Sensory Bin Palooza (and this month's school games)

So we're studying geology in school this semester and I thought these chocolate rocks would be a hit. I was right.

 I added some colored paper to an old cardboard scrapbooking-supply-bin and gave Bruce his bin of vehicle manipulatives and he went right to work sorting them into the colored bins.  It was fun to dump them into the wrong color and have him calmly "fix" it.

It wouldn't be a complete blog post without overwhelming you with photos of some of the sensory bins we had this month -- since our "theme" is Spring and Colors they involved a lot of colored items:

Dyeing popcorn kernels was NOT as easy as anything I've done before! This photo does not include the blue/purple because they took longer to soak in color and dye. 

I found these AWESOME pasta noodles at Aldi for $2 per bag! They came in Farm Animals and Traveling Vehicles.  Although they were fun all on their own I did pull out all the natural ones (some had been dyed with spinach and carrot powder already) to add some color to them.  I couldn't help myself!

So pretty, right?! We pulled out trains of every color and glued them to cardstock after we read Freight Train - a book about trains of each color.

Dollar Store straws cut into pieces - Bruce and Dean enjoyed cutting them up more than playing with them.  We later strung them onto pipe cleaners for a little fine motor skill-building.

Water beads are messy. But they are so fun. So I tried again (I swore I'd never buy them again a year ago). Yeah, it happened again.  Dean chopped them up with spoons and they got stuck in the grooves of the wood floor.  There won't be a next time, but if there is, I'll lay down a sheet first. :)

 Lentils. And no, I haven't colored these. 

 They can't all be a slam dunk.  For me, shaving cream (and cornstarch) was an epic fail.  All my preventative measures did nothing to hinder the mess this made.  I can handle a lot when it comes to sensory play but this required far too much clean up to be worth it.

Bruce enjoys sitting IN the sensory bins.  So I found him a bigger bin.  He's playing with colored rice here. He's allergic to rice only if he eats it or it gets into his system. 

Hayden and Dean use pirate ships in everything.  Dry beans this time. 

We had this awesome St Patrick's Day Treasure Hunt! I downloaded a really creative freebie from the teacherspayteachers site and hung up the clues where they fit. The goodie bags were filled with rainbow candies (Mike & Ike, fruit gummies, part of a Nerds rope, rainbow sour straws, Easter mini erasers, a stretchy bunny fidget, a love note, and some stickers.  Then I added some curling ribbon for flair. Okay, I spent longer prepping for this than it took the kids to find the treasure, but they really enjoyed it. Worth it. 

Ended our ordinary day today with a round of Doodle Dice and a homemade Contraction Concentration game.