In my line of work I get messy. Paint, marker, mushed crackers, juice, smushed smarties, pee, poo, spit, boogers. I’ve been covered in it all.
Then I went on mat leave and I’m surprisingly clean these days. Priness Peach had bad reflux so for many, many months I was covered in vomit but I was able to change or wipe it up! Now that she’s older i’m looking forward to getting messy with her, in a sensory type of way.
For young children its very important for them to have sensory experiences. Sensory play provides babies and children an opprotunity to use their five senses; hearing, smell, sight, touch, and taste.
Princess Peach has been enrolled in many baby classes since she was born but the majority of those clases are music. I love music but how many music classes can one frequent in a week? Sometimes I feel sung out. Now that she’s older I think there is a huge gap in the programming available in our area for children around her age (almost 9 months) to have a variety of sensory experiences with other children. I will be blogging a variety of sensory activities that you fab moms, dads and caregivers can do at home with your kiddies!!! I hope that you will try them out too and of course keep me updated if you do!
The best thing to invest in when you have kids are a few big buckets and/or different sized containers. It is so much fun with llittle kids to explore the world with them. Remember to put the buckets at their level (usualy on the floor) and buy low bucket/containers when they are young so they don’t fall in and can touch, feel, see what’s in the bucket. At a young age you can’t use anything small and because they put everything in their mouths it whatever you use should be edible.
Here is a favourite activity that is fun, cheap and easy! Fil a bucket with warm water and put in a few bath toys, boats, ducks etc. For older kids you can add bubble bath. Strip the babes down to a diaper, put them into the bathtub, put the bucket into the bathtub with them, and let them play away! If its warm enough outside, take the water play out there! Please remember to never leave them unattended with water.
Another great activity is to make a thin layer or whipped cream in a shallow container. Put some drops of food colouring onto the whipped cream, mix it around and let the baby explore! You can also add plastic toys, cars, boats into the whipped cream!
A friend of mine and I have been talking about getting our babies together to do the above activities. Here’s a funny conversation via text message from the other night between a friend and me. The only problem was I was taking a nap when the text messages arrived and my husband had my phone! We will call my husband The Hubster and here’s what happened:
Friend: Just bought cool whip and food colouring. When are we getting messy?
Hubster answering for me: It’s the Hubster. Rainbow (that’s what we will call me in this blog!) is sleeping. Starting to get worried about you two.
Friend: Worried? I’m keeping her out of trouble 🙂
Hubster: Whip cream messy
Friend: Lol. I’m not the one reading 50 shaes of grey 🙂
My husband decided not to tell me about this text conversation until much later in the evening. It was quite amusing!
Anyways, The ideas with sensory play are endless and it is sure to be messy! Just make sure to have some towels and a camera on hand to capture all of the fun.
Now, let the mess begin!
xoxo
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