Beach Sensory Bin

It started out as a simple activity, some fine motor practice for the boys, and a few minutes of peace for mom. 
Hammer and nails - check.

Open the pretty parasols, stick them in the Styrofoam - check, umm, no, wait..

Inspiration behind the Beach sensory bin

Batman came back to me, and said, mom, those pretty beach umbrellas really do need a beach to go along with it. <OK, I can take a hint. >

So a simple bin was born, providing hours of fun for my two boys......





.. and tons of fine motor practice with the "pretty beach umbrellas"! 

Of course, then we need a beach towel under the umbrella, a picnic perhaps on the towel, and a chair or two if you don't want to get all messy on the sand!

Batman was more into this bin because he was trying to build as many sand castles as space would allow, with moat, flags, pretty stones...

  
The teeny tiny flower pots, and some small buckets to make the mounds, scrap paper glued on toothpicks for the flag, small pebbles for the moat, a shovel for him, and he was in sand castle heaven...

 
We had some tidal pools in our bin, with the kind of ocean animals we might see in them.
These are the "grow in the water" kinds, and we will play with them later... 

See the net? It's for beach volleyball. But I was not allowed to put in a ball, because apparently it got washed away by the waves, so only the net remains...

My two super heroes had a fun time digging for treasure (pretty stones) in the sand, and I am to make a pirate bin, and use the beach in here....

The only twist in this sensory bin is that I used baking soda (colored yellow) instead of sand. I saw these wonderful post on "bath dirt" and other wonderful tactile bath fun, and wanted to give it a try. So the "bath sand" is getting played in the sensory bin now, and later on will make a transition into the bath tub, along with the grow in the water ocean animals, before it gets washed out!

Linked up to:
Screen Free Activities and Resources, Stress-Free Sunday, Link & Learn, Montessori Monday, Monday Kid Corner, and Tot School Gathering Place

Learn letters and their sounds using your sense of smell

Smelly Letters!!!

Caution: This project is best done in the spring/summertime.

Now, don't hold your breath or wrinkle your nose, these smell good!!

We have made touchy-feely letters, letters that are tactile. Why not engage the sense of smell as well?

My apple tree and hibiscus had some flowers on it, which triggered the idea.

These letters are mostly made with flowers and herbs, and teas (I love tea, all different kinds). So raid your garden and pantry. I also needed to raid my local nursery.

WARNING - Before you start: make a list of flowers, and then go over to the garden section of Home Depot, or to the local nursery, and get a few flowers (remember to ask nicely, and use the magic word). Dry the flowers, and you are in business. Other options - be on the lookout for flower bouquets with the right kind of flowers, go on a flower hunt in the neighborhood...

You can paste them on cardboard letters, or paste the smelly stuff in the shape of a letter. Or just form the letters with your sensory material, and then store them for next time!Or in other creative ways that I have not thought of.... 
OK, so here's the list. I have tried to limit the ingredients to short sounds for the vowels, and hard sounds for the consonants. So for example, you can make C with cinnamon, but that is the soft sound, whereas the kiddos master the hard sound first. 
 

Appy A
My super-heroes made an "a", and then put the blossoms in a bowl of water!  
- aniseed, or anise flowers, apple blossoms, flower petals from flowers like azalea


a with apple blossoms

Barky B 
- bougainvillea, bark (Batman's idea), basil from your herb pot, bay leaves, brown sugar

Bougainvillea b

Clovy C
- cloves, ground coffee, cardamom pods, cumin seeds, curry leaves, candy cane sticks, chamomile

C with cloves and c with cardamom pods

Daisy D
- daisy petals (my super heroes did not want to "hurt" the flower by pulling the "pretty" petals), dandelions (again, Batman is to blame), dill

D with daisy

Eggy E
Okay, so this one is not going to smell much of anything, as these are cleaned egg shells. In that case, switch to Elderflower. You might be able get your hand on the dried stuff. For older kids, try "earl grey" tea leaves or eucalyptus! Has anyone tried Bigelow's Eggnogg'n tea? That might be an option.
- eggshell, elderflower

Ferny F
- fern leaves from the garden, fennel seeds, a collage with different kinds of flower petals (Spider-man's favorite) 

F with fern leaves

Grassy G
I have Geranium flowers aplenty, but it starts with the soft G sound, as does ginger. And the kiddos did not want to use garlic. Sooo, a trip to the nursery, and we got some Gerbera flowers! But those were too pretty to be plucked, so we ended up using some grass :)
- gerbera or gardenia flower, garlic, grass, 

"g" with grass

Herby H
- collage of herb leaves from my herb pot, hydrangea and hibiscus flowers from the garden, hay (Spiderman says it has a nice hay-y smell), honeysuckle flowers

H with hibiscus

Inchy I
Try iris flowers, or irish moss for kids who know the long I sound.
- incense sticks broken into inch long pieces, (hence, Inchy), impatiens from the garden (am I a smart gardener or what!)

Jassy J
- jasmine from the garden

Kitchy K
I have an Indian pantry. You will have to come up with your own smelly letter for K!

K with Kala Jira

- Kala Jira, black cumin seeds, some kelp next time you visit the beach
Update - after dinner today, Batman decided to make a K in his Ketchup. It smells nice, it tastes nice, and it starts with K!

