Questions and Answers

I have had a few questions asked multiple times and I thought I would share them on a post. Jumping into a Structured Play program can be very daunting. If you have not checkout my Getting Started Page, you should do so. It will give some further guidance. Here are a few Q&As about Sensory Boxes...

1. Do you wash and dry all the beans/stones items in the box first?
No, I do not wash the beans, rocks or other 'filler'. We wash hands after and they do not make too much of a mess with a little dust.

2. Won't your child spill those beans "outside" the box and how do you manage it?
I have a very strict rule with our Structured Play time and space. I have just always started this way and continue to enforce the rules. They spill out of the box and that is uncontrollable for the most part. If they spill, he and I just pick them up. If he spills them on purpose to break the rules I put the box away. He knows this rule and for the most part he follows the rule unless he is really tired. When I first introduced the box I was very strict with the rules about it staying in the box and repeated it over and over and warned him not to spill. I took it away first thing when he tested me and did it on purpose. Now I do not have to remind him, he knows!

3. What if he scope and place it in a cup and take it out to another location? Do you allow him to do that? Because those beans are very small, Do you have to be careful with it and not allow any of it left around?
Our Structured Play area is in another room from his everyday play/toy area. It is a small area that we do Structured Play in and I do let him move them around. Some months he is using the box as a kitchen set-up and is really pretending to cooking. This is something I did not really intend but love how he is using his imagination. So I am letting him move to the little table we have set up so he can "cook". With the rocks in August, I did not let him move them out of the box. So I guess it just depends on what the activities are and how he is playing with them. If our room was in the main living space, I would be more strict and more careful with keeping them in the box. And when we are finished he is expected to clean everything up!

Thanks again for the questions! Please feel free to ask questions you come across as you work through your activities!

Comments

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Structured Play

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