Unexpected Sensory Time

Today I really wanted to bake some banana bread. I am not much of a baker but it is a super easy recipe and I thought it would be fun to do it with Saffryn! We have actually made this together before and she was so helpful stirring and dumping.

First we started with the dry ingredients. We sat on the floor together and she helped me dump them into a bowl and started stirring. She wanted to keep stirring so I got up and started mixing the wet ingredients. I turned around and saw she was busy exploring the flour mixture!

You wanna know what my first thought was? "A flour sensory activity...why didn't I think of that?!?!" Crazy but true! LOL. So you know what I did...nothing! I just let her continue exploring and made a second batch of dry ingredients for our bread.

She was so busy! She loved stirring the mixture. She loved squeezing it and letting it fall off of her hands. She loved smelling it and tasting it. She loved rubbing it and spreading it everywhere. It was a big ol mess!

Now to be fair I would have loved for this sensory time to be a little more planned. A part of me definitely did cringe when I saw just how much of a mess she made. But I know how much she is learning doing this and how good it is for her. And I just try to remind myself that I have the rest of my life to live in a clean house but I only have a few precious years to experience sweet little flour hand prints!

And sweet little faces like this!

Bet you were wondering what Pierce and Crash were doing! Just watching from the sidelines!!! She played in that for quite a while! Now something I always try and have her do is help me clean up. I think that is really important for her to learn. Because lets face it as adults we are free to make as big of messes as we want, however it is our job to clean them up. She is always eager to help me clean!

So we took of her clothes, got a broom out and swept up all the flour. Then we got wet paper towels and wiped down the floor. Then we got the mop out and finished cleaning it up. (Yes she is wearing big girl underwear in this picture...no she is not completely potty trained, but we are making good progress. But more on that in another post).

And presto all clean! What a fun and unexpected afternoon of baking and exploring. Next time I plan to bake I will also prepare a sensory activity for her, because lets face it she will make it happen either way :)