Rice, Rocks, and Fuzz

I've been trying out new sensory activities for the boys recently, using simple materials we either already have on hand or that are easy and inexpensive to buy.  First we played picking and sorting with some fuzz balls I bought from Michael's a while back for everyday crafts, kitchen tongs, and extra ice cube trays.  This activity kept them busy for almost an entire afternoon!  It held Owen's interest a little longer than Oliver's, who mainly wanted to compete for the tongs.  As with all activities having many and/or small parts, they were tossed and scattered all over the house in the end!

For the next activity we played with rice, rocks, buckets and funnels outside.  I bought a 10lb bag of rice at the grocery store for maybe $5 or $6 and portioned out enough to last an afternoon (there is still a ton left!).  I set up 3 buckets filled with rocks and rice and let them experiment with the shovels and funnels.  Spencer lost interest after about 5 minutes, but the twins played for over an hour.  One of their daily favorite activities is to collect rocks from around the yard and toss them over the wood barrier into the "woods" out front.  So this was where they ended up dragging the buckets and settling in as they tossed their new found treasures into the trees.  After stepping away to watch Spencie on the swings for a couple minutes, I came back to find them pouring rice on each other's heads...and tasting some too!  Messy, a little gross, but harmless.  By the way, the other day I heard the twins in a debate over whether the birthday cake we had on Friday was yummy or gross.  It was the first time I heard them call something "gross" and thought it was kind of funny.  Not exactly a nice word we want them using all the time.  So starts an increased focus on the self-censorship phase of parenthood!