The upcoming holiday of Rosh Hashana affords numerous opportunities for explorations within its related themes. Because apples dipped in honey are a central idea for this chag, we made our first themed sensory bin red, red, red! Focusing on one color emphasizes the other properties of the materials and also shows us the many different shades of this one hue that exist in our daily lives. Inside our bin we put balls, construction paper, bean bags, sensory bottles and other items gathered from the classroom.
As individual as each child is, so too their explorations. Some children chose to put items in and out of the red tray. Others used balls, rolling them, tapping them, and throwing them.
We incorporated the sense of smell by including containers of cinnamon sticks. The children could smell the cinnamon through holes in the top or shake them in the bottle for a satisfying sound and feeling.
Later in the week we added another component - a hide-and-seek box! Toddlers love to place things in and out of containers and are growing cognitive bridges while doing so. They are strengthening their memory, learning properties of materials and solidifying object permanence.
