Busy Bee

Let me just get one thing out there. Baby toys annoy me. 

Ok, let me be more specific-baby toys with obnoxious lights, songs, and sounds annoy me. But moreover I believe them to be overstimulating for my little developing peanut. So we don't have any. Ok we have two toys that have lights and sound and we intend on keeping it that way. I prefer to grow Millie in a quiter and more engaging environment. We play with stuffed animals, build with blocks, sing, and run around the house like a crazy person. 

She explores spoons, spatulas, and measuring cups. When Jerrel and I were talking about raising, playing, and "learnin' our child we knew there was a way to do it without the lights and sounds that the toy aisle is filled with. Enter in Montessori style Education. The premise is Exploring to Learn as opposed to Learning to Explore. So that's why we try to fill Millie's world with all kinds of different objects, engage her interpersonally, and shy away from over stimulating and distracting bright lights and loud noises. 

Yeah, it sounds pretty boring at our house. 

We didn't get a whole slew of baby toys as gifts and we were fine with that. And the thing is...Millie doesn't even play with her toys-even the noisy two. With the exception of a hand-me-down loud and crazy activity table at my parents' house that she LOVES, Mills just isn't too interested in toys. A couple months ago I thought "Maybe Millie isn't being challenged with her toys, maybe she's bored. I think I'll spend a bunch of money on some toys to grow her mind." Well one large Amazon bill later the toys spend much of their time in the toy bin and girlfriend still isn't that interested. 

When I unpacked them she laughed at me, and it wasn't a "Oh Momma thanks for the new toys, you rock!" Kind of laugh, no, it was more of a "Way to blow my college fund." Kind of laugh. She still prefers the things we say she can't have and the things we use in daily life. 

So we are always on the lookout for new exploratory activities for Millie. I spend time on Pinterest looking them up and here's our latest, 

It's super easy! We had a flat from the greenhouse this last spring, I then went around a gathered up some junk. Seriously it looks like junk doesn't it? 

I looked for first safety, then textures, and sounds. I got my trusty glue gun out and went to work arranging the board, making sure to not have similar textures or colors near each other.

I cut a Ziploc in half and used a small section including the zipper, part of a washcloth, velvet ribbon, some wax paper crinkled to make noise, a green dish scrubbie, felt, bubble wrap, fleece, a spoon, fake flower petals, twine a, foam letter, and a tile. I made sure they were all secure and good and dry before I let Millie at it and She is always supervised while using it and it's so fun to watch her learn and see what she finds most interesting that day.

*Note: the Ziploc was a bad idea, it was the first to go. She knows plastic can be ripped and stretched and it's the only thing she would pay with until it was gone.

The best thing about this easy activity is the endless possibilities. I can easily add or subtract with free things from home to make it new and exciting. Next we are going to make a sensory wall with locks and other interesting things and a tugging box of some kind. There are so many sensory activities out there and so many of them are easy for you to do at home with your little one. This keeps her busy for a about 5.5 minutes and that's a record for my busy bee, so I'll take it. 

Hooray for learning...sorry teacher moment. 

Blessings!