Sensory Tubs by Month

You may or may not know that I am in the process of starting my own child care center.  I have kiddos all lined up, and even have some on the waiting list.  We open in February and I cannot wait to get started.  As the time draws near, I am busy planning activities for the little ones.  One of the big components of my DIY curriculum will be sensory baskets.  The children I am watching are very small, so most of their learning will be through self-lead exploration and sensory bins are a great tool to accomplish this. Below are a few ideas from around the web.  I organized them by month so they are super easy to implement, but feel free to mix and match as a you choose.  Have fun and happy learning!

January 
This is a perfect sensory bin for winter. If you are like me and live in warm climate, this is a great opportunity to teach the children about snow and cold. 

February
A valentines day sensory bin should be pretty easy to find materials for at this time of year.  This is a great time to teach the children about heart shapes, the colors red and pink, and different kinds of love. 

March
March is a great time of the year to talk about spring, and about changes in the weather.  It is also St. Patrick's time, and where does that leprechaun hide his gold?  At the end of the rainbow!  The last sensory tub is best done outside if you live in an area that is warm in march.  Otherwise, you might need a good tarp :)

    

April
In 2014 Easter is in April. If you are reading this after 2014, you might want to swap this one for the spring tub from March. 

May
I love this cute little garden tub for May.  Black beans or coffee beans make great dirt.  You could also add silk leaves and flowers to make this a little more realistic.  You could pair this with some outside play time for a comprehensive lesson. 

June
Balls and blocks are a great sensory tub for little ones.  They are also great for when it starts to get a little warmer outside. Plop these bins in the grass and let the kids toss them around. Lots of gross motor fun here. 

July
Making a patriotic tub is kind of a no-brainer in July.  Both of these tubs are super cute examples.  I think I spy a flag pin in the lower picture... you may want to skip the stabbing implements...

August
Some people choose to do back to school themes around this time, but sense I have my kiddos year round that doesn't really make sense. Hear are a couple of ideas for sensory tubs that will get you out of the house and into the warm summer air :) The first two cannot be reused on multiple days, but the last one could be used more than once. 

September
This fall sensory bin could go under a few different months, but September doesn't have a lot else going for it, so I stuck it here.  If September still feels like summer where you live, then you can keep doing outdoor themed tubs for now and move this to October or November. 

October
Halloween is the obvious choice for October.  I've seen some folks put a bunch of candy in their Halloween bin, but I wouldn't try that unless your OK with your children eating a bunch of candy.  If you don't celebrate Halloween then a Wizard of Oz bin is a great way to incorporate costumes and dress-up without bringing the spooky aspects into it. 

November
This Thanksgiving bin looks an awful lot like the autumn bin I posted for September, but it was the best one I could find.  You can mix it up by filling it with things the kiddos are thankful for - pictures of loved ones, favorite toys, etc. 

December
Red and green, snow, Christmas, and New Years all make great December-themed sensory bins. 

Do you have any other sensory tubs that you love to do?  I would love to hear about them! 

Number and sensory cloth book for CB

I spent alot of time trying to figure out what to get Conley for his first Christmas. I wanted something educational, something that could grow with him, something for him to cherish, and I didn't want to break the bank. I came up with this super sweet hand-sewn book. It is soft for him to snuggle now, has different sensory items for him to explore in a few months, and will teach him his numbers some day too. It took a few days to assemble, but it cost less than $10 and it is something I'm really proud of.
Do you get crafty for your little one? I'd love to know how. Tell me in the comments!

Silencing the door latch!

Let me start off by saying that I hate when people say I did blah, blah, blah for free, when they had to use stuff they had lying around. Didn't you buy that stuff at some point? That being said, this little trick is pretty much free.

If you're like me, you hate having to go in and out of the baby's room once he's finally asleep in bed. You spend 10 minutes carefully turning the door knob, tiptoe into the room without letting go of the knob, slowly close the door back, and ever so delicately turn in closed. I did that for 8 weeks before I realized how silly I was being. My solution? A couple of hair ties looped together and hooked over each door knob. They cover up the latch and keep it from making a sound when you sneak in and out. Now if only I'd thought of that 8 weeks ago!!

