sensory quarry in a box

I came out on Saturday morning to find these two watching "In the night garden" on their heads.

Me: "does it make more sense that way?"

Jumeirah: "No, but it is funnier."


My "Stones in a box" activity has been getting a mighty workout the last few days... Amahli I could hardly get out of it, but Jumeirah came home and was totally into it too! Such a simple thing, who'd a thought it would be such a hit??
Jared hadnt played with it the other day, but was intrigued by watching the girls in it with the dinosaurs. When they had finished, he went over to it and started playing with them. 5 minutes later I hear "I KNOW! TRUCKS!" and off he flies to find some trucks. Very quickly, all dinosaurs are removed and are replaced with a very hard working team in their " quarry".




Why didnt I think of this? This is why God has blessed me with children... their brains work so much better than mine :)

Jared played in his quarry for ages... on and off all weekend this little busy centre was working hard to shift and pile up rocks. Diggers were found and added. Sometimes it was just one child, sometimes two, and once all three were in it. And absolutely gobsmackingly surprisingly..... HARDLY ANY OF IT ENDED UP ON THE FLOOR!



I think next week I will make another one though so they can play together without being on top of one another to play. It was good for Amahli and Jared to practise their sharing and turn taking skills but I really dont want to push them too far and this would be a great activity to do side by side so they were still playing together.

Amahli was also very involved in building. She has the ability, even at only 1, to sit for over half an hour completely on her own and carefully build up these amazing towers.


I love to sit and watch her face, seeing her trying to work out how each piece will go on, watching the frustration at it falling over and then working out how to build it again. Shes totally fascinating. I joined her for awhile and helped her so she could build it taller and we talked about how clever she was :)

She is also totally obsessed with the magnets on the fridge so I made some simple puzzles out of magnet paper, which I printed some photos on them or our gang. I cut them into 6 pieces and stuck them on the fridge. She squealed when she saw daddys eye and kissed him, then went to find Jumeirah to help her put them together again.

I need more magnet paper as now Jumeirah wants to make her own set.... " I could make one of all my friends at school!" and as much as I still miss her during the day, she is having a great time and is totally settling into school like a dream :) I thought that maybe I would print off some photos and laminate them and then cut them into puzzles so she could take them to her friends.. another project.... another day :) lets add it to my never ending list....