Just A Little Place to Play

I thought I'd take a minute to share one of my favorite areas at our house.
It's outside, so that's truly my favorite thing about this spot. 
It's a little sensory area I have set up for Aubry and any other kid who stops by.

I inherited an old workbench that sits on my front patio.
It has a perfect size shelf for a two-year-old to belly-up to and I have an old cookie sheet with rocks and shells on it. 
I happen to collect rocks from all around the word and house them under this shelf for little hands to grab and test their strength.

Volcano rocks from Africa and Alaska seem to be the favorites.

I also set up a few bins of water (not shown in pictures), just old rubbermaid containers that lost their lids.
Some days we fill them with water and have cups and tea pots, leaves and mulch to play with in them. Other days we may make a cornstarch water mixture, or put flour and eggs in them for little hands to feel. The shells almost always make their way to the water bins and the water bins never fail to make their way to the front of Aubry's shirt!

Like I always say- a messy kid is a happy kid.
Plus the bathtub is only a few feet away.

Hands-on learning and exploring is easy and a sensory station is simple to make, easy to maintain and clean-up. I am thankful I live in the south where outdoor play is year around but when the boys were young this was not the case. Cold winters brought our sensory stations inside where I had similar set-ups, with much smaller rocks, and the boys would often play in the kitchen or bathtub.

And we're also known to play in our PJ's in this neck of the woods!!
Happy playing,
-m