The Place Where Fairies Frolic

I got the idea from reading several homeschool and art blogs to make a sensory bin for Emma.

At age five, I wasn't sure if this would be a hit or miss.  I debated if she was too old to consider digging and pouring much fun.

Hit.  Hit.  BIG hit.  It led me to do some more reading online, and I learned that multi-sensory play is perfect for kindergarten.

So, this bin is our new project, and I'm generating lots of ideas for themes to keep it fun.

We started with a fairy bin.

I made a big batch of colored rice by adding neon food coloring and rubbing alcohol to batches of white rice.  It is amazing how vibrant the rice gets, and it retains the color perfectly.  No rubbing off or bleeding, which was a bit of a concern for me.

The only thing I didn't like was the smell of the rubbing alcohol.  It was pretty strong.  So, I sprayed this down with Bath and Body Works Sweet Pea spray, which also has a high alcohol content and dries very quickly.

And now my bin is pretty AND smells nice.  :-)

I put the felt fairies in, then gathered little goodies to make fairy land a fun place.

I pulled things from around the house, and picked up a few items from the Dollar Tree and the dollar spot at Target...... sparkle pom poms, silk flowers, plastic flower gems, scoops, after Easter clearance chickens, mini buckets, and butterfly clips.

Then I waited patiently for my preschooler to get home from school.  :-)

She knew I had colored rice, but the fairy bin was a big surprise for her.  I let her add whatever little toys and tools she wanted to the bin and told her there was only ONE rule.......

Keep the rice in the bucket!  :-)

My older three kids pointed out (and not so gently, might I add) that I would NEVER have let them play with a bucket of rice in the house.

This is a fair statement.

But now I am old and tired and lax on my housecleaning standards.

Besides, nobody in their right mind gives a bucket of rice to TWO toddler boys.  They would NEVER have sat quietly for a solid hour arranging plastic flowers around the pink pipe cleaner chickens.

(They quickly admitted the accuracy of that to me!  Ha!)

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a new favorite thing.

 The sensory bin.

The fairies rather liked it too!  :-)