We have been spending a lot of time lately working on sensory play with our kids. They love to get messy and a lot of the activities we have been doing are brand new to our one year old and our three year old hasn’t done them in a while because of how difficult it was to keep her brother from destroying everything.  We tend to do at least one a day depending on what the kids want to do.  I try and let them decide which activity to do unless I have something in mind or I don’t want to do laundry. Since the weather has finally started to warm up in the Pacific Northwest we have been doing a lot of sensory play outside with found materials.

Having kids work with their hands using a variety of materials is a great way to have them learn without it seeming like forced work.  So many parents I talk to are amazed at how much we do with our kids but honestly it is super easy and it doesn’t cost much to set things up. Many of the set ups I made when our three year old was one we are still using and will continue to use for many years and the others (most of them) are ones where my kids ask to play with something and I throw a bunch of things in a bin and they play.  My kids also find sensory play items in their own as well and unless there is a safety issue I usually let them play with it.  We have been on a strict budget ever since I can remember so I have not spent a lot of money.  They key is to not get caught up in all of the fancy sensory bins you see on Pinterest with very specific items included in them and to make sure and buy materials that can be used for many different activities.  Every once in a while throw in something new or “new” to them (as in mommy hid it for several months) and it will keep them interested.

Our focus lately has been water play. In the winter we have dumped bath toys in the kitchen sink and I have had the kids wash them for me but I only like to use that activity for special treats (like when the kids have cabin fever) since it can get out of hand and cause a huge mess. The weather has finally gotten warm enough so that the kids don’t freeze when they get wet outside so we have moved to the front yard. We used to live in a townhouse with no yard but a decent deck that was shaded in the heat of the summer so in the afternoons I would get our middle daughter a big bowl of water and sit out there with her while she poured water out of her tea pot over and over again.  She absolutely loved it.  Writing this reminds me I have to find that tea pot so that the kids can play with it this summer.

Now that we have two kids I have had to get a little more creative.  I usually give them our white dish pans that we never use for dishes.  I bought them several years ago at Target and we use them almost exclusively for sensory play.   The dish pans, a set of large sterilite containers similar to these and this set of sensory tools are by far the best sensory play items I have bought so far.  The dish pans are the perfect size for keeping projects small but deep enough so that material spills way less often then something shallow like a cookie pan and the sterilite containers work well for when you want a little more room, especially if the kids want to sit in your material which is good for them as well.

Our one year old’s first time using the dish pans outside. He was content with two red cups leftover from planting seedlings.  Both had holes in them but all he cared about was practicing scooping and pouring water into the bin.

I had to bring out both dish pans when both kids were outside last week since they each wanted to play in a different way.  They used the red cups, beach toys and watering cans to scoop and pour.

Today I turned on the hose to water some plants I had moved and our son ran into the garage, dumped out the first white bin he could find and brought it to me to fill.  It was super sweet. I guess he loves playing with water outside!  The kids were a little bored with the same toys so I added some bubbles to the pan.  Oh man.  Our one year old loves bubbles.  He was so excited I had to break out the large sterilite container I have for larger sensory play and fill that with bubbles.  It also kept the water loss down since the waterwheel drained back into the container instead of on the grass.  They played with bubbles for over an hour until both of them were cold and ready for dinner.

Here is some of the sensory play we did outside the last couple of weeks:

We have done some indoor play as well. My kids have been obsessed with their legos and our creative muscles have been working hard making stores, schools, houses, and many other creations.

Our son has just started to really play with them so it has been a lesson in sharing and taking turns for everyone.

There are many many other ways you can do sensory play.  In the past we have used water beads, kinetic sand, gak, pinto beans, flax seed and many more ideas.

What ways do you use sensory play in your home?

To say the north side of my house was a hot mess is an understatement.  The previous owners planted a bunch of bushes and some ivy along the property line and I honestly barely did any gardening back there last year so the weeds were out of control.  I spent the entire gardening season trying to cut back the tremendous growth on all of my bushes in the front and south side yards.  I am talking about chopping off 2-3 feet of growth in the spring and late summer on the same plants. It was crazy.  Plus some sort of weed fairy blessed our yard with many, many weeds in all of the areas that were completely bare when we moved in so I spent many many hours hoeing and hand pulling weeds.  My son was a baby last year and he hated the sun his first summer so my weeding time was pretty limited to begin with.  Thankfully he has gotten over it and now loves to be outdoors.

I am still having a hard time getting over to the north side to garden because there is no fence over there and the ravine is just too close for comfort with little kids that like to run off and hide.  I finally got around to cutting back the gigantic sword fern that is on our rock wall at the corner of the house and I found some not so fun things going on with our retaining wall.

Sword ferns need to be cut back in Late March/Early April although some of the reading I have been doing has said you don’t need to cut them back every year but they look much nicer without the dead ferns hanging around. Some resources say not to cut them back at all or just to cut the old dead fronds out but since I didn’t cut anything off of them last year they were getting a little out of control so I cut them back all the way this year.  It would be pretty difficult to cut just the dead fronds out after new growth occurs so it is best to do it during that magic moment right before the new growth pops up. Sword ferns are native to the Pacific Northwest so I am not doing any other care to them besides the occasional watering in the summer. The little curly brown things are the new growth on this fern in the picture below. The new growth looks kind of like caterpillars.

I finally got all of the fern cut back and I realized that several of the concrete blocks along the house are askew.  The soil is pretty moist and I am pretty sure our gutter issues this past winter have caused the blocks to shift a bit.  The base of the fern is actually growing over the side of a block that is completely not in the right position and the weight of the fern is causing it to shift further.

Some of the blocks along the wall are very crooked and slope downward with no soil behind them.

I was pretty upset to see this since we are supposed to be installing a fence along the top of this wall and now we have to wait until we get a landscaper out to see if we can put a better retaining wall in and fix some of the hillside issues.  The soil near the downspout is pretty loose and if they put fence posts in I am afraid the posts will shift in the next storm.

For now I am continuing to clean up the weeds and hopefully this weekend I can work on the ivy covering the pathway.  We are looking for a landscaper to help with the wall and putting our fence on hold until we figure it out.

What kind of surprises have you found while gardening?

Sword Fern Care Resources:

San Francisco Gate

Gardening Know How

NW Plants