I have been trying to focus more on involving Ava (9 months) in our sensory play. This can be difficult because, like most babies, she puts EVERYTHING in her mouth (as do our beagles, pictured above). So I have been searching for some things that won’t hurt her if she happens to get her messy hands into her mouth. This is indoor sand made from common pantry items. It’s simply
4 cups of flour mixed with about 1/4 cup of vegetable oil (it can be made with baby oil but then is no longer ‘edible’). The sand will have a crumbly texture, if it is still too dry just add a bit more oil.
We then added the buried treasure! We used Gerber baby puffs, Gerber arrowroot cookies, and Mack’s favorite, chocolate coins! Don’t worry, he found all of those before Ava even had a chance to try and get her hands on one. Ava learned quickly that the cookies and puffs tasted much better than the flour and had a great time digging around and learning how to scoop with a shovel. Mack was even able to build some small sand castles which was nice after loads of snow this winter! One of my favorite moments is when the play transforms and I get to watch my 3 year-old’s imagination take off. He ended by sitting in the box, with ‘snow’ falling all over him and singing “Let It Go” from the movie Frozen 🙂
I've done this before, but with coconut oil. It's a little more expensive, but it tastes better, which could be either better or worse!
That's a great idea! I'll have to try it, Ava will probably be happy about that 🙂