Sensory Kits are rice plus toys and kids love them ...say what the what?

Thomas the Train Sensory Kit

After Pinterest first came out, I found several ideas for my Preschooler Playtime Board all related to using a bucket filled with rice plus random items.

...something called 'Sensory Kits'.....

My thoughts went something like this -- "So rice which is an every day item and easy to vacuum up without much regret plus a spoon or magnifying glass and just bonus stuff to sort though.  

What???? No way. And kids like this? Say What?? Shut the front door."

Yes, my thoughts exactly....until I made my own and gave it to my littles...who played for an hour.  

(Again, SayWhat???) Here they are at ages 2 and 4. We practiced stringing, lacing, sorting, color recognition, and more. Then we dumped it all back into the box and did it again!!

We did have a mess of rice on the floor but for a momma who hates playdough and little boys who hate writing, we needed a non-electronic activity to encourage fine motor growth and finger strength. 

I searched all over and found lots of 'themed' kits and then made up my own!! 

My boys enjoy the movie CARS as well as Thomas the Train so these kits are their favs. 

And since I have several nieces plus lots of friends with little girls, I came up with sets for Disney Princesses, Hello Kitty and Tinkerbell. 

Priced at just $20 and it comes with an instruction sheet to guide you through several activity ideas!

(plus shipping) Email to order!

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Feel free to search my pages on Pinterest. 

For more awesome sensory kit ideas, here are 3 of my original favorite pins about sensory kits!

1. This sensory kit would work well with the ABC Busy Bag and rice from a sensory kit!

from www.pre-kpages.com

2. This kit would be fun with the tweezers Bead Threading Busy Bag!

from teaching2and3yearolds.com

And 3. We now use a cookie sheet under our sensory box to catch the rice...and how cool would it be to have rainbow rice!

Here is how to dye rice from www.ehow.com/ehow-mom

Please comment below with any pins you love and want to share with us!!!

Order of Busy Bags = Lots of Preschooler Fun!

Shipped out an order of all ready-made busy bags which means a little preschooler is in store for hours of fun!!

As I was collecting the items for this order, my 3 year old kept asking, "Ooh, what's that?" and "Oooh, cool." and "Mommy, that looks fun!" 

Block Buildings -- houses from the imagination of a 5 year old

My 5 year old impresses me with his lego creations. On a regular basis he will pull out the basket of duplo blocks or regular legos and start creating. 

My ideas include making...um, a house, and a road, and um...another house. Then I sit back and watch my boys build much "grander" creations than I could have thought of.  On this particular day, my kiddos decided they needed a home for their Zhu Zhu pets. We spent time creating their home and then the boys spent a long time pretend playing and sharing stories about their pets. 

When we first bought legos, I searched all over Pinterest and found a few good ideas (preschooler playtime pin board here)...but then I spent more time looking than we did playing. Honestly, the boys have more fun when we just sit together and they create!!

One thing about parenting that I've been surprised by is that I've forgotten how to play - and have been glad that my kids teach me just as much as I teach them!

Excited to send out orders of busy bags and sensory kits!

Oh I wish I could see the faces of the momma and kiddos who will be opening their order this week! I felt excited seeing all the activities when packaging them up! 

Was happy to give a discount for ordering several busy bags AND a sensory kit. 

...and even more excited to treat them with a bonus *mystery* bag!

Here's to a *cheers* wish and prayers over all the parents playing with kids this week ~ may your time be enjoyable, quality time filled with lots of giggles, and with kids who listen because they feel loved with your attention during playtime. :)

Quick links to busy bag round up list

Reminder ~ The fastest way to find quick links in this blog is by clicking the link on the top right titled: 
Master List of Busy Bags and Sensory Kits

And with all the new viewers lately, I'll go ahead and repost highlights here with links. Thanks for visiting and reading and playing with your kids!!
~Rachel



NEW! Sensory Kits
Basic Toddler Busy Bags:
(2 year olds to 4 year olds – as well as some mature 18 month olds)
Alphabet Match-up
Match Me Cards
Beginner Busy Bags:
(3 year olds to 5 year olds – and for mature 2.5 year olds)
Snip-A-Chip
Rainbow Bright
Classy Colors
Pop the Popsicle
The 3 P’s
Mr. Push It
Bead Threading

Advanced Busy Bags:
(4 year olds up to 6 year olds)
Twist-Ties
Pop the Popsicle (using the harder words on the sticks)
Toothpick Trace
…more to come!

