Mommy Time - Winter Unit

Welcome back to Mommy Time!  If you haven't checked out the Winter Units make sure and check out this Post - awesome ideas!

One of neat ideas I've seen in blogland for awhile is something called a sensory bin.  I decided to create one for this unit and this is what it looks like!

It is filled with all kinds of things for winter - cotton balls, a big letter W and S (for winter and snow), some diamond shaped beads (for ice), snowman playing cards, and I took a garland that had sparkly fuzzy white balls on it and cut it up - keeping both the fuzzy balls and the metal beading that connected it.  You can get as creative as you want and than, let the fun begin!

Testing it out for the first time.

Starting to pull stuff out.

Unloading the box.

He loved the "crystals"

Notice it is all on the floor?  Don't worry, when he was done, he picked almost all of it up on his own.

I really didn't see what the hype was about the Sensory Bin until I tried it today.  Josh loved all the textures and items in the tub.  I saw him putting just the cotton balls back in, than he would lay the metal beading along the side of the tub in rows and when we finished cleaning up, he liked to grab the things that looked alike at one time.  This bin only comes out when Nate is napping because, right now, he would eat some of those items.  I look forward to when they can both play with the bins in a few more months.  It will be a great treat for them to be able to play with each week.  I hope to be able to pull it out 2-3 times a week and later be able to use it for sorting games and activities.  Right now, I'm just letting him play with the things in his own creative way!

As far as storage - I dont' have a ton of space to store this stuff so I think I'm going to have one tub and than, store the "stuff" in a bag instead of having 12 boxes or more stored somewhere. The bags I can squish down into one box. 

Have fun! And let me know if you try out a sensory bin - I'd love to see pictures.  (And yes, I'm already picking up stuff for my February box - not sure yet what the "main" stuffer will be - to replace the cotton balls - I think a trip to Hobby Lobby is in order!!!!)