Holiday Sensory Bin

9:00 AM

With Christmas right around the corner I do not have it in the budget to buy a bunch of new gadgets for my toddler's Sensory Bin to enjoy this month, so I ask myself...What do I have for a Sensory Bin for my daughter?

I went to my craft room to see what supplies I have. I find a set of plastic Christmas balls I received last year from my aunt. I also find a hanging cluster of different sized bells, few medium sized snowflake bells and a handful of small bells and scraps of glittered ribbon. I put all the items in an old sturdy basket.

Wow! I am surprised at how pretty the basket looks. The Christmas balls are bright and glittery sitting on the stand in front of our bay window. Simply festive without meaning to use it as decor however I am impressed. I found the place this basket will stay for the next few weeks.

Once my daughter woke from her nap she instantly saw the shiny balls and glittery ribbon. Scampering off the couch she runs to the basket In aww she pulls the basket off the stand and carries the basket around the livingroom.

(This is her hmmm...what I can I do with this expression)

She began grabbing the small bells out of the basket and shaking them. Enjoying the sound she shakes more small bells and then sees the medium bells and begins shaking those too.

I could see the realization cross her face as it registered that the small and medium bells made different sounds. Then she found the cluster of different sized bells with excitement she began playing her own version of jingle bells for the next 10 minutes before boredom creeps in.

The next activity my toddler thought she needed to do was dump out the balls and bells onto the floor.

Then pick up the balls and bells. The dumping and picking up lasted on and off for the rest of the afternoon until some other toy and brother caught her attention. I picked up all the shiney things returning the basket to the stand in front of the window to admire.

Much later that evening after dinner and bathtime new interest for the basket of balls and bells was investigated. My daughter dumped the basket's baubles onto the rug and began really looking at the different textures of the ribbon and balls.

Excitement grew as she realized she was able to pull the ribbon off the balls. I had intentionally left the ribbons untied to see what she would do. She gently pulled at the first ribbon but then more rougher as she pulled on each new ribbon. This kept her interest long enough for mommy to restring the ribbons at least 15 times.

The next experience was comparing the textures of the balls. There are four types of Christmas balls in the colors or red, gold and green. There are smooth, glittered bumpy, disco ball form, and decorated with snowflakes in glitter balls.

It was interesting watching my daughter touch each type of ball and shake her head no as she felt another ball to match the textures. She is a smart little girl that amazes me everyday as I watch her experience new things. Some of the most enjoyable moments I have is just watching my children play and see them growing as they innocently play.

Such a simple and cheap Sensory Bin that my toddler is genuinely loving to play with. There are some great benefits of her playing with this Sensory Bin besides mommy relaxing while watching the fun.

The benefits of my daughter playing with the Jingle Bells include fine motor skills, improving the pincer grasp, strengthening fine muscle control as she shakes the bells, pitch recognition and enjoying independant play.

Some benefits of playing with the Christmas Balls include improving hand-eye coordination, texture recognition, comparison and contrast skills, and cause and effect response from pulling on the ribbons.

Try this simple Sensory Box with extra Christmas supplies. Tell us how your toddler is experimenting with the objects.