Structured Play

Children's fine or small motor skills develop at a different rate, like any skill. As a generalization, boys fine motor skills tend to strengthen later than girls. We have all noticed children struggling with holding a pencil, coloring, cutting, and especially with handwriting.  Here is a diagram of pencil holds and ages children move through the stages. But what happens when a five or six year old is still in the digital grasp stage? How do you help a child that is not comfortable trying a tripod grasp?  Pencil Grip Holders can really help guide a child into the correct grasp but it is not an end all be all for every child. To truly build that fine motor skill children need to strengthen the muscles in their hands. The best way to strengthen the hand muscles is to give children time to PLAY with their hands!  Building with LEGOS Play with Play-doh Explore in Sensory Boxes Providing opportunities for children to use their ...

Joey enjoys turning his sensory box into a make shift kitchen. This month their are beans, a toy pumpkin, gords and counting blocks. He poured and stirred the beans making sure all other items were out of the box. He used the pumpkin to make pumpkin pie and we pretended to eat it. He also spent time counting the blocks and the beans. Remember the purpose of a sensory box is to explore texture, pouring, scooping. From there it is up to their imagination! Let them explore and pretend!

The two little guys enjoyed playing with dry rice, foam apples, red cotton balls, acorns, silk flowers, walnuts, etc. They used spoons and bowls from our play kitchen taking the sensory box a step further in play- making Apple pie and Apple sauce.  I have had comments asking about how I control the mess of sensory box. My answer is I don't. Yes, my kids make a huge mess but hey they are kids when don't they make a huge mess? I am sitting and playing with them so I do not let them purposefully just dump but you cannot expect them to Keep every grain of rice in the box. I put the box away when we are finished and reserve the sensory box for Structured Play time.  Pouring and dumping, feeling different textures their hands that is what Sensory Play is all about. You do not have to be too creative in setting it up, leave that to the kids. They will quickly figure out how to play with the box. 

Our November Sensory Box includes corn kernels as the base. I have leaves, pumpkins, acorns and scarecrow and pilgrim faces. Both boys enjoyed playing in the box. Jake (3) pretended he was a farmer and was using the corn to "feed" the animals. Joey (13 months) practiced pouring and dumping the corn and the acorns. It is great practice and a fun playing prompt for both boys. But I will warn you, it makes a MESS!  I have used the same Sensory Box materials for 3 years. I have 12 plastic shoe boxes that I use as storage. I have pulled the shoe boxes out and filled the Sensory Box each month for 3 years. Jake does not remember the box from year to year and still has fun with the material although it is fading slightly. When you are thinking of creating these boxes, 12 to use over and over for at least 3 years does not seem so bad! 

This month I threw in some beans as a base, little pumpkins, puff balls, cups, unifix cubes, flowers and some leaves. For the first time in 2 years, Jake showed  no interest in the Sensory Box. He didn't want to play in there even when I sat and explored. I think he has out grown the box or at the very least needs a break from it. But the good news is Joey has stepped right in! He really enjoyed the box for the first time. He has just turned 1 year old so he is just the age when I started Structured Play for Jake. Jake and Joey are completely different kids and it is fun to see! Jake never made a total mess out of the box but let me tell you Joey had a great time throwing those beans as far as he could. Ugh, it was a total mess. BUT, it is part of the learning process. I cannot take away the box and say, "nope you aren't ready!" Instead I need to teach him how to use the box. He did take some time to explore in a more delicate way. He picked up some items and...

This month's Sensory Box is filled with red! We have apples, flowers, feathers, puff balls and more! I used rice as the filler and put a couple bowls and spoons in.  I let him explore on his own for a while then I started asking questions and exploring/modeling with him. After seeing him count the puff balls I pulled out an egg carton and some tweezers to add a little motor skill practice.  A Sensory Box is purely exploration. Children are to just have free rein to play and explore. Do not push and do not "ask" of them during this time. If they are at a loss of what to do with the box then it is a good idea to model playing yourself but try not to "tell" them how or what to play. 

