Sophie's Salt Box

I have been procrastinating on sand play and sensory tub because of the mess and my lack the expertise. However, I am now very convinced that sensory activities are important to young children so I feel the urgency to set up something for Sophie. I have already started on the water play and sensory bottles but I am still collecting canisters for the scent bottles. And I cannot figure out how to do sand play in an apartment. Fortunately, I stumbled upon these two websites… So I guess I am ready to set up a sensory tub at least…

http://ittybittybookworms.blogspot.com/2009/07/dollar-store-finds-sensory-tubs.html
http://www.perpetualpreschool.com/sensoryideas.html

Meanwhile, I took out the salt box I made for Sophie and let her do some mini sensory tub activities just before dinner. The salt box was meant for her to practise writing her letters but since she cannot quite control her wrist yet, I converted it into a mini sensory tub. I buried all her jumping clay letters (capital letters only) and her rubber fruit in the salt and asked her to look for them.



Sophie was apparently quite reluctant to get her hands “dirty”. She dislikes the feeling of small grains of sand or salt on her skin. She is quite a sensitive girl; I guess that is why she learns better with hands-on activities, play and exploration. At one point, she was trying to get me to do the digging for her. And I thought she might run off anytime… Fortunately, she stayed on.



Although Sophie did not exactly learn any new letter or concept through her “salt play” this evening, Papa wants to see her do such activities more. He feels that she can remember those letters and fruit better this way. And he gets to see Sophie’s personality and temperament through such activities. Need a mat next time, though. Even though Papa has no knowledge or experience in early childhood education, he firmly believes in learning through play and interaction. Of course I am very glad to have his support and involvement in Sophie’s development…