Its spring break season and that usually means lots of car trips with the littles. If your kids are like mine they can hit the point where there has been “enough” car time and even if they are good car riders, they need something to keep their minds busy.
I’m trying so hard to keep screen time at a minimum. We have a potentially long road trip in our summer plans and I’m sure I’ll cave for a lot of saved movies (more needs on how to save all that later). But, if I can give my Little Man toys, made up games, songs, and sensory activities then the car part of the trip is more enjoyable for everyone involved, especially the parent driving and trying to drown out toddler noises from the backseat with Bruno Mars ballads!
I recently used some recycled materials and items I already had around my house to make a Sensory Water Bottle toy.
I’m serving as an ambassador for the Arkansas Soybean Promotion Board. While this post promotes their products, the opinions are all my own.
I’ve shared before about some of the health benefits of vegetable oil.
- Reduce the risk of heart disease
- Manage Diabetes and weight
- Prevent certain cancers, like breast cancer and prostate cancer
- Protect against osteoporosis
- Alleviate menopausal symptoms
Lord knows that last one is already on my radar as 40 is looking me in the closer part of the horizon. In Arkansas, soybeans are grown across the state, but they really need low regions that can hold water, but drain easily. Actually, one farm I’ve visited is right on the edge of the Arkansas River. For so many years, the farmers were washing their fields and putting all that good nutrients from grain raising soil.
Now, as the industry has grown and more farmers are diversifying their fields and how their products circulate, they are collecting the water and reusing to irrigate their own farms. They are also not washing their fields, but instead reworking that same land to grow edamame along with soybeans and rotating the fields where their grain-fed cattle graze. It’s a pretty genius cycle.
For us this Spring Break Sensory Water Bottle seems pretty genius. My niece may tag along to Arkansas too and she is a year ahead of us so she is past exploring and more about showing us how everything is done!
Sensory projects, in general, are hands-on ways to discover the world around you. For a 15-month-old, that usually means throwing things and grasping. But also textures and reactions are parts of what I’m seeing him observe. Everything seems fair game for inspection. Just last week, I caught him opening the paper recycle bin and pulling out different types of paper to explore – envelopes, magazines, newspaper, and big packing paper. He loves when large Amazon boxes come and frankly, I turn them over and make them big drums or plush toys that can keep him occupied for a good 20 minutes.
I love watching him discover new things, whether it is exploring them by chewing, scratching or patting on them I know he is learning what sounds, textures and tastes fill our world.
Spring Break Ocean Water Sensory Bottle
Spring Break Sensory Water Bottle
Materials
- 1 Plastic bottle – water sports drink or soda
- Vegetable soybean oil
- Water
- Food coloring
- silicone based glue E6000, superglue, Gorilla Glue, caulk
Instructions
- Use a clean and dry bottle.
- Twist off lid.
- Fill half of the bottle with vegetable (soybean) oil.
- Drop in 5-6 drops of desired color food coloring.
- Fill remainder of the bottle with water. (When you add water the oil will separate to the top.)
- Place glue inside the lid among the rungs of the seal closure.
- Place lid on top of the bottle and twist tight.
- Allow drying for a couple of hours before kids play with it.
It’s St. Patrick’s Day so make plans this afternoon to go on a nature walk. Grab a lunch sack and gather things that are green and a few rocks or pebbles along the way. Make sure they are small enough to fit in the top of a water bottle. You can mix together rocks and sand in a second bottle for another type of sensory interaction.
Sensory Shaker Interaction Bottle
- 1 water bottle, clean and dry
- Small items for shaking – rocks, sand, rice,
beads , nuts, $1 store trinkets, pom poms. Just consider different textures and noises that will be made. - silicone-based glue, like – E6000, Gorilla Glue, or caulk
DIRECTIONS:
- Take water bottle and remove the lid.
- Place small items inside the bottle.
- Add glue inside rungs of the bottle lid.
- Screw lid on tight.
- Allow time for lid to dry before play with children who will place it in their mouth or try to turn the lid.
- Shake bottle for noises, look for specific items in bottle.
Enjoy for hours of fun!
What toys or road trip activities do you always include when taking your bigs and
