Bird's Nest Sensory Bin

It's time for a new sensory bin in our house.  Lately we've been doing a lot of one time sensory activities like our Rainbow Jello, Oobleck Color Mixing, Ice Cube Building Blocks, etc.   As much as both boys have loved those bins, I have to remind myself how much JM enjoys scooping, dumping and pouring.  I don't need to make every bin so involved.  It's time to dump our cloud dough bin that is in the sensory table and put this Bird's Nest bin in its place.

Supplies:

bird seed

watering cans (Dollar Tree)

yellow tin with handles (Dollar Tree)

natural rafia

birds (Dollar Tree)

butterflies (Dollar Tree)

I kept it simple, because I wanted plenty of bird seed and room for JM to play freely.

I expected him to immediately scoop up some seeds in a watering can.  Instead he reached for the birds and played with them.

He put some seeds in the yellow tin and held a birdie close, because "He's hungry."

He made the birds fly, tweet to each other, and eat.

Then he dumped the seeds out of the tin and poured pretend water in it, so the birds could drink.

He thought the birds should take a nap in one of the watering cans.  He was very particular about it.  He didn't want any rafia in with the birds.

The moment I was expecting happened.  He suddenly asked, "Can me dump it???"  When I replied, "Of course," off he went...

He pretended to take a drink.

Then he put seeds in the yellow tin with a piece of rafia sticking straight up like a candle, and he sang "Happy Birthday" to me.

Like I said, this bin will go in our sensory table to be explored for many days or weeks to come. It is for JZ, too, but he was still napping when I showed it to JM. This post perfectly sums up why I love sensory bins. How many toys are flexible enough for small world play including feeding and caring for birds, motor skills with scooping and pouring, baking a birthday cake, singing, and construction play? (After the birthday cake JM started using the watering cans and yellow tin as machinery, and he did some serious "work".) Oh to have the imagination of a two year old.

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