When things get messy

We are pretty big on letting Ruby explore and discover new things (the pre-baby/pre-crunchy me would not be ok with the messes we get in to some times). I basically want her to experience things that interest her and activities that stimulate her senses in new and interesting ways. We have fun engaging in different types of sensory play, whether it be play with baby safe paints, water or rice and random kitchen utensils. We make sensory bottles with water bottles and rice, pasta, beads, glitter, etc. and our latest project was making a treasure basket to explore. The dollar store is a great resource for inexpensive sensory options! :) Sensory play has been a fun way for her to explore new objects, different textures and materials and to find ways to play and use things as she sees fit and without direction from us. She often spends time banging different objects together and listening to the different sounds they make (and then passing them to me so I get a turn too lol). Our newest basket includes objects like balls of different fabrics, string, ribbon, a sponge, an old telephone, measuring spoons, a paint roller sleeve and some dollar store finds that light up and stretch in different ways. It's fun to see what she does with different things (but honestly, most things go in her mouth right now with these new teeth coming in!). I think our next rainy day project will be sensory bags so that Ruby can squeeze and manipulate the bag (filled with gel) to find different items inside to look at. Maybe we should wait until teething settles down a bit so that our little termite doesn't rip a whole in the bag with her tiny razor blade teeth! *

*I will argue that this is not an exaggeration since I have been bitten by these cute little teeth while nursing! ouch!!