sensory tubs

I want to venture into the world of sensory tubs. I've found a few other blogs that promote the use of them and give ideas of how to put them together. I have a few problems though:

- what is the purpose of sensory tubs?
- what are the key elements to a good tub?
- are there any toddler-friendly tub ideas? (i.e. my little one will put everything in his mouth)
- how do you dye rice?

via here

Right now my ideas for tubs are this:
- Valentine's Day (if I can get something put together fast enough)
- Sesame Street
- transportation

Any ideas or advice in this area where I'm definitely clueless would be great. Thanks!

Comments

Kim Aberle said…
Randi,
Something that I did...I used the strings of beads that you put on the Christmas tree. Not the most ideal but it was something that I had and it easy to sort out of there when you are done. Also, I just used stuff that I had, I know that some people get really creative but I could not spend too much money on these. Benji struggles with keeping the toys in the tub so I really don't do this with him TOO much. Kaiya likes it however and I will continue to do this with her. Hope you are well!! Kim
Becky D said…
I don't know how you dye rice, but I know rubbing alcohol and food coloring works for noodles like macaroni...etc...i've seen good sensorty tubs on the gal that does the tot books...shes got a toddler abotu ike/kinzies age....
jfrank said…
at my daycare we use sensory tubs/tables all the time!! We put things like: for the little ones...snow, water with water toys, sand with toys or shells, Easter grass with toys around Easter, pom pom balls, etc....for the older kids we do Washing station (water and plastic baby doll and teach them how to wash),
water matching station (print out rhyming pictures or pictures that can sort, laminate them and use the water to make it fun to match), rocks and toys, etc. they are used to help the children have a sense of different textures and are great hands on learning tools!! Here is a link to a wonderful website: http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_view.aspx?ArticleID=227

i think your boys will love sensorty tubs!!
Unknown said…
I do sensory tubs and my littles love them. I can't wait till my youngest is a little older and I don't have to worry about everything going in his mouth. But for now I keep mine simpler then the one you have pictured.

Example I purchased two big bags of red pompoms, to go with the Valentine theme. I did not add anything else to my tub toy wise. Only added some tongs. I had two tubs side by side and my kids spent about an hour moving them around from tub to tub. (the tubs we used were the ones that someone will get if they are in the hospital but we have some from the dollar tree too)

I have another one that I have pom poms, and big flower erasers in that are small enough for the tub, but not small enough to swallow. Again I found them at the dollar tree. I like to have something heavy and something light in our tubs.

Plastic spoons, cups, measuring spoons, and cardboard tubes are kept separately so I can use them in every tub if I choose.

My kids really like the black bean and cotton ball tub. It is great for heavy/light and dark/light. I can't wait till summer when I can try a frozen tub, Where you freeze stuff in a tub and give the kids salt to help chip the stuff out. Sounds like fun right? :^)

Here is a great website that explains how you dye rice. This is how I do it too, but I air dry. Same goes w/ pasta. My kids love the abc multicolor pasta.

http://www.examiner.com/children-s-crafts-in-atlanta/creating-dyed-rice-and-pasta-for-crafts-and-sensory-play

I hope I helped a little. :^) I say start simple and as your kids grow you can grow too. My 11 year old like to play in these tubs with the littles too. So you have plenty of time to grow!

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