Organizing Seed Sensory Play

Last week I wanted to organize a quick and easy sensory bin for Mac. Since I’ve been wanting to plant my herbs for summer, I figured what can be better than “planting” together. 

Timeframe

This bin wasn’t very structured as far as timeframe and I knew that I wanted to show him the planting process, but overall it took about an hour going through the various activities mentioned below. 

What’s In the Bin?

The two bins sit inside the IKEA Flisat Sensory Table. For the base of one bin I used organic potting soil and I buried turnips from a local CSA, Kimberton CSA. In the other bin I placed Burpee’s seed starter kit, along with beans.  

The Activity: 

I used these framing questions to guide his play:

-Can you pull the turnip out?  I modeled it first, and then he practiced the tactile skill pulling each of the turnips out. 

-Can you place the place the seeds in the dirt? Again, I modeled this for him, and then he did it on his own. I also explained how what we were planning was growing to grow like what he just pulled out of the “ground.” 

-We then worked together to use a watering can to dampen the burpee pellets in order to make them expand, and then used both the pellets and the extra potting soil to plant seeds in various pots. Mac used his kids gardening tool set, which he really loves usually for all kinds of digging and planting.

Along with the Burpee biodegradable pots, I also used these cute black ceramic pots which I plan to keep in the kitchen once the herbs start growing. 

I’m excited to hear your feedback if you try this activity. Hopefully by organizing this bin in a way that stimulates both child and mama you’ll have a fun time planting together. Also, it creates a nice little set up for watching the plants grow together. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments below.