This seemed like a good idea.
Pinterest told me it was a good idea. But Pinterest is dirty and rotten. Pinterest has a cleaning lady who picks up black beans for a living.
Also, Pinterest has trees made of money. Because this project ended up costing me around $50.
With that out of the way … I present to you … the Halloween sensory bin. I thought that this would be the perfect activity for the littles at the Bring Your Own Pumpkin party.
FYI: Black beans ain’t cheap. I spent about $30 on beans to fill this thing. Then, I found the spiky balls and glow sticks and scoops and cups and balls and other Halloweeny stuff at Dollar Tree. It’s pretty important to have a large towel or tablecloth underneath the bin. Because even if your kids are cautious (and they never are), there will be spillage. If you have kids like mine, you’ll be finding black beans in your sofa for the rest of your lifetime. This is the face of a child who just put a handful of black beans in the fireplace. And probably in the dog bowl.
But, I’ll admit it. It’s still worth it. Because it keeps Henry’s attention for more than 30 minutes. AT A TIME. Which is, basically, the holy grail of toddler entertainment. If an entire petting zoo showed up in my living room with Elmo’s World and a strobe light, Henry would be all, “Meh. Where’s my sensory bin?”
He loves scooping the beans and putting them into the cups (or just dumping them on the floor). He loves finding the glow sticks and the blinking ball. He likes to move the ball from one scoop to another. He loves blowing on the pinwheels and finding all the spiky balls. There are truly a lot of things for a toddler to do with this small bin.
But I must tell you to be ready for a bit of a mess. Or to be prepared to take this outside. (If you don’t live in the Midwest, where we’ve apparently entered winter.) All of the moms at the party spent the last part of the evening picking black beans out of our rug. It was interesting that the dads disappeared at that time mumbling about doing something important.
So, I cannot in good faith call this a fail. Because Henry (and every other toddler in a two-mile radius) is obsessed with this thing. And if you have a child who doesn’t like to throw black beans into the far reaches of the living room, this may be the perfect thing.
I do think it’s better as a one-on-one activity with the man than something for a group. When there were six toddlers with cups full of black beans … well, let’s just say that I’m still shaking and having flashbacks.
When Lil’ Guy was younger, we had a rice box. He’d dig with his little tractors and construction trucks in it. Blast!
You don’t even know how much I love this. My daughter has had sensory issues since she was born. She used to go to occupational therapy for years. This would have been great for. Awesome!
i would totally pay $50 to keep my kids quietly entertained for a while! 😉
Oh too funny! Sensory bins are so messy, but kids can’t get enough of them. I’m thinking of doing one with leaves. I’m not sure if it will work out or not. 🙂
bahahaha, I can’t stop laughing.
“Pinterest has a cleaning lady who picks up black beans for a living.” Also, I agree that pinterest has money trees for SURE! 30 mins seems like it might be worth sofa beans… but maybe not. I wouldn’t even know. But I’m sure I’ll know soon!
Mess for mom & dad usually means lots of fun for the kiddos… and it looks like that is absolutely the case for Henry!!! No way I would do that though… my OCD hubby would have a fit with the beans getting everywhere! LOL 😉
LOL< I bet he had fun though 🙂 xo Kristin
Pinterest keeps making me feel guilty for not buying bunches of dried beans for K. 😉
We did something similar with dry Ziti noodles… which she was a fan of… and I KNOW she’d get a kick out of dry beans… just think of the sorting and organizing possibilities!!! 😉 Maybe I’ll have to break out the baby swimming pool and let her go to town on some beans. 30 minutes of uninterrupted attention?? I mean… I could solve world peace with that!!
Oh man. This does look cool but I cannot imagine picking up all those beans!! B would definitely throw them all out of the container (he does this with puffs in the car- I will be cleaning puffs out of my car until he is 18) This would have to be an outdoor activity for sure at our house!
30 MINUTES??? My God….I’d let my kid smear stuff all over the walls if it would last for 30 minutes. that’s amazing. I’ve seen the rice idea on Pinterest and always thought it was cool, but clearly I am a bad mom since I haven’t taken any time to die rice lately. My Mom made Fin a sensory bucket a year or so ago that didn’t have any beans or rice but just had a bunch of little stuff…things that felt and sounded different. She was obsessed, and every time she went to Grandma’s house it was a big adventure to empty and sort through the bucket.
I think I’ll hold off on this until next year. It is super cute though!
I’m twitching just thinking about black beans everywhere. But if the little man loves it that’s really all that matters, right??
This is why I haven’t done one yet. It does look fun though and maybe when summer comes back I will do a moon sand box or something.
Did they try to eat it? SS still puts things in her mouth, but I really like this idea.Good tips on clean up though.
LOL @Shannon – yep, Thomas gets his sensory on at school where someone else has to pick up the mess. He informed me last week, “Mrs. S told me that sand stays in the sensory table”. So glad Mrs. S was there for that. But I do love them. I made little ones with flour and rice and pasta for T last year and they were a hit.
ha! this is why none of my kids has ever been allowed to have any such contraption. I can’t tell if they’ve been negatively affected or not yet. You know, though, I think I actually have a 5 gallon bucket of black beans (or, well, some kind of beans) sitting in my basement, leftover from some sort of global economic collapse/peak oil/Y2K/all purpose apocalypse planning thing I went through at some point. Hmm…..
I harm be used pea gravel in one before. A tip for parties put it in a large under bed bin
Or outside swimming pool. It makes clean up easier. Another fun for larger groups is to use the packing peanuts in a large tub. The tubs are fun but aren’t always the cheapest. I’m a pediatric OT so I am a bit biased in their favor
There is a sensory bin at school. Where they belong. Where someone else is cleaning it up.
Some people put rice in those things! Can you imagine trying to clean that up? Nightmare city.
Good effort though Mom, you did good 🙂