I was just going through photos and realized I had never done a post on this sensory tub. But then, we were very busy at the time preparing for our trip back to the US. Anyway, this is the last tub we did while still in England.
St. Patrick’s Day Sensory Tub
This tub contained:
Different shades of green paper “grass”
Plastic leprechaun hats
Plastic St. Pat’s picks
Wooden treasure chest
Plastic gold coins
Golden-colored “nuggets”
Tiny green pitcher
Green dog, man, tree, and house counters
1. Filling circles on a shamrock with green glass pebbles. This is a bingo dauber page from DLTK. I printed just the outline because printer ink is so extremely expensive (you can opt to print it in full color). Then I helped Gabriela color it, because she didn’t want to. She did very well putting the pebbles on the circles, though.
2. Sorting green and white shamrock picks. Actually, they’re not shamrocks but clubs...close enough. I have a set of these picks with playing card shapes. I used the heart ones for a similar activity last month. We also re-used our green play-dough from Christmas. I divided it into 2 mounds and stamped them with the shamrock cookie cutter. Gabriela loved the tiny pitcher I put the picks in.
After she finished the task I gave her, the picks became people on a boat (the shamrock cutter), going to their houses (the play-dough mounds).
3. Transferring “Jewels”
Here, she’s simply exploring other things to do with the jewels:
4. Green Tray—Isaac and Moriah came up with this tray. There is no task involved—just playing with what’s there and using the imagination!
5. Pushpin Shapes—I got this basic idea from A Little Learning for Two. I have a set of round cork coasters, and I traced a shamrock onto one (using a shamrock cookie cutter). I set out green pushpins for Gabriela to stick into the outline. The coasters are pretty thin, however, so I put this activity on a carpet square. She finished most of it before giving up. It’s a nice fine-motor skill, and she didn’t prick herself at all. I plan to trace other shapes onto the rest of my coasters.
6. My Very Own Leprechaun—These are wonderful! I found these thanks to Toddler Approved!, and they can be found at Kiki Creates. The download is free—she only requests that you follow her blog and leave a comment telling where you’re from--fair enough. The download is worth it, and her blog is fantastic! They’re designed to be paper dolls, but I laminated mine and put magnet strips on the back (which she did as well). Gabriela loved them!
7. Shamrock “Fishing”—I found this idea at The Homeschool Den. Instead of math facts, however, I put St. Patrick’s Day stickers for Gabriela to match.
8. Bingo Dauber Shamrock—At the end of the week, we did this activity using the same shamrock we used with the green glass pebbles. Then I cut her out a green paper shamrock for her to make her own bingo dauber art!
9. Find the Gold Crown/Transferring—I have a small crown that used to be on my keychain (but fell off), and I hid it in a bowl of green glass pebbles. Gabriela used a scoop (and also her fingers) to find the crown. While searching, she also transferred the pebbles to another bowl, so it was just a transferring activity with a twist!
She also pretended the pebbles were eyes:
We made shamrock cookies, but they disappeared too quickly for me to take a photograph!
For a story about St. Patrick, we watched a clip from Veggie Tales:
I’m linking this post to “Tot School” at 1+1+1=1.
