Monster Punching Bag: Encouraging Gross Motor Skills and Large Movement

After being stuck indoors with colds for a few weeks, it was clear that my boys needed some Gross Motor Activities to encourage LARGE movement! I fashioned this "punching bag" by filling a large trash bag with some wadded up newspaper and other smaller plastic grocery bags. I hung it from the ceiling in the hallway with some yarn and duct tape. Later, for added play, I quickly drew a monster face with a Sharpie (King Size Permanent Marker, 12 Black Markers (Google Affiliate Ad). When I made this I had NO idea just how much fun my boys would have with this. It was kind of crazy how simple it was but how much play this thing got! 

He loved swinging it and then kicking or punching it when it came back to him. 

We also took turns punching or kicking it back and forth to one another. 

And he also would swing it and then run under it at it's highest point before it came back down.

There was LOTS of running and jumping to punch or kick the bag as high as it would go!

He would often start running from the other end of the house lol.

  

and of course, lots of kicking...

and karate punches! (Hiya!)

and it even encouraged my late walker to get up on his feet! Big YAY!

This thing hung in the hallway for days and saw lots of action from everyone! It was hard for anyone to walk by it and NOT kick it! It even got a few HIYA'S from my 14 year old stepson! 

It turned out to be the perfect Gross Motor Activity that mostly L (4 1/2 yrs) was needing after being cooped up inside for so long!

Oh, an added bonus...it completely wore L out! He didn't resist nap time at ALL and slept for hours! 

Click the picture below for another totally fun and easy 

Gross Motor Activity for Indoor Play!

Visit my Pinterest Board for Simple Indoor Play for other fun ideas!

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River Habitat Sensory Small World Setup

I created this River Habitat Sensory Bin/Small World Setup for L after his River Animals came in the mail.

I had been wanting to do a river habitat small world setup for a long time, but could never find the right animals, until Cabela's came into town! Cabela's...ohhhh how I love that place!

I wanted our river to have real water so I used some colored sand which we already had and I 

scooped a little ditch which I lined with tin foil. I doubled lined it and it still leaked a bit but not too much.  

All the materials used in this bin were things I already had saved from other sensory bins and small world setups. I reuse sensory material OVER and OVER again when possible!

This bin included sand, aquarium gravel, floral glass gems, painted wooden mushrooms, 

and fake moss and fake mossy rocks.

L was so suprised and excited when he saw his River Habitat! He got to playing and was soon making up all kinds of stories about the animals. I kept overhearing him saying that the "nice animals" needed a way to get across the river without getting bit by the mean animals (alligator and snake), so I found our fairy bridge and took care of that! 

The bridge led to all sorts of other river adventures. We played with this bin for days and on a few of our nicer winter days, we took it outside to play too

To see ALL of our Sensory Bins and Small World Setups, 

Click the photo below!

 Check out my Sensory Bins Pinterest Board for tons of amazing sensory bin setups from your favorite bloggers!



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Make a Photocopy Storybook

We've been coming up with all sorts of ways to keep occupied while being trapped indoors with colds for the last few weeks. I showed L how the photocopier worked which he thought was lots of fun! At first he was afraid to put his hand on it, but after watching me do it and seeing the neat picture it made, he did his too and then we did LOTS more. He kept running around looking for different toys to try.

He thought the laser was super cool

And I decided to keep all of his pictures and turn it into a book!

 L loves to tell stories so I gave him each page and asked him to tell me a short story about what was happening in each picture. I wrote his responses down and added them to each page.  

I stapled one side so it would be a flip-book. 

It turned out really cute and it's something that will be fun to look back on years later!

The "fighting badguys" is very common around here lol

This one is a bit blurry, but the story is: 

"When he drove the truck there were bombs everywhere and he couldn't get across!" 

I loved this one the most because he obviously based this story from Mr. Potato Head's expression. 

Spot on i'd say!

If you liked our Photocopy Storybook, you may also like...

(click the title link below)

Homemade Magnets and Backdrops for Storytelling

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Baby Oil Sensory Bags

Sensory bags are so neat, and it seems like everybody's doing them these days, but in the kids activities world, when everyone is doing it, it's usually because it's super cool! I found this list of 40 Fun Sensory Bags from Mama OT and loved so many of the sensory bag ideas on there, as well as the site in general! 

I decided to try the baby oil sensory bag first. REALLY NEAT results!

(please do also read the caution at the bottom of this post)

The How To's

Just take a ziplock bag and fill it with a bunch of baby oil. Then, add some drops of food coloring. 

Lastly, add a bit of water. If you want the "lava lamp" looking results like we got, don't put the water in first. Make sure you add the baby oil first, and that you don't add too much water. You can also add small objects as we did. I put a few floral glass gems and a bit of glitter as well.

Then, get as much of the air out of the bag as you can and close it. This will help prevent it from popping and also makes it more fun to play with.

Use duct tape on the "ziplock" to help prevent leaks. 

The baby oil bags are cool because the baby oil causes pools of color which can be "broken up" with touch, but will form together again when they pools touch. 

After a whole lot of shaking and exploring 

I had a few dollar store Valentine's Day trinkets so I threw those in another bag with 

some red food coloring added to the baby oil.

Simple, cheap, and fun sensory play!

Caution

Although sealed, the bags can still leak or break!  Baby oil (or any oil) can be harmful if ingested or aspirated. Always use proper vigilance and precaution when younger children are exploring with this sensory material, and use your parental discretion when deciding if this or any activity is right for your child based on their age and developmental abilites.

If you liked Baby Oil Sensory Bags, 

check out what else you can make and do with baby oil!

(Click the title link)

Cloud Dough

Beautiful Science

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