Tall, Tall Grass Sensory Basket

We've continued to explore books from this month's Virtual Book Club for Kids author Denise Fleming. I created this extension activity for In the Tall, Tall Grass so quickly and the boys enjoyed it so much I couldn't help but share it.

We've read the book a few times this week and liked reading about the different animals throughout the story. We knew we had some of the animals in our play animal and finger puppet collections. 

Big Brother and I gathered as many as we could find. The bin we usually use for sensory play is still full of moon sand, so we used a large basket we have in our family collection. I added in two bags of paper Easter grass and the leaves of some fake flowers. I also pulled two clean containers out of our recycling to act as "bug catchers."

Both boys instantly dug right into the basket. Many of the animals sunk into the paper grass, so it was almost like a search and find activity. They got right to work using the containers for collecting. 

Little Brother also just loved the texture of the paper and kept crinkling it in his hands. 

Although I had originally hope to contain the mess to the kitchen, Big Brother created a game in which he was capturing bugs for a bug zoo and wound up using his trucks to transport the bugs to the living room. 

Despite the stray bits of paper spreading across the floor, the activity was a huge hit with all of us. Not only was it fun, but it also was something they could do together. (And I was able to get dinner made at the same time.) We've definitely continued to enjoy it the rest of the week as well!