Texture Bins

Lately I feel like my son (16 months) has NOTHING to do. He already is quite the mama's boy and always wants me to play with him, however lately I feel like anything I offer him he refuses. Of course his toys are just not good enough and the kitchen appliances are all of a sudden boring to him.

So instead of rushing out the door to the nearest toy store, I decided that he needs more "real-life" toys right now. Something to keep his interest and something to use his senses. 

I decided to create a few inexpensive texture bins.

I headed to the dollar store and bought 4 colorful bins with enough depth that my son could reach his little hands inside and not spill the contents immediately while being able to still move them around. I came up with a long list of items I can put inside of the bins and chose 4 to begin with. This is why I love this idea so much. I can reuse the bins over and over again and change it up often so that my son doesn't get bored. Brilliant!

So to begin, here are some tools he can use to play with the contents in the bin: shovel, pails, scoopers, etc.

One bin I filled with rice. It's kind of like sand, but not. :)

The next bin I filled with various types of beans. I like the variety of color, size and texture. One day he'll be able to sort them too.

The third bin I filled with different textured balls. I found the tennis balls at the dollar store and threw in some older balls he doesn't play with often.

For the last bin I intend to fill with water and add bubbles. This is the water bin. It has a squirt bottle and some sponges to add to the fun. Did I mention I'm putting this out on the balcony? Yes so hopefully not too much of it ends up on my living room floor...we will see. ;)

And that's it! Easy and cheap: two words I like. :)

I am excited to try this out on Owen tomorrow morning. I'm going to first let him explore and then I'll step in to help him find new ways to use his texture bins. I will keep you updated on how it goes and when I end up changing the contents in the bins. Here's to made up "toys"!