Oatmeal Sensory Play

As someone who has basically been working with children since I was a child myself (I think I started babysitting at like 12 years old or what ever) I have always LOVED when you are doing something with a child and you can just see those little wheels moving in their cute little heads.

I know, I know, "but babies wheels are always turning"- but there are moments, if you look for them, when you know they are making HUGE discoveries.  and this was the FIRST big one I saw with my own son!! 

IT WAS AMAZING!!

You could just see the "whoah, this world is filled with so many cool things" in his eyes!  

Oatmeal Sensory Play: take some oatmeal (or what ever kind of cereal it is that your baby uses, or use up the kind that he/she doesn't like, since the goal is not to eat it anyways) *I used about 1/4 or less of the big jars of gerber oatmeal, which I think retails about $3.00 for a container, so this cost me less than a $1 (and I saved some of it to play with again) 

pour it in a container, and hide toys under the oatmeal.   Do this activity somewhere that its ok to make a big mess (although my flooring in the play room is very "textured" and I do NOT recommend that for cleaning up-  however placing a cheap shower curtain under would have been AWESOME) 

Babies are going to tip the container out.. but hey! they are learning so let them make a mess! 

NEXT TIME: I would not use Bennett's favorite food (I don't even give him oatmeal very often, but I swear he would eat this stuff until he puked if I let him)  he ended up just making oatmeal with his spit! lol

I also would maybe use grownup oatmeal, so it didn't get mushy so fast, Bennett was really drooling (have I mentioned he LOVES oatmeal lol) 

CLEAN UP: ok so clean up was more work than I really cared to do yesterday, HOWEVER, I knew this was going to be a messy project.  It was also multiplied by the fact that we did indoor water play yesterday, which means we still had some wet spots on the floor, which turned oatmeal cereal, into mushy gushy oatmeal in a heart beat!   I just picked up what I could with my hands, and vacuumed up the rest,  What had turned mushy, I let dry and wiped it up with a wet cloth the next morning!