Toddler Sensory Bin Roundup

I had mention in a previous post that we did sensory activities on the weekend for our toddler population this summer. This was a HUGE success and we quickly realized that even though we aimed the activities at kids ages 2-4, it was popular with the whole family!! Even parents and teenage siblings were getting in on the fun.

We had a general set of rules for playing with our bins (Not leaving children unattended or taking items out of the bin and carrying them to other parts of the library) Our staff was also made away that while it wasn't their job to babysit everyone coming to play with the sensory bins, they should keep a watchful eye out to make sure our materials were being used with properly. This was important because our materials were out in the open. While we had a drop cloth and worked to pick up any major messes when they happened, we didn't have a contained play area. We had to make sure that our young patrons got along well with the materials in the sensory bins as well as respecting the other areas and patrons of the library. Not an easy task, but I'm safe to report no one smashed play dough into the reference computers or dropped an armload of paperbacks into the water bin! I would just stress with everything getting your co-workers on board with a project like this or at least aware of what's happening, otherwise you might end up with cranky co-workers.

We had six weeks of sensory activities on the weekend. We covered the Five Senses: Touch, Smell, Sight, Sound, Taste and had a water table for our last week.

Touch- We had two bins of Moon Sand and Cloud Dough, along with shovels, cups and other sculpting material- More about that here, on my first post about our sensory bins this summer.

Smell- I had a bin of Scented Rainbow Rice and some Kool Aid Playdough. The rice idea came from Growing a Jeweled Rose which used the Duncan Hines Icing flavors to scent the rice.  Just one tiny Pinterest fail.For some reason one of colors of rice got moldy when I was making it so I had to throw it out so there was very little pink in the rainbow. I had used the rice bin the night before in my toddler storytime. A good number of activities were recycled from storytime, which was the night before I set up the sensory bins for the weekend. We had four colors/scents of playdough and I don't think they lasted 10 minutes before all the colors got mixed up. I loathed having other kids mix up the colors or playdough or clay when I was a kid >:( Still do I guess.

Sight- We made up an I spy bottle with leftover rice, lots of odds and ends from our craft supplies and a 2-liter bottle. We also had several other discovery bottles that focused on colors, shapes and density. Great information about making your own Science Discovery bottles over at Laguna Preschool.

Sound- Again I used leftover from Toddler Storytime. I had plenty of rainstick crafts as well as a bin full of egg shakers, bells and other noise makers. We also had a built your own shaker station using those little 8 oz Soda bottles. This was our own hiccup. Many of the older kids filled up the bottle all the way with the intend on taking supplies home, instead of  just using a little to make them shake. One of my co-workers had to ask a girl to please not take two bottles filled with pony beads. So the make you own shaker station lasted a day.

Taste- A challenge. We didn't want to make anything edible because of the risk of allergies and other dietary needs. Our simple solution, play food which is always a treat for our kids because we don't have a play kitchen or imaginative play area like some library do.

Water- I think this was the one kids and parents had the most fun with! We had a sink or float table with more odds and ends available to for kids to test in the water. Grown-ups where very interactive with the kids asking them to make guesses on what would sink or float and why! Also the kids were very creative and vocal with their critical thinking.

We also had handouts with sensory activities for kids and parents to try at home as well as a give-away (a container of playdough, sticker, etc.) Looking back, I would skip all that! We had signs telling patrons to ask for these items at the desk, but they were too busy enjoying the experience to care. Which is the point. So handout are a noble effort, but in hindsight a waste of time(and money). For the next round, we are going to have play for all, so we will probably not call it Toddler Sensory Lab anymore, but a more generic and welcoming name.

Our efforts hopefully created many positive experiences for families visiting the library that they can connect with when they think about using the library again. Not everyone has the luxury of crafty stay at home moms/dads who can make them oddles of sensory bins to play at home. But I'll keep researching the digital stacks of Pinterest to bring more sensory activities to my patrons in the future.

Storytime from the Liberry: The Five Senses

Once upon a time there was a girl who wanted to do storytime about the five senses. How easy. I'll find a book about each sense! Eyes, Ears, Tasting, Touch, Smelling.

