Goodness… I’m pretty sure I put making these simple little sensory blocks on my to do list about 3 months ago. It’s ridiculous that it’s taken me this long to get to them given the fact that the entire project took about 10 minutes start to finish, but feel like that’s just my current state of life. Non-priority tasks aren’t happening as quickly as I’d like them to, but it is what it is. Either way, they’re made now, and I’m so happy with how they turned out! Sam loves them too, which is exactly what I’d hoped for. They’re sort of like a combination of a miniature sensory bottle {making them perfect for little hands} and these really fun little sensory blocks that I was highly considering buying online late one night {making them perfect for stacking and crashing}. They’re also part musical instrument, so multi-purpose indeed {hah – have I sold you on making a set for your bub yet??}
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Here’s what we used to make ours… Little clear storage containers sold in the crafting section of our local dollar store {similar ones here on Amazon}. What I like about these is that the lid snaps on super tight, they’re small enough for little hands while not being so small that they could become a choking hazard, and they stack really nicely.
The only thing I didn’t like about them was the little tabs on the lids {no need to make opening them up more attractive or easier!}, so I simply chopped them off.
With that done, I went around the house and gathered up all kinds of little bits and bobs that would normally be completely off bounds for our little bubba. Buttons, beads, coins, googly eyes, jingle bells, pebbles, you name it – I popped it into the containers. I even tried some coloured water, though I think I’ll have to do a really good ring of hot glue inside the lid in order to make them completely leak proof.
Then I simply ran a little bit of glue along the top edge of the containers and popped the lids on really quickly. I will say that I went back and forth on the glue several times… So much of it {well, the good stuff at least} is toxic and obviously not something I’d want my baby to be sucking on, but then again the goodies inside these sensory blocks are absolute choking hazards and you really don’t want the lids coming off. My take is this – do what you feel most comfortable with, and always supervise your baby, especially when he or she is playing with homemade toys.
Here’s our finished collection.
When done, I popped them into a box lid and put them in Sam’s baby play area.
He was pretty pleased when he found them…
He shook them…
And investigated them…
And smashed them together too.
Then I spent some time building towers for him and he very enthusiastically crashed them down.
Here he comes…
BOOM!!!
Tower destroyer!
The cutest little bunny ever!
Will have to try that with Izzy. She loves that kind of stuff ?
Love these! I’m already thinking of fun things to fill our blocks with!
These are awesome! Definitely will be making them for my toddler class. And what is that clear ball in the basket?? Those look amazing too!