Sensory Sunday: Fairy Lights Box

Sensory Sunday: Exploring the world with little fat fingers.

Remember the box I used ages ago for the ribbon box? It's still around, but now it's full of holes.

A set of Christmas tree lights shoved in the top and a blanket covering those fascinating wires gives us this...

Sooooooo pretty.

And so simple (except for all those holes you have to punch through using a screwdriver with an inquisitive child around who's desperate to join in).

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Sensory Sunday: Straws!

Sensory Sunday: Exploring the world with little fat fingers.



Sometimes it's such simple things! 
The video at the bottom shows just how much fun he had with this.
Absolutely ridiculous. 
But they do make such a good rustle noise and in the tray they make everything all slippery and slidey.

Some for you Mum...

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Sensory Sunday: Noise Making with Pan and Spoons

Sensory Sunday: Exploring the world with little fat fingers.

 This week we went a bit old school. A few pans, two wooden spoons and some time to get used to the awfully loud sound they make.

Zander mostly enjoyed sucking on the ends of the spoons, which was grand until he got excited by his own reflection in the bottom of one of the pans and smashed himself in the gums. No blood though, so it's all fine.

He kind of preferred banging the spoons together rather than the noisy pans.

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Sensory Sunday: Texture Plates

Sensory Sunday: Exploring the world with little fat fingers.

I made some texture plates for Zander, with different fabrics and other random things I found around the house, glued onto paper plates.

Despite how much he hates bubble wrap,and will often cry at the very sight of a whole bunch of the stuff, this plate was a clear favourite. He even ripped it off the plate during his investigations and still didn't react in a negative way. I thought it being stuck down flat made it ok, but he got so intrigued by the bobbles that when he'd got it off it was still interesting and not scary at all.

His other favourite is of course the mirror...which he then had to kiss repeatedly.

Ed loves these plates too and keeps finding moments to ask if he can 'give Zander his plates', then he'll sit with him a play for a bit before tidying them away so they don't get broken. I'll be honest, this whole 'taking care of things and tidying up after himself' is very unlike Ed but I'll enjoy/nurture it while I can.

The plates I made have bubble wrap, cotton wool balls, velvet, denim, cordoroy, towelling, fleece, mirror, fake fur, shiney smooth fabric and a sparkly fabric.

All of these are excellent talking points for different textures.

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Sensory Sunday: Shredded Paper

Sensory Sunday: Exploring the world with little fat fingers.

During a stroke of genius, I decided not to put this all straight in the recycling and thought I'd give Zander some time with it first.

Careful examination...

This is the first time, the very first time, he didn't put it all straight in his mouth. In fact, he never did put any of it in, which is unheard of. He normally gives everything a little taste but not this stuff. Probably helped that he'd just had a massive bowl of poddidge.

Crawling through it makes a good sound.

He thought it was hilarious when I dumped it all on his head, especially when some of it stayed there balanced precariously on his forehead.

Rustle, rustle, rustle.

This week's fun has really made me think about the benefits of sensory and messy play. I tend to save these activities just for Zander; I wait until the bigger boys are at school and then do it. It's nice because lets face it, if I didn't do this, all of Zander's Mummy one-on-one time would probably just be watching me do all the housework and I feel a hell of lot less guilty spending some time cleaning up once I've spent some serious quality time with my little Zander Boo.

But, I wonder...what about the bigger boys? They get one-on-one time with me too, so it's not about that.While we played, it occurred to me how much the boys would love to have a chance to throw this stuff about too and that maybe I should give them an opportunity. For them, even though they are well past the baby exploration stage, it would still be a joyfully sensory exploration of a different kind. Mostly, they'll probably just go completely wild, but it may also be a chance for us to spend some quality time together too. They'd probably love to experience 'silly' mummy for a moment too.

As I expected, it went very well...

Then Nanny came over and got buried alive.

And then we cleaned up together and got the living room back to normal...well...our normal at least.

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Sensory Sunday: Balloon Room

Sensory Sunday: Exploring the world with little fat fingers.

We went our local play center and found this rather clever section. The netting is covered in clear PVC and the roof has four fans, one in each corner, blowing the air down, making all the balloons dance around. As soon as I saw it, I know Zander would love it in there, being a big fan of balloons. (He has one that lives in the living room. When it's not stuck in a corner, he's chasing it around the floor growling at it).

He had a lovely few minutes in there until he started to struggle to catch one, then he got annoyed, but it was probably more to do with it being lunch time. Some Mummy hugs and a little play in the safety of my legs and then we were done.

Thinking about it, this could totally be done at home, you just need a small room, maybe a hall way, and a few fans both ends...could be fun.

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Sensory Sunday: Ball Pit

Sensory Sunday: Exploring the world with little fat fingers.

For some reason, we have a few ball pit balls mixed in with Zander's toys. I've tried to work out where they've come from and I just haven't managed it. He loves them, he mostly sucks on them and watches them roll. There's something marvelous about a lovely round ball.

This week we went to our local play center for the first time and this is the first time he's experienced this many balls.

He crawled off, and just lay there for a while, kicking his legs.

Then he realised how much work it was going to be to crawl back through it all and had a bit of a moan all the way back to me.

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Sensory Sunday: Loom Band Sensory Bottle

Sensory Sunday: Exploring the world with little fat fingers.

This week, inspired by Pinterest (as usual), I made Zander a loom band sensory bottle.

Easy as pie; put water, loom bands (not too many, think I used too many) and a few drops of glycerine in a bottle and seal it up.

I wish I had a got a photo of his face when I first showed it to him for you, but I was enjoying the moment, but I promise you it was absolute pure wonder. Then he promptly wondered off.

I took these photos a few days later.

He likes it, but once he's sucked on the ends for a bit he's done with it. It might be more loved by an older child who would either spend their time watching the bands swirl about, or try and get the thing open and flood the floor...

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