The magical fruit

Today was a super busy totally fun day that involved swim lessons, chickens, a splash fountain, skinned knees, and long drives. But of course I took no pictures so I’m sharing some from a week ago.
Beans-1
I got this tub of beans idea from Sew Liberated, who was a trained as a Montessori teacher and has lots of great ideas for the toddler set on her blog.
Beans-2
IT’S SO EXCITING! We got the big bag of pintos from Costco and then added in a few small bags so she could pick out big and little beans.
Beans-3
Good for dumping, pinching, and scooping practice. We had this under the bed bin left over from college and I’m glad it has a lid. When things start to go overboard (and she stops helping them go back in) we wave bye bye to the beans and put the lid back on. A note though, since I didn’t wash the beans I was shocked how dirty she got, especially the first few times. Makes me want to wash all my beans a little bit better!
Also, if you’ve asked me a question recently just wanted to mention that I do answer them in the comments section.

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51 Comments

  1. i have been following your blog since T was born. i was wondering about those beans. doesn’t she stuck the beans up her nose or eat them? they look like total chokeng hazzard in the world where small toys are called back because of button eyes or smt similar. but i love the idea. how many pounds of beans did you buy?

  2. Was she tempted (or did she attempt) to put any of them in her mouth? Or is she old enough–and smart enough–to know that she’s not supposed to? Either way, looks like fun to me!

  3. That’s like giant size montessori! lol They have lots of activities like that but on a smaller scale. Eventually moving to tweezers, spoons ect to move the beans.
    Looks like Tuesday really enjoys it! It’s like an indoor sandbox, I love it!

  4. I have been watching her VERY closely playing with this. It is certainly a chocking hazard, but I let her put one in her mouth to taste it and she spit it right out, like I thought she would. We haven’t any other issues.I bought one bag of 25 pounds, and a couple of small (like one pound) bags.

  5. My son did occupational therapy for sensory issues and this is one of the activities they had in the gym–a big container of beans! So we set one up at our place too. Pinto beans and a Rubbermaid storage box with lid. Soooo fun. At the gym, they also hide toys and ask the kids to look for them. Great tactile expce. Emsphan, at the state fair this year, they had a big box of corn kernels for the kids to play in. Of course, my kids took their shoes off. Didn’t realize corn was so dusty! I have also used rice in a metal bowl for my son to play with while I make dinner.

  6. that looks awesome, but I can imagine you watch her VERY VERY closely. This could turn from super fun to super not fun clean up really quickly! I love the idea!!

  7. This is such an awesome idea!!! And so nice to be(an) able to clean it up — not that it doesn’t make a mess — but how nice is it to have a (bean)box in the house! Heck they need this on playgrounds…. no more dumping sand out of the shoes…

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