Sensory play doesn't have to be complicated to be fun! This is the inspiration behind my series on Super Easy Sensory Plays. All the plays in the series consist of two or fewer ingredients, both of which are commonly found in a home, and the plays apply to all ages - babies included! You can find links to the rest of the plays in the Super Easy Sensory Play series here.
Today's play involves coffee grounds and spaghetti (I used linguine for our worms). I just love using old coffee grounds as dirt in our sensory bins (like we did in our Insect World). It's free, it's easier than digging a hole in our yard, and it smells like coffee! Perfect. :) My system involves dumping and spreading the used grounds on a baking sheet and letting them air dry for a day. I then move the mostly dried grounds to an open container (in our case, a big plastic Gladware) and let them dry further.
To set up our bin, I grabbed my container of our old dried coffee grounds, dumped them in our sensory bin (we use a plastic underbed storage container), and then cooked a handful of spaghetti. Once the noodles were cooked, I rinsed them in cold water and patted them dry on a paper towel. I spread them out on top of the mound of "dirt" and presented the bin to the kids!
X was immediately intrigued by the "worms".
S thought they felt a lot like real worms and the coffee grounds stuck to them a little bit, making them look even more realistic!
X, as usual, carefully inspected the new sensory materials. First he had a good look at the coffee grounds on his fingers.
Next he poked and wiggled the worm he'd caught.
They were both eager to nose around and mix the worms and the dirt around.
X further investigated the worms in the background while S dug and buried some worms.
After awhile, X desperately needed to get inside the bin. He really loves to take a few minutes to kick his legs around and squish whatever happens to be in the bin between his toes.
Once X was done playing, S took out all the worms, made a big pile of dirt, and carefully lay out each of the worms on top of the mound. "Mama, I'm making art with the worms!" And here is her finished worm art masterpiece!
This post is part of the Brilliant Baby Play series here at Creative Playhouse.
LOVE this idea!! We would have to find an alternative to coffee grounds though because we don't have any. But its deffo something my two (aged 4 & 1) would love!
I'm so glad you liked it! :) Any local coffee shop should be able/willing to donate a bag of grounds! People often use them in gardening, so it's not an usual request. One of our local coffee shops used to just proactively put out bags of used grounds. In that case, I'd recommmend getting them fresh and using the oven on low to dry them quickly to prevent mold.
This is brilliant!! I love that X is poking the "worm" it's totally something my lot would do too!
Great idea and the photos are beyond adorable!!!
Thanks for this fun idea! I'm on the lookout for more activities for my toddler (15 months). And wow, is that an adorable baby!!
This is a brilliant idea! I especially love when your daughter was so excited about making art with the "worms" and your son climbing right in. As always, your photos are beautiful! You have a knack for capturing the wonder of childhood in their expressions.
Ok, that's it. I have to save our coffee grounds. This is such a cool activity. At first glance, I thought the worms were long rubber band, but spaghetti is brilliant! Love how the grounds stick to them. The hooligans will have fun with this one! I can't wait!