, a tortoise and a fish)
3. Mini boats from his water table
4. Small plastic fish from Daiso
5. Three 'monster' fish from his Fisher Price mobile
6. Seaweed made from pipe cleaners
7. Blue porcupine balls for sea urchins
8. Assortment of blue pom-poms
9. A small white bucket (wedding gift) with a scoop and a net
10. The base material is blue paper and the same shiny blue stuff


It's a HIT!!
He added the foam seaweed. Nice touch , baby :)


Thus, destroy and conquer has begun...
I know he loves it cause he rejected an invitation to breakfast from Grandma which usually trumps all.
All hail the New Ocean Sensory Bin..woohoo!!


~~~@@@~~~

I am terrified of choking. So, I use larger objects.
If you have older children, you can create something like this with water & plants from:



or this bin with coloured rice from:

This is the recipe for coloured rice:

I cup of white rice
1 tsp of rubbing alcohol/vinegar
1-2 drops of coloring

Put ingredients in a ziplock or mason jar and mix
Let it dry on wax paper for a few hours
play!

Can't wait to do this  :)



I know the sensory bin is not strictly Montessori but it's so much fun
and teaches so much :)
Linking Up to to Montessori Monday
One Hook Wonder



9 comments:

Dainté said...

he is so cute.it looks like he was having fun :)
great blog:)
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melissa said...

I am continually impressed by the amount of time and energy you put into preparing Tiger's environment! That set up truly looks magical!

jasmine said...

kick ass mommy!... looks like the no sleep on calls have trained you well to do ALL this AND go to work the next morning!!!... wow!

Jessica said...

Thanks guys,

I'm a little crazy like that..it's nothing, really. I wanted to paint the wall initially but I was too lazy :)

Deb Chitwood said...

What an amazing environment you created to go with the sensory tub! I love that you observe your son to see where his interests lead. Thanks for linking up with Montessori Monday! I featured your post at the Living Montessori Now Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/LivingMontessoriNow

stace said...

Hi Jessica,

I stumbled on this blog and am very intrigued by the sensory bin concept. Can i ask you a few questions for a better understanding?

*How does it work exactly? Do you explain to him each object in the bin and why they are there... or just let him explore.

* For example,the ocean sensory bin... what does he get out of it, what exactly does he learn from the bin?
You mentioned in your blog "destroy and conquer has begun..." - my son would probably do that the minute I hand him a sensory bin. Then I would be so discouraged because he just wants to destroy and doesn't learn anything... :(

* Also, how do I use the sensory bin to teach? Do i just present it to him?

* Lastly, is the sensory bin a weekly theme bin? or do you change it everyday/every few days/ or as and when another topic catches his attention?

Please share and I am very curious and want to learn!
Thanks!

By the way my email in case, stacebaker80@gmail.com

stace

Jessica_littletiger said...

Sensory bin is as it name implies, for exploration of the senses, well maybe except taste.

We use the bins for learning textures, hard vs soft, furry, prickly, play out scenes, counting, patterning, scooping beans, pouring, one-to one correspondence; anything goes really.

Tiger will usually seek out the bin himself and get to work. I prefer to watch him work uninterrupted. If needed, I usually suggest some ideas like what do think this is? or shall we count this?

I used to follow the current theme for bin ideas unless he really loves the bin a lot, then i will keep it for longer. If he does not like it, i will switch it.

甯妈妈 said...

Hi,jessica, may i know where u bought the bin?i can't find a large container from Daiso.

Jessica_littletiger said...

Hi, the drawer is from IKEA, the Antonius line.

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