What you will need:
Shaving foam, Large Lego blocks, Sensory Tray
Alterations:
If you don’t have a sensory tray you can cover a flat surface such as a table or countertop with a washable table cloth or plastic
Let’s get started:
Place your shaving cream and legos in the sensory tray and encourage your child to have fun “growing a bean stalk in the clouds” by building up the Lego blocks whilst playing in the shaving foam.
*Make sure to allow the child to wear play clothes or an apron of some sort as this is a messy play activity.
What you will need: green paint, paint brush or painting sponge, inside of a paper towel roll, box cutter, 10 popsicle sticks, 7-10 cotton balls, pvc glue, black marker, small piece of tape, 2 inch piece of straw
Let’s get started:
I began by gathering my materials and painting my paper towel roll green. I just gave it one nice coat but you can do 2 if you like. I also painted my popsicle sticks green at this time.
While I was waiting for those to dry I went online and did a quick Google search for a free “green leaves” printable. I printed 10 medium sized leaves on A4 sized paper. I also printed a medium sized free castle printable and laminated it. You could also laminate the leaves, but I chose to skip this step.
After my paper towel roll was dry I cut 10 small incisions into it with my boxcutter. I staggered my cuts so that it would give the appearance of climbing from leaf to leaf and made each cut just large enough to easily stick one end of the popsicle stick through.
I then used a black marker to number my leaves 1-10 and used glue to secure my numbered leaves onto the end of the popsicle sticks.
I began pulling apart my cottonballs to add some fluff and glued them to the top of my paper towel roll, giving the appearance of clouds.
I then taped my laminated castle to a 2 inch peice of straw. This helped to secure it in place as I stuck this through the middle of my cotton clouds.
I used my black marker to write the numbers 1-10 near each of the cuts and inserted the matching numbered leaves.
Development Matters: Children utilize their fine motor skills in the hand and wrist as they insert the numbered leaves into the correctly numbered space. They develop their math skills through counting and number recognition. They utilize their imaginations through pretend play with their Magic Beanstalk. (:
Alterations for younger children:
Leave the numbered leaves secured in place and give the child a toy figure to pretend jack is climbing the Beanstalk as he jumps from leaf to leaf, counting with them as he climbs.
Alterations for older children:
Write the number in letters on each leaf so the child has to match the number to the written word for that number.
Additional uses:
Add this magic bean stalk to a sensory bin filled with beans and pasta.
Children of all ages love sensory play and I find it’s a good way to keep them engaged while learning. This sensory play bin is easy to make and will keep your children happily entertained. I like to bring the bin out during our free play time so they can explore as they like.
What you will need:
Sensory bin, dried beans and/or dried rice and pasta, access to internet and printer, laminating machine, laminating sheets, child friendly tweezers, small cup or scoop
Let’s begin:
Start by finding a nice size bin for your sensory play. If you’re lucky enough to already have a sensory tray in your classroom or at home kudos to you, but you can also use a small plastic tub as well. Something long with short sides would do best so the children can easily reach in and out of the bin.
First I added various types of dried beans and lentils to my tray, you can pick these up fairly cheap at any supermarket or grocery store. I used what I had on hand, supplementing with dried pasta and rice to make sure the bin was filled completely.
Next I went online and did a Google search for Jack and the Beanstalk printable characters. I printed these on to the larger A3 paper and cut them out. After laminating I stuck them in the bin along with a scoop and a pair of child friendly tweezers. And now you’ve got your self a Jack and the Beanstalk themed sensory bin for your kiddos to enjoy. (:
Development Matters:
The child works fine motor skills in the wrist and hands. The child uses a variety of materials to explore the world around them whilst expressing themselves through pretend play.
Editors note:
Always remember to properly monitor children during this sensory play activity as the beans and dried pasta are rather small and some types of beans can be toxic if ingested prior to being boiled.
Preschool Pretenders 