Valentine's Sensory Tub

Sensory tubs are a great play tool and very inviting to children to explore - they are also free as they are created from bits and bobs you already have around the home! My two can't start playing with them quick enough - picking up whatever grabs their attention first, guessing as to what an object's use is, discovering the different textures, experimenting....they offer so many opportunities for learning through play. Often all of the objects are already familiar to them but seeing them in this new context makes them much more interesting.

I made a quick Valentine's sensory tub using objects from around the house that had a heart connection - we used heart shaped silicone moulds, heart biscuit cutters, a toy stethoscope, a little heart shaped pillow, pink felt hearts, a heart sponge, a heart rubber, heart shaped sequins and beads, candles in the shape of champagne bottles, a heart shaped trinket box, pink tissue paper, and dried pasta (if I was more organised I could have dyed this red but this was just a quickly put together tub).

Poppet was quite careful and methodical about exploring the tub (actually it wasn't a tub we used this time - it was a low sided crate that originally held musical instruments), filling up the little moulds with items from the tub and noticing all the heart shapes in the different objects. Little was a bit more destructive - she just went wild with it excitedly flinging bits everywhere and eating the pasta. She needs a bit more training with sensory tubs to learn to try to keep the contents inside the tub! In the meantime I'll only use larger fillers like pasta twirls rather than things like rice and lentils to make the clean up a bit easier.

Despite all the lovely little hearts on offer, the dried pasta seemed to hold the most appeal.

Surprisingly Little was the one who picked up the stethoscope, and as soon as she put it on Poppet immediately 'didn't feel well' and lay down so that she could be tended to by Dr. Little.

The next day I picked out the felt and sequin hearts and pink tissue paper and let the girls use them to make Valentine's cards with  (Little needed a lot of help with the glue!). Poppet insisted the card she made was for her sister which was very sweet!

Poppet: 3yrs

Little: 16mos

Button Hearts

The other day I discovered the girls had excitedly found my button collection (I don't know why I collect buttons as I don't remember ever sewing one on). Buttons were strewn all over the floor - miraculously none had been eaten (that I know of) - and Poppet was very keen to keep playing with this new found discovery.

So being as it is Valentine's Day shortly we thought we would attempt to make some heart shaped thingymabobs to hang around and spread the love.

 I drew a heart on a piece of foam and a bit of card and gave them to Poppet along with some buttons and a wee jar of glue. She carefully glued the buttons onto the outline of the heart, which we then left overnight to dry and the next day I cut round the buttons and threaded a ribbon through the heart for hanging. I thought they looked quite pretty!

Poppet: 3yrs

Little: 16mos

Heart Printing

As part of operation wean-Poppet-from-TV (alternatively titled I-can't-watch-Cinderella-again) I brought out the paint to do some Valentine themed printing using things I had around the house. Poppet was delighted to do some painting, as was Little who joined in and DIDN'T TRY TO EAT THE PAINT! This was a momentous occasion indeed. Maybe she learnt her lesson from the last time she took a mouthful of paint, maybe she just wasn't hungry that afternoon, who knows.

I had a heart shaped metal biscuit cutter, a toilet roll tube I bent into a heart shape, a sponge heart and a rubber in the shape of a heart (this was rubbish). They both happily made heart prints onto their sheets of paper, Little even managed a few recognisable heart prints until she got both her hands in and just went with hand smearing instead.

They did sheet after sheet, and eventually Poppet just decided to rub red paint over entire sheets of paper - some kind of snub against the commercialisation of Valentine's Day perhaps?! I also managed to make a wee Valentines card for J (unique declaration of love and also saved myself £2.50).

Poppet: 3yrs

Little: 16 mos