From the International Nanny Association Blog

This article was contributed by Marly Driskell. Marly is a professional nanny who works in Texas, and she is the International Nanny Association’s 2015 Nanny of the Year. Thank you, Marly for sharing.

Education Can be Fun – the Sensory Box

I have always loved doing arts and crafts with children.  I don’t mind if they get messy, playing is how children learn.  Often I have started when the children are just 9 months old.  We start with “edible” finger painting.  Yogurt, whip cream with food color, avocado, etc. letting them taste it as they smear it all over themselves and the highchair.  Ha-ha, and sometimes I have to hose them down afterward!  I love it as much as they do.  On rainy days we have been known to go to the bathroom and squeeze mustard and ketchup or even chocolate sauce in the bathtub.  They love painting! The cleanup is a breeze.

This past year I started doing sensory boxes for Maverick when he was just 1.5 years and his brother Goose, started when he was 1.  I started with cornmeal.  I did this for several reasons.  Of course, it is not harmful, but the biggest reason is it doesn’t taste good.  By starting with this one first, neither boy has tried tasting the other edible fun boxes.  Of course, I don’t tell them what they really are.  Also when doing these with the baby who is now 13 months a couple of tips:

• Keep his paci in his mouth,
• do it in on a smaller scale – not the whole big box, and
• watch him like a hawk!

Also, keep the vacuum cleaner handy, you will need it. All the boxes are in a smaller clear plastic box, designed for shoes.  I also have a bigger plastic box designed for boots, which is full of little cars, dump trucks, shovels, airplanes, etc. Often the older one likes to sit in the product and the bigger box definitely is better for this.

“Bug Rocks” – Fruity Pebbles. It smells amazing, but they have never tried to eat it.

“Sunny Box” – cornmeal. It is like edible sand.

“Magic Beans” – several bags of pinto beans worked great.

“Rainbows” – is colored elbow pasta.

“Shamrock Box” – was our Rainbow box, but I added some fun pieces.

•   green pasta
•   plastic Shamrocks
•    gold coins
•    little green cups
•    little green bows

“Valentine’s Box”

• purple and white rice
• heart erasers
• plastic heart beads
• measuring cups and spoons
• pink light up duck
• heart container
• little red cup

“Easter Box”

• shredded confetti paper
• little plastic bunnies
• tons of little glittery styrofoam eggs
• measuring cups

“Patriotic Box”

• little plastic flags
• red, white, and blue glitter balls
• styrofoam glitter stars
• pompom balls
• leis (I cut the string)
• star confetti
• little Uncle Sam hats

My next box will be a birthday sensory box and of course all the upcoming major holidays.  I love seeing their faces light up when they play with them.  I let them choose one box daily and they have done so every day since that first time.

I encourage you to make a mess, have some fun, take lots of pictures and just enjoy doing art with them.  You are encouraging them to be creative and they are learning so much while they are doing it.