For kids who are 2 and 3......*tire screech*

That was my plan long ago when I first thought of doing a storytime about the 5 senses. Doing five activities for each of the sense would work great for older kids, but not toddlers so much. But wouldn't any book as long as it motivates them and has them use actions and their senses to experience it work? Yes I think so!

So on that thought I present Fizz Boom Bang! A storytime about the 5 Senses!

Books:

The Bear Went over the Mountain by Iza Trapani- The only book that truley covered the 5 senses. A great book to sing to!

The Ear Book by Al Perkins

Press Here by Herve Tullet- I asked kids if they wanted to help press the buttons but I only had two enthusiastic helpers! This interactive book is great for all ages really.

Yummy Yucky !  By Leslie Patricelli- I love this book even though it might be more for babies. It was great to ask the kids what they thought was yummy and yucky. It was an easy book to interact with.

Songs:
Head Shoulder Knees and Toes
Do Your Ears Hang Low?

Where is Your Finger- (Tune of "In an Out the  Window")
Where is your Finger?
Where is your finger?
Where is your finger?
Show me if you can? (Repeat with other body parts)

Walking Walking (Tune of "Frere Jacques")
Walking, walking, walking, walking
Hop hop hop! Hop hop hop!
Jumping, jumping, jumping, jumping, jumping, jumping.
Now we stop! Now we stop!
(Repeat with other movements. First time I used this song and it was great to get the wiggles out before we got to our big dance song)

For our after storytime activity we had a bin of rainbow rice and sensory bottles on the tarp. I was hoping they would play with half and half but they all seemed to crowd around the sensory bin and had a great time burying each others hands!

The last time the colors of the rice would ever be separated!

Toddler Sensory Lab- Touch

We are experimenting with new idea at our library in the spirit of our summer reading program;
Fizz Boom Read!

One new idea is having open play center we call our "Toddler Sensory Lab"  Each week we are filling our sensory bins/tubs with sensory materials. Each week focuses on one of the five senses.

After carefully planning and a good amount of stressing(What if kids throw sand in each other eyes? What if they carry off playdough to the reference computer and smash it in the keyboards? What if my cranky co-workers complain about the mess and the noise?)-we started our first lab on Friday. So far it's been really popular!

Our first week focuses on Touch. I have bins of Moon Sand and Cloud Dough available to dig in as well cups,buckets and digging tools.We geared activities for age groups 2-4 years old, but I figure it can be open to everyone as long as they all "played nice in the sandbox"  (Figuratively and literally as they we actually had a sandbox!)

Our basic rules were that children were not to be unattended at the table (especially our really young ones) and that if parents and caregivers could help us keep the rest of the library clean by keeping all the materials in the bins. We are also on the watch out for rough play.

We have a sheet of prompts on the tables encouraging our caregivers to get their hands dirty and talk about different textures. We've had a great response from kids trying to guess what our cloud dough was made of. (Sand? Soap?) We have an activity sheet with a song, book list and seven activities to try at home (one for each day of the week). Also the kids can take home a little portion cup of moon sand to play with at home.

Moon Sand - Or bargain basement Kinetic Sand as I call it. 4 cups Play Sand, 2 Cups cornstarch, and 1 cup water. Gritty, course, slightly damp, Great for molding and sculpting.

Cloud Dough- 8 cups Flour, 1 cup Baby Oil (which makes it smell oh so nice) Mold-able and firm but at the same time can crumple in your hands. Fascinating to kids.

Also fascinating to librarians. I loved making hand prints in this stuff!

Looking for other sensory activities for your library? Have you accepted Pinterest as your savior?
Search for"Sensory Activities" or "Sensory Play" and you'll have oodles to choose from!

Also we are growing butterflies at the library. "Did you want to help us make a butterfly? A real one!? Not one made of paper and glue!" I called out from the desk trying to get kids interested. Our head librarian bought a grow your own butterfly kit and so we will be raising caterpillars to become painted lady butterflies over the next month. I had to disappoint one patron who wanted to take two of them home for her kids (Sorry they stay at the library) Also we are trying to devise a way to keep them on display but safe from curious hands. Our caterpillars do not like to be shaken! We decided a Tupperware container with "Please do not touch" sign should work (I hope).

EDIT: We have over 100 kids visit our sensory lab over the weekend! Woohooo!