Food Sensory Bins

Whenever Drew is in the "helping" mood while I'm making dinner and I don't have anything he can do, I get out the dried pasta, a bowl, and a mixing spoon and he's happy for a while.

Today it was so nice that we took this activity outside.  I set out bowls with dried pasta, sugar, and cereal along with some spoons, whisks, and measuring cups.

They had a great time mixing, dumping, and stirring.  We even added "pepper" (glitter).

To assuage my guilt about "wasting" food, we put the leftover mixture in an old ice cream bucket so we can reuse it again and again.  (That pasta has been around for months already.)  Also, our dog did an excellent job of making sure even the stuff that fell on the ground didn't go to waste.  He really liked this activity too.

The perfect book to read when you're playing with food is the classic Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. I didn't know if it was going to be too long for my preschoolers.  It was for Lainey, but Drew loved looking at the pictures and he asked a LOT of questions.  It's about the town of Chewandswallow, where the residents get their food from the sky.  It rains orange juice and has clouds of sunny-side up eggs.  This is great until their weather gets wacky.  Soon giant pancakes and sandwiches are falling from the sky and the food is falling faster than the sanitation department can clean it up.  Eventually everyone has to move to a new town, but they use their giant bread to build new homes for themselves.  It's a cute and silly book.  We haven't seen the movie version yet.  Is it as good as the book?

Linking to Cachey Mama's Classroom, Blissful and Domestic , Sassy Sites!, Happy Hour Projects , The Southern Product Queen , Sun Scholars , Living Life Intentionally, Shine On Fridays, Tatertots & Jello, Once Upon a Weekend, Crafty Moms Share , Six Sisters' Stuff , I Can Teach My Child , I Heart Nap Time,  Monday Madness
The Educators' Spin On It 
Mama Pea Pod