Playing and Learning

Here we are at the end of the Spring Break holiday week and I have hardly achieved any of the activities that I want to do with the kids … sigh. However today I did ask Lulu and Sami to help me wash some beans for our upcoming sensory box. (A Sensory Box is a container filled with any kind of tactile material that kids explore with their hands. With a Sensory Box children are using their sight, touch and smell to experience their environment in a totally new way. It’s a great way for children to engage their senses and also to relax. ref: aplaceofourown.org)

I have been following a very good blog Teacher Tom and I am trying ever so hard to follow his example and let my kids “lead” the play rather than me dictate how we should do things. Sure it means more mess, it takes longer, it does not always work out as I had planned but now I realise that they are learning more this way (and maybe I am learning more too!). So with that in mind I stood back and let them do their thing.

The look on Sami’s face when he held the strainer over himself instead of the bucket and placed the scoop of water and beans into it was priceless. He was so shocked to get wet and was upset that it had not happened to me when I did it.

Also the feeling of stepping on the beans was not so nice and in-between the ouches and ooos and ahhs they figured out is better to try and keep the beans on the sheet.

We are using dried green peas and soya beans. These were the least expensive beans I could find that seemed to suit little hands.

The kids could not resist but start playing with the second bucket on the table of soya beans that was yet to be cleaned.

I knew they would and I had snuck some plastic bottle caps in, which we are saving for flower art, and they squealed with excitement on discovering their hidden treasure.  After Sami left Lulu started measuring the beans to see how many scoops fit in a cup etc. (You will be happy to know she had a haircut later in the day!).

Patient little Eyad was a spectator in the final 10 minutes. Gosh being back to that stage of watching what is around and what the baby can put into his mouth is mentally exhausting LOL. Here is Lulu smothering loving Eyad as usual.

Later in the afternoon it was time for a little splash outside.

Yes that is a rubber snake not a real one in the pool!

Poor Lulu she looks like she is being trodden on but she is quite a stubborn little one and would not move for the boys to play.

Thanks for stopping by …