K in Ketchup

Abstract K painting in Ketchup

   

Lemony L
- lime or lemon peel, lavender leaves or flowers from the garden, lemongrass

L with lavender

Minty M
- mint leaves, marigold or mum flowers, mustard seeds, moss, mango tea leaves

M with mints

Nutty N
-  nutmeg, Nutella (suggested by Batman as it has a nice smell, vetoed by me), Nigella

Orangy O
- oregano, orange peel, oatmeal, orange tea leaves

O with orange peels

Peppy P
- peppercorns, potpourri, peppermint leaves from the herb pot or tea leaves from peppermint tea bags, pine-cones, pine needles, pineapple tea (it smells seriously good - thanks Dad)

P with cone and leaves

Quilty Q
- a quilt made with flower petals - we want to do yellow, red and white rose petals from the garden, quinoa

Rosy R
- rose to the rescue, rosemary, raspberry tea leaves (from Bigelow Raspberry Royale tea bags)

R with rose petals

Sassy S
- saffron, sage, sandalwood paste, scotch moss

Tiny T
- tea leaves, tarragon, twigs (from Batman, some twigs can smell good), tulip

Umby U
So I googled, came up with the Umbrella Palm, and I think I remember a tree that looked like one growing near a lake close to home. On our next visit to the lake, I will liberate a few leaves.

Viny V
-  a vine from the garden, vanilla beans or sticks, violet flowers

Woody W
- wood sage flowers, any white flower, white mustard, leaves from willow tree

Your X-cellency
- make an X with cinnamon sticks. 

Yolly Y
- any yellow flower or leaf, yarrow flower

Ziggy Z
-  zinia flower petals


So there you have it, gorgeous aromatic letters!!

Older kids can help you come up with sensory materials for the letters. I got lots of suggestions from Batman. I told him to look in the garden to come up with ideas, and gave him the spice rack for added inspiration.

Please leave some comments, and help me beef up some of the letter suggestions!

Disclaimer: I have a very well stocked spice rack. It helps, but is not a requirement.

 

 

Linked up to Friday's Nature Table at the Magic Onions

How it all started....

This should be at the beginning of the story? Yes, but I forgot. Better late than never!

What is "Enchanted Schoolroom" anyways? A magical place where wizards and warlocks learn about enchantment? Possibly. When the lights are not on, no one is looking, and no one is home. But in the muggle world?

 

It all started when we were making fairy garden in the backyard in planters.

Why a fairy garden? Because the preschool has a fairy club, just for girls, which of course, disqualifies my superheroes!! One day Superman came home, and told me, boys like pretty and sparkly stuff too (I think he was thinking about the fairy wings!). It's not fair. (I hope the fairy queen at the preschool is reading this blog, and taking notes!) So we decided to make our own little fairy garden, where fairies could rest their tired little wings if they wanted to.

We got our planters, potting soil, all the accessories for the boys, I mean gardening tools. 
One more trip to Home Depot, and we had ourselves trees, succulents, and some beautiful smelling vines and "stuff" that attracts humming birds and fairies. A trip to Michaels for elves (most of them did not survive Spidey), a planter that was just my cup of tea, shells and other sparkly things. Another trip to the local nursery (because it is not fair for only girls to be in the fairy club) and we had the most gorgeous moss as a ground cover. 
You don't see it in the pictures? That's because the moss only survived four months, and the pictures here were taken when the fairy garden was a year old. The poor moss was drowned in water by Spidey (because my garden needs lots of water, mom!) But anyhoo, I digress. I should have taken a picture when it was new and beautiful and all green! You snooze, you loose...

Fairies love natural things, you know. So we made a bathtub by hot gluing the shells (a big one for the tub, and two tiny ones as claws - you can spot it if you look real hard in one of the pictures), and some chairs for the fairies by hot gluing two flat sparkly stones, with four tiny stones at the bottom. And all this with only one blister on Batman. Of course, we were always on the lookout for pine cones, nice pieces of barks and twigs, and the perfect pebbles. We put in a cave (a blue ceramic pot turned on its side), a swimming pool (the blue saucer to match the pot), sparkly stones as pathways, shells here and there, and a fence (hot glue craft sticks), you get the picture…. 

I must say, many a fairy  probably had a lovely time puttering around the garden. It did look enchanting. 

We added in a needle felted toadstool house for, of course, the fairies, along with the elves and the occasional snail!  The boys did bring in the felted house indoors later.
We were in the process of adding in a swing from the tree, when Superman said, wouldn't it be super cool if our school looked like this? And we had caves, pools, swings....
We could call it the Enchanted Schoolroom (what can I say, we were reading the Faraway Tree and Enchanted Forest by Enid Blyton).   

The fairy garden a year later, having bravely suffered through the ministrations of the super-heroes!

Well, their preschool does look super cool, with nature trails, a shipwreck play structure, grassy slopes with playhouse, splash zone…

So we decided that when we do "school stuff" at home, we are going to imagine our room is an an enchanted place, nestled in the hill, over looking a pool, with swings to climb and caves to explores, fairies, elves and other animals to play with, with wonderful adventures around every bend and corner - our very own Enchanted Schoolroom!!

I will update the pictures once I pretty up the garden for spring...
In the meanwhile, check out my  Fairy Garden Pinterest board for wonderful gardens, ideas and inspirations!

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