Toddler Sensory Play | Apple Picking

It is Toddler Mania around here lately! So much so that I have had my hands full! What better time to start having some of my favorite toddler bloggers guest post on my site, than when I am overwhelmed. Today I am excited to have Devany from Still Playing School here to share her recent toddler sensory play activity! I simply love how this apple picking activity includes something for the sibling as well as the busy toddler!

Take it away, Devany… Tell us about your Toddler Sensory Play!

I am thrilled to be here at Lemon Lime Adventures as the (first ever!) guest blogger for the Hands On Play Party! Dayna and I have a lot in common: We both are former teachers who now homeschool, we both write regularly about sensory play, and we both have ginger toddlers who need hands on entertainment to keep them busy! At Still Playing School we are currently learning about apples so this activity incorporates our monthly theme with gross motor, fine motor, pretend play, and sensory exploration.

My neighbor recently dropped off baked cotton balls for us to investigate. What your neighbor doesn’t do that? If not, you can read how to make baked cotton balls at Fun at Home with Kids. We’ve never made our own but now that we’ve checked them out we definitely will be baking these soon!

When I saw the green and red baked cotton balls in the bag I immediately thought of our apple unit. Our preschooler was so proud to set up this invitation her for toddler brother. While he napped we taped green paper trees to our deck. We used contact paper to hold the “apples” on the trees.

Our toddler was excited to engage in this activity. First the kids worked together to harvest the apples. Picking them from the trees was great fine motor practice for them both.

Our toddler is learning colors. We gently encouraged him to sort the apples by color into corresponding buckets. Our preschooler likes to tell people that we homeschool and Momma is her teacher while she is her brother’s teacher. On this day that was certainly true!

In one squish our toddler discovered that there was more to these apples then meets the eye! The amazing part about baked cotton balls is while they have a hard coating on the outside they remain soft on the inside. Both kids had to investigate this new sensory experience. They even tried washing the apples in our pool.

It was a full afternoon of engaging hands on (and head on) play! My favorite activities are the ones that involve both of my kids cooperatively.

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Playing and learning with your toddler doesn’t have to be hard. It can be fun and memorable for both you and your toddler. One way to do that is with this new e-book, Every Parent Can Teach their Toddler! It is all about learning through play, encouraging independence, and providing a great environment for your toddler to naturally learn and thrive. The book is written by a team of teachers, former teacher, therapists, parents and more. It’s a resource you don’t want to miss! Be sure to get your copy of the book while it’s still at it’s special launch price of $6.99! It is 135 pages full of activities, planning guides, home set-up ideas, printables and more. It is such a fabulous resource for anyone with children that are (or are almost) 10-36 months to help do simple tot-school activities and guide them through their child’s life overall until they reach preschool/homeschool preschool.