Preschool (And Baby) Activity: SNOW Sensory Bin - With Color!

Last year I tried doing a snow sensory bin for DHH.  It was wildly successful.   Here's a little photo memory   of that time.  

(Wow, hasn't he aged? Look at those sweet cheeks! The baby-sweet-eyes! The size 2T jammies that were baggy then but have been long retired.)

 I don't know that DHH remembers the activity, but he does reference this photo with the whisk occasionally, and when I suggested bringing in snow to play, he said, "Wire whisk? Play fow with a wire whisk?"

There was a whisk, but there was also a squeeze bottle with (food coloring) colored water, dump trucks, various scoops.

Squeezing is a good motor skill to practice, and DHH really enjoyed seeing how the water seemed to disappear into the snow.
Which he called Fow.
(Last year, it was foof.  Progress, right?)

You'll notice the same bathtub being used for this activity.  We get so much use out of this guy, and its easily the best baby purchase we've made, perhaps tied with cloth diapers and Aden and Anais swaddle blankets.

You'll also notice that DHH is wearing a a stocking cap.  He had mittens on, too, until they impeded his play.   You might be interested to know they are a child's size LARGE, and yet there's no way he can wear it next year.  This guy's got a big head.  Probably for the big brains inside.  But its what a child with a head in the 98th percentile has just got to get used to - not having hats that fit.

About twenty minutes into the snow play, EK woke up.  I placed her near the snow tub and finished prepping dinner (which was the original reason I gave DHH such an interesting activity - so I could focus on a new recipe.)

She was curious.
She was cautious.
She observed and explored.

It was fascinating to watch, so I did.
Which led to a burned dinner.
Which led to having grilled cheese sandwiches.

The kids played/poked at the snow for awhile, and when it the novelty had worn off and there were too many puddles for me to keep up with, we ended the activity.

DHH seemed to enjoy the clean up, nearly as much so as the play.
Want to know why?
He got to give the snow toys a bath in the sink, and bathing toys is fun to him.

We also dumped the snow in the toilet.
This was delightful to him and made him giddy with excitement for his dad to come home and use the potty.
He said, "Daddy go pee and get so COLD!! Daddy get a surprise!"

And Daddy did get a surprise, or if he didn't, he played it well!
DHH even said, "BOO!" when he opened the toilet.  I guess BOO means surprise.

This is a definite DO if you have a baby or a toddler.
There's so many reasons: sensory exploration, temperature vocabulary, literature tie-ins, transfering/pouring, pretend play... so good.

Lauren at Crumb Bums blogged this activity with her boys a few days ago (she obvs better at blogging daily events than I am... I am half a week behind, or in the case of Christmas, a month behind...).  Anyway, they did a smart thing with adding hot water to the snow play, which lends itself to a discussion of melting.
We're totally doing that next time, if we have more snow that is.