Please be aware that these contain small parts that can be a risk for unsupervised small children. Take time to educate your child on appropriate use to reduce the risk of choking, suffocation or other injury.

Buttons for toddlers means: sorting, sizes, drawing and picking up!

While momma made art with buttons to celebrate the beginning of our local ball season....

....my two littles spent their time sorting buttons.

And while we were being crafty, I spent time with them asking questions about size and color and textures. 

My 3year old asked if he could draw so we practiced making lines then putting buttons on his drawing. Teaching him to write has been harder for me since he's a lefty--so if he asks to write, I give him whatever is available and tell him to go for it!

Then my 20-month-old kept me on my toes and decided to dump buttons from the glass jars then tried to roll the jars along the floor.  These jars held jam my grandparents used to make and are probably 30+yrs old so we quickly changed pace by sorting buttons into egg cartons.  

Never a quiet moment in this house of 4 boys!

As always, keep a close eye when using buttons around little ones. I'm obviously on the floor playing right along with them. :) 

Any other ideas of what you have done with buttons for your kiddos? Please comment to share!

The Bead Threading Busy Bag

As my kids continue to play with their sensory kits and busy bag boxes, I get to trust them more n' more with fun activities like this ones that include beads and several tools to practice threading!

My 5 year old enjoys threading his own "designs" while my 3 year old loves to pattern match -- and we all enjoy taking a turn using the tongs!! Infact, these tongs get used in several other busy bags since they are so fun to use to pinch. And since it's their job to clean up what they get out, the tongs often get returned to their sensory kit box and buried in the rice for use next time.

(pattern matching)

(pinching is a hard skill for little kids to learn!)

Examples of other skills and ways to play with this Busy Bag -- color sorting and matching, finger dexterity through pinching and pushing, using beads to form letters or numbers.
Any other ways you can think your little one would enjoy this set?

Please be aware that these contain small parts that can be a risk for unsupervised small children.  Take time to educate your child on appropriate use to reduce the risk of choking, suffocation or other injury.

Sensory Kits - $20 each

Busy Bag Sensory Kits are available for purchase and are priced at $20 per kit + shipping.
Orders can be paid via check or handled faster with Paypal (100% online-security guarantee).
Email when ready to order! busybagcentral@gmail.com

All kits include NINE (!) activities with a focus on: Sorting, Matching, Lacing (a hard skill to learn for toddlers), Counting & Math, Color & Number recognition, Sensory development with finger strength growth, Writing, along with visual learning & exploration through free play.

Ready to go Character Kits –
Last update 4.3.15

CARS with Lightening McQueen

Hello Kitty

Princess – Disney Characters

Thomas the Train

Tinkerbell

All include instructions with examples for parent-led interactions.

Email to order or ask questions or even comment below!!

What kind of kit would your little one(s) be most interested in?

Coming soon....Themed Kits – Alphabet, Birthday Celebrations, Camo/Military, Dinosaurs, Farm, Garden ‘n’ Flowers n’ Butterflies, Numbers, Pirate, Pond ‘n’ Frogs ‘n’ Bugs, Sports, Trains, Vehicle, Zoo Animals

May be adding if requested and in demand....Barbie, Diego, Dora, Sesame Street, Spiderman, Mickey Mouse, Toy Story, Transformers

Please be aware that these contain small parts that can be a risk for unsupervised small children.  Take time to educate your child on appropriate use to reduce the risk of choking, suffocation or other injury.