Baby Sign Language

I have recently gotten really interested in the idea of baby sign language. I have done a little bit of research, and it seems like it could be a really useful tool for baby to tell you what they need. I am starting my little guy with three basic signs for words that we use all the time: diaper, eat, and hungry. I have been introducing these signs to him by using them along with a sentence when they apply. For instance, "Do you need a diaper change?", "We are changing you diaper!", when it is time, or "Are you hungry? Do you need to eat?" right before I feed him. The signs are really easy, and there are lots of free resources all over the place. I like the website babysignlanguage.com.  They have a dictionary with images of lots of baby sign language words, videos of people doing the signs, and ideas of how to teach them to your baby. You can also find lots of baby sign language books and tools for sale if that's your thing.

Here are the images for the signs I am teaching my son:

Diaper:

Hungry:

Eat:

Getting baby on a schedule

Putting baby on a schedule allows you to plan your day and give you some sanity, and maybe even some sleep.  It also makes it easier to predict what your baby needs which allows you to provide him better care and makes both of you happier. You can start a schedule whenever it seems right to you - every baby and mom are different but you'll know when it seems like baby can handle it.  If he doesn't get it right away, don't be frustrated, it will happen with time.  Also know that it will change all the time - babies hit growth spurts, day light savings time will come along, and some times things just get thrown for a loop.  Go with the flow, it will be OK!

Now that my sweet baby has started to sleep regularly, I decided to try to put him on a schedule.  The plan is to feed him at 3, 6, 9, and 12 (am and pm, my guy is still little!) with a nap from 1-3 pm, and then down for the night from 9 pm to 9 am. My strategy so far has been to offer him sleep, or food when they fall on the schedule, but never to keep sleep or food from him just because "it's not time yet." (how cruel!) Even if he just ate at 2:30, I offer him food again at 3:00 so that hopefully he won't be hungry again until 6:00.  I do not wake him up for the midnight, 3 am, or 6 am feedings.  If he is up I feed him, if not I enjoy the sleep.  If you do get in the habit of waking a baby in the night to eat, they will start waking up at that time every night because it's what they're used to, even when they don't need to any more.

That being said, here is what a typical day for us is starting to look like:

6 am: Baby wakes, gets a diaper, eats, and goes back to sleep.  I stay awake and get ready for the day.
9 am: Baby wakes, gets a new diaper, eats, and I get him ready for the day.
10:30 am: We GET OUT OF THE HOUSE! Yes, you can leave the house with a baby, even if its just for an hour.  We go to story time at the library, a play group, the park, grocery shopping, or a walk. We both go stir crazy sitting around all day.
12 pm: Back home for diaper change, and lunch for both of us.
1 pm: Nap time for both of us!  Baby sleeps from 1-3, but I get up at 2 to get some things done around the house. (If he won't sleep then we snuggle from 1-2 and I put him in the front pack while I clean from 2-3. He almost always passes out in the front pack anyway, so it kills two birds with one stone.)
3 pm: Baby wakes, gets a diaper and eats. (If he doesn't wake, I let him sleep. He'll wake up to eat eventually!)
4 pm: Play time, tummy time, and story time until Daddy gets home from work
6 pm: Dinner for both of us, followed by family time
9 pm: Baby has typically drifted off by now, but I sneak in a quick "dream feed," get him into his night time diaper and pj's and rock him until he is sound asleep.  Some people say that nursing or rocking your baby to sleep is a bad habit, but I enjoy it because he'll only be little for a short time and I want to enjoy every second of it.  It's comforting for both of us, but you have to make the decision that is right for you and your baby when it comes to this.
At this point baby usually wakes up twice during the night for food, and maybe a diaper change. I bring him into bed with me to nurse him, and then put him back in his crib when he is asleep.  He usually drifts back off quickly after he eats.


Getting him on a schedule has had ups and downs. Offering him food at scheduled times is easy, but the tricky part is offering him sleep when its time.I recently read the book The Happiest Baby on the Block: The New Way to Calm Crying and Help Your Newborn Baby Sleep Longer, and it's done wonders to help my baby get to sleep.  Swaddling, swinging, and shushing him and then giving him something to suck on (pacifier, my thumb, his fingers...whatever he wants) has been a godsend.  Now I can calm him at nap time and watch him go off to sleep.  He is so easy to put back to sleep at night, and I am more rested too! My whole family is happier.  Now if only I could find a cloth diaper to get him through the night, things might get even easier for us.