Sensory Tubs

I set out Presley’s water table a few months ago and noticed that she played in it for a few minutes and then lost interest. This was crazy to me because she loves water and she has always loved this table….it used to entertain her for hours! A lot of my mommy friends use “sensory tubs” with their little toddlers and so I thought I would give it a try. Last March, while Presley and I were planting a few flowers, I decided to create a sensory pan with dirt, fake grass, and flowers in it so that she could play in the dirt without getting into the flower beds. Presley loved it and was entertained for hours…for about a week and a half. I ended up having to switch out the contents of these sensory tubs quite often and eventually I exhausted all of my creative juices. Thankfully, I am addicted to “former teacher turned stay-at-home mommy bloggers” so I was able to get lots of ideas from their blogs. Here are some great links to using sensory tubs...

Early Childhood News: Why Sensory Tubs?

Sensory Tub Ideas

Counting Coconuts: Sensory Tubs

Most of our sensory tubs are done outside as they tend to be extremely messy. Sara created a sensory tub last week with colored rice She kept it outside in the back yard. Her boys LOVED playing in it and Reid asked to play in it several times while we were at her house last Sunday for Memorial Day. Also, Presley is very visual so she tends to keep things out of her mouth now, but for some reason she has a liking for dirt. She doesn’t like the way it feels on her feet or hands, but she likes to put it in her mouth and then wipe it out…don’t ask me why! Anyhow, I usually have to watch her closely when she is playing in her tubs to make sure she doesn’t swallow anything.

My favorite thing about Sensory tubs is that they cost little to nothing to keep up and provide for hours of entertainment over a few weeks time. :o) Presley has never had a ton of toys, but she does have a handful that are pretty pricey and rarely used. Every day during her room time I can usually find her reading books, playing in her kitchen, getting into her dress up trunk, or playing with all of my nail polish by lining them up and re-organizing them.