Young children love to learn about the five senses and the sense of touch is a favorite. I can remember using a mystery box when I was in preschool. It was one of the my favorite activities! So I reached into my box of trash treasure to find the materials to create a new tactile mystery box for my own kids. [Read more…]
The Tooth, The Whole Tooth, And Nothing But The Tooth
Cross-Curricular Activities to Explore Dental Health
The tooth, the whole tooth, and nothing but the tooth! Check out this collection of fun and GROSS activities to engage young children in the exploration of teeth! Practice flossing with play dough, count, add, and subtract with ‘plaque’, and explore ways to keep your teeth clean.
See What’s Sticking In My House!
DIY Dramatic Play Garden
Earlier this summer, I got to spend a week with my brother, sister and their families. We each have 2 kids and they are all under the age of 8. It was a thrilling time for all the kids!
I loved getting to see and play with my niece and nephews. My niece is crazy for duct tap, so I decided to get her involved in making vegetables for a sensory bin. As soon as she started creating, all the other kids joined in, too.
The 7 of us spent at least four amazing hours elbow deep in duct tape. All the creations in the pictures were created by kids, 5-8 years old. Absolutely amazing, if you ask me!
I created DIY directions, so you can make your own duct tape vegetable garden!
There are 3 options for creating the carrots and radishes. Option #1-
Option #2-
This version is very light, in case you have kids that tend to hit others with learning materials… They can’t do much damage with this veggie.
Option #3-
You can create radishes, turnips, beets and green onions in the same way as the carrots. Use rounded stones or plastic spoons to create the base of these vegetables.
I hope that you found these directions useful and would love to hear about your creations, too! Have fun with the incredibly sticky duct tape!
DIY: Small Sensory Table
I love blogs! It allows us to share our ideas with other teachers and parents! I found an amazing blog, A Teaching Mommy. She is a teacher, turned stay-at-home mom, just like me! Madonna provides some amazing directions for a $30 sensory table. You can get her directions here. I love her table, but needed a smaller table for my home. We live in a smaller house with not a lot of room, so I really need to maximize my space. I wanted the fun of the sensory table, but in a small dose.
If you have a large home, or classroom, you will want to check out Madonna’s directions. If you need a smaller version, you can check out mine 🙂 My version costs a little more, because I chose this specific tub. I made a few small changes to the lengths of a few of the pipes. Now, it is more sturdy and tight around the tub. The new measurements have been uploaded to the pictures.
It was $10, but it is very sturdy and I really wanted the clips that hold the tub closed.
I already had a pair of PVC cutters from my Mini Anchor Chart project.
The PVC cutter makes it really easy to cut the PVC pipe and leaves a really clean cut. My husband is doing it here, but it is just as easy for me to use.
Supplies:
I got 6 pieces of PVC pipe, but I only needed 5. Here are the dimensions of the stand. Top view:
Side view:
This really was easy to put together! We built the top of the stand first.
We used my daughter as a model to make the stand height perfect for her.
Here is a view of the finished project with the tub inside.
Here is a the tub with the top locked on.
Of course, we had to test it out! The kids loved fishing for letters.
It’s just as fun to pour water.
They loved building with extra PVC pipe, too.
Pop-Pop was wonderful to drill holes in the bottom of extra PVC pipes and elbows. It was really cool to watch the wonder in their eyes, as they watched the water pour through the different sized holes.
I am so happy with this creation. My kids can’t get enough of it!!
My favorite part of this table is that it fits right into the tub. When we aren’t using the table, I can pack it up and put it away. For me, this was a necessity!
If you need some spray paint that sticks to PVC, check out these affiliate links! Hope you find these directions useful! Let me know, if you were able to make it work for you. Thanks so much for stopping by 🙂
