Cereal Sensory Bin

Wading into sensory play with a baby is not easy.  It's trial and error of anxiety and mess.  I've been trying sensory play with my younger one here and there, and it's been rough.  I'll just say that he likes to eat play dough more than some of his vegetables.  It's been a learning process for me because my older son was nowhere near as oral of a baby as this one!  I could trust my older son to make marks with crayons and poke holes in dough without trying to take a bite every few seconds, he was easy to supervise during play.

This little guy is an adventurer.  He planks the dishwasher door, tries to stand in the slippery tub, turns himself around in a shopping cart to hang over the back of the seat to grab what he can out of the basket (some buckles are never snug enough), and wants to climb into the washing machine.  There is no resting when he is awake.

I realized I needed to take a little step back and provide something friendlier for him, so I made use of edible items.

Leftover stale cereal and a few different sized funnels held his attention for a solid 30 minutes.  I used Rice Krispies and Kix.

He filled the funnels with handfuls of cereal, clapped the funnels together, tried stacking the funnels, ate cereal, and made a mess of course.

I let him explore on his own as well as show him how a funnel traditionally works, making the cereal "rain" into the bin, and how to make the cereal "disappear."  We took turns popping cereal into the small opening because upside down funnels make great fine motor tools.

Sensory bin exploration wouldn't be complete without using something in a new way...did you know yelling into a funnel can be fun too?  Hearing the different sounds his voice can make was almost as fun as eating the cereal out of it.

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