Rice & Tubes - Adding another dimension to the sensory box

So when I saw an amazing sensory box from Frugal Fun For Boys on my Facebook feed I pinned it immediately. While I was pinning it the boys caught sight and wanted one of their own. A couple of hours later I decided to have a look around to see if we had enough bits to make a more basic quick DIY version.

I dug out our sensory box, coloured rice, and a selection of scoops etc that I keep for messy play. I also had one funnel that was big enough for the rice. I needed something big and flat for the back, as I didn't have any card big enough I used a biggish box flattened out. As it wasn't rigid I then went searching in the shed for some supports & found this looped bamboo, but 2 small bamboo canes or other wood would have worked. Just be carefully of any shape edges or catching eyes on the end of canes. I attached the card to the bamboo by making holes with a screwdriver and feeding a cable tie around, top and bottom. To make some extra funnels I used a plastic cone we had and a bottle cut in half. I was worried it might be sharp, ours wasn't, but if it was I was going to put duck tape around the top. I attached the 'funnels' using more cable ties. I then sorted through our bag of tubes to find ones of the right size, we mainly used foil & cling film tubes. I had to tape a couple on, but where they fit snug enough to stay in place left them untapped so the boys could reroute them if they wished. Further down I fixed a big blue tube with more cable ties. I'm not sure what this tube is but I picked it up from the children's scrap store. Finally I attached a yogurt pot to collect some of the rice and spill over.

They were over the moon that I'd made it by lunchtime for them. They played together for over 30 mins, with the only squabble when Joseph(5) put rice in Daniels(3) hair! Joseph eventually lost interest but Daniel was engrossed and played on and off for the rest of the day. Its safe to say the boys are more than happy with this sensory box. We did end up putting a washing up bowl on one side to help catch stray rice, but it still ended up all over the floor. Top tip make sure the floor is well swept before play and then any rice can be swept up after play will be clean enough to reuse.

We have another group messy play planned for Easter, if this survives long enough, I might take it for the other kids to enjoy. I'd like to make a more waterproof one so we can use it outside with water in the summer.

x Jo x

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