Sensory play with pasta

Collin is 13 months old.

Today was a pretty fun day. It started with Mothersong (A multicultural singalong for families) at Sunshine Villa, a nursing home; or, should I say, nursing resort. The place was BEAUTIFUL, the residents were all cared for and happy. I want to retire there. Now. But being as community service is going to be a large part  of Collin's home school curriculum, I was very excited to take him to meet some elders. He was a little shy, as he can be, but he had smiles for everyone and the way he drummed along to the music in the middle of a big circle of singing elders was enchanting, to say the least. I'm hooked! We will be going back regularly to visit the residents and volunteer.

So after a refreshing nap, I decided it was time to make a mess. I asked Collin to pick whether he wanted to play with rice or pasta. He chose pasta.

He was very excited by how lovely a fistful of shell pasta can be.

He practiced moving handfuls of pasta into a mixing bowl. Please take notice of the nice clean floor before it becomes a pasta explosion.

I added more mixing bowls to liven it up a bit.

This would be Collin's first attempt to empty the entire bin of pasta into a mixing bowl. 

If at first you don't succeed...

No one can say the kid ain't strong.

Now we're filling the bowls with pasta by hand.

Until he discovers how fun it is to dump the pasta on the floor.  Goodbye, clean hardwood!

Hello, mess.

Then he practiced picking pasta off the floor and putting it back in the bowl.

You've got a lot more to go, Collin.

The play broom entered the equation, and he (adorably) swept the pasta that was left in the bin. Nevermind  the floor.

"What? You mean I'm supposed to sweep the floor?"

Then things got interesting. Notice the toys scattered here and there on the floor. I had put them inside the bin, thinking it would be a fun sensory experience for him to dig them out. However, he had better ideas, and was more interested in how it felt to be in the bin, himself.

"Oh, hey, a maraca was left in here!"

And then the remainder of the pasta was dumped on the floor.  Mission accomplished. After a  quick sweep, we headed outside to play.