All the World is a Sensory Bin

During Thanksgiving break, Erik loved having Mom and Dad to himself all day long for a whole week. We spent lots of time just enjoying being together, but one of our favorite things to do was play outside. Thanksgiving morning we went for a walk to enjoy the BEAUTIFUL fall weather. It was just too pretty to pass up. 

One of our main goals for this walk was to find some fun fall textures for Erik to enjoy, in particular we wanted to find a good pile of leaves for him to play in. We went over to a subdivision a short distance from our apartment that has lots of big trees and there we hit the jack-pot! 

We sat on the side of the road and just turned Erik loose. There was no traffic, and nobody else in sight, so we felt pretty safe letting Erik wander around as long as he didn't get too far. I think the taste of independence was good for him. He got to explore whatever he wanted without any interference and just have a blast!

He loved the leaves. The sound of them crunching underfoot, the nice autumny smell, the feeling of scooping up armfuls, and the sight of them flying through the air when he threw them were all such awesome sensory stimulation.

Like I said, we let Erik be pretty independent. If he wanted to check out a fire hydrant or a mail box we let him, as long as he wasn't hurting anything.

Whenever Erik was ready to move on to a new location, we followed suit.

He loved being just like his Daddy and pushing the stroller around. What a great way to build self confidence and gross motor skills at the same time!

Exploring the texture of a picket fence...

He stumbled upon this tree stump that had a pile of little chunks of wood of various shapes and sizes. He climbed right up there and started exploring the blocks of wood, seeing if they would stack, what they tasted like, etc...

And then, being a boy, he started throwing them...

This was a really fun little family outing and was packed chock full of great learning and growing experiences. Getting outside with your kids is so good for everyone involved, give it a try!