sensory boxes

Super creative moms are all over the blogospehere right now.  Like, make you feel like a terrible, worthless, you aren't doing anything to stimulate your child, what you don't have an entire closet dedicated to stimulating your child's curiosity? kind of moms.

Ok, I'm kidding about that.  But, that's how I feel sometimes.  There are days where getting Isla June fed and dressed are an accomplishment.  There, I said it.  Motherhood is hard, yo.  And finding time and inspiration to be creative, well, sometimes that takes the back burner.

We did sensory tasks in the classroom, so I know that they are a great thing, but having the resources and space for them at home can be quite difficult.

But, this is a super easy thing to do.

So, one night while making dinner, I whipped this little "sensory box" together for my making dinner time is my cranky needy time toddler.

and, voila!

Some leftover pasta in a metal pan with bowls and cups.

And yes, she did try and eat the pasta.  Oh well.

but, it gave me 10 minutes of solid, independent play.

and it was free-ish, since I already had everything on hand.

We're going to try it again, but, I'm going to gather up other (free or cheap) supplies and really spend some time with her while she's doing it to help support and guide her play.  Then we might have less tasting of the materials.  Well, hopefully.