Water Box! This month's Sensory Box is filled with water! How fun! I cut out fish and sharks from foam and sponges. I also put in blue marbles (Fish food), a net, bowl, and magnifying glass.  Jake was so happy to play in the water. He caught fish with the net and stuck them to the side of the box. I encouraged him to count the fish and he did so willingly. He is a great little counter! He did the same thing with the "fish food".  For the Sensory Boxes I just sit back and watch. I let him do his thing and explore unprompted. Some times he will ask me to play with him. He never really needs inspiration or modeling with the Sensory Boxes at this point. When I started introducing them once a month I did model and prompt him but at this stage he does not need it.  He still loves pouring! I will bring out the Sensory Box at least once a week this month, more if he asks for it! *Note: I have the box on our island counter top. Last year I di...

Today we pulled out this month's Sensory Box. As you can see I have black beans as the base and the pretend dirt, there are four flower pots, flowers, bugs and a watering can.  We began today by reading Secrets of the Garden. This book took us through the process of starting a garden and watching it grow. As I read the story Jake created a garden with the Sensory Box. After Jacob planted his garden he watered the flowers and dug around in the dirt looking for bugs. He got a kick out of the bugs and enjoyed playing with them. Jacob played a while then he started pouring the beans in and out of the flower pots. Pouring is a favorite skill of toddlers. It is a great skill to build and can be transferred into multiple scenarios. He then started "making smoothies" with the beans, bugs and flower pots. I asked what kind of smoothies he was making and he told me bug smoothies! This is too funny because I know just what he is talking about. A couple weeks ago ...

Pin It For this month's Sensory Box I used shredded gift bag filler, heart erasers, heart noise makers, heart measuring cups, foam hearts, and foam words. The words are; love, hugs, and kisses. I had Jacob start exploring inside the box while I observed him. I wanted to see what he would do with the items on his own.    First thing he did was to grab the noise maker and use it to pick up the bag filler. He called the noise makers cranes! He lifted the bag filler with his "crane" and dropped it outside of the box. (Messy month!!) I could not believe that he looked at a red, white and pink box filled with hearts and he saw a construction project! He never ceases to amaze me! A Crane? He went to town playing in the box! He had so much fun picking up the filler and dropping it outside of the box. He made all the sound effects of a crane. He then used the heart shaped measuring cups as dump trucks and went around and picked up the filler. He gave me one and ...

Pin It Still no snow in our neck of the woods so I had to get creative... There is a fun project going around Pinterst that I thought looked perfect for us to try! It was on Toys in the Dryer .  I bought a bar of Ivory Soap and cut it in fourths. I took 1/4 and microwaved it! Yes, put it in the microwave and started her up! We watched and quickly a change happened! Peek in there to see! Jake was mesmerized! How fun! The soup grows slowly and largely (that is why we used 1/4 of the bar). I am not sure what the chemical reaction is that causes this to happen, we aren't ready for the technical part of the experiment, but it sure is cool to watch. We pulled it out after the soap stopped growing. I do not know the exact time but it was about 30-60 seconds. The soap comes out pretty cool to the touch, but I still had it sit before letting Jake touch it. We "cooked" all of the soap creating a nice size for some "snow" removal!   I placed the ...

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 rul...

This month's Sensory Box is filled with split peas, gift boxes, wooden- trees, reindeer and Santas, stockings and spoons. Jake wanted to add a dump truck and digger as well. (no surprise there!) I started by introducing each piece of the box then I allowed him to explore the box while I read, The Wild Christmas Reindeer by Jan Brett. (Great book!) I made sure to make connections with the book and the box.  After the story I decided to replicated a part of the story where Santa and the reindeer take off to deliver presents. I used his red wagon toy and the other items from the sensory box. I modeled for him how to play with the items. I pulled the wagon with the reindeer and mimicked Santa delivering gifts from his sleigh. He loved it and quickly took over.  (-I would like to make a statement here about the importance of modeling play. Jake is 2 years old and at this point he still needs help with using his imagination to play. He loves playing but is limited in e...