Sensory play with beans

Collin is twelve months old.


This learning adventure started out with three differently sized mixing bowls and some mixed beans of all different shapes and sizes.

This would be the part before the mess. Please take note of how nice and neat it looks. Hooray for me.

Collin spread the beans from one bowl to another.

Alas! A lid to a mixing bowl! This should make things interesting.

He tested the different sound the beans made when they hit the lid vs. the mixing bowl. And this is also where the mess starts.

To make it interesting, we added a scooping cup and a big spoon. And a bigger mess.

I thought to encourage more sorting of beans by using the lids as bean receptacles. Collin, however, was a little too thrilled that I had given him a big person spoon.

Hard at work.

It was such a thrill for him to use the cup and spoon with the beans. Not much happened by way of using them as tools to pour the beans, like I'd hoped, but that did not stop the enthusiasm.

I added a few small toys to the mix to kick it up a notch.

And this is the part where I had to let go of my need to control the mess and  find my zen. Yes, he is making a giant mess. That's part of the learning process.

Dumping the bowl for good measure.

And then he completely melted my heart by grabbing his play broom and "sweeping" the beans,

So much beany fun to be had.