Sea Glass

Did you know that if you never set up a sensory bin your kids are going to turn out just fine? Like really, tell yourself that right now. Give yourself permission to scrap all plans for sensory bins and give them access to the greatest “sensory bin” ever - nature.

Motherhood has so many ebbs and flows. Seasons of relative ease, and ones that are so full on you can’t seem to think how you’ll stay on the surface. If the “purposeful, thematic set up” sensory play has got you bogged down in this season, NEXT. Get those babes outside and get some vitamin D yourself.

The biggest lie with sensory play is that it’s got to be thematic with sweet Target dollar spot seasonal findings or beautiful, painted cardboard cut outs for your kids to fill up with seven different colors of beans. Let me tell you, I’ll never be Lives in Cotts Cottage and won’t even attempt the jaw-dropping things she does with cardboard, and that’s okay. My girls will be okay.

What I know I’m good at, and what I know *YOU* are good at, Mama, is noticing what your kids notice and taking a few seconds to make it accessible to them. So when we found a piece of sea glass washed up on the beach, we watched a video about how it was made, I grabbed my collection from New Zealand where I’d grab a few pieces from a place I’d run to a few times a week, and I added some simple tools and water to our table. We even added a few to a bottle with some clear glue and glitter to make a sensory bottle for Marin. 5 minutes, y’all.

Now, is this the same as finding treasures on the beach? No, but I noticed what they noticed and brought it to them in an approachable way. The way they interacted with it made me giddy. With the different sized bottles, I watched them sort the glass by size. Then by colors. Then they made patterns in the ice cube tray. Then it turned into a boat where they tried to save the pieces.

And then we had conversations about not picking up pieces of “sea glass” in the streets.

You can do this.