Baby-Safe Sensory Tray: Dino Play with Edible Dirt!

June 1 was National Dinosaur Day, and in celebration I made Zoey this super simple, fun, and totally baby-safe sensory tray. I wanted to give Zoey a different texture for her sensory tray this time, so I decided to make her edible dirt. I had a box of Cheerios that was almost halfway gone and had gotten stale, so I put them in the blender until they were a powder consistency. I did have to pick out a few hard clumps so be sure to run your hands through it at least once.

I put it in her plastic sensory tray with some large plastic dinosaur toys. She enjoyed the texture of the 'dirt!'.

She ran her hands through it.

She picked it up and dropped it.

She rubbed it into her legs.

She threw it.

Zeke got in on the action. He doesn't like being dirty, but he does enjoy watching Zoey get dirty!

It was actually pretty easy to clean-up, too! I just dusted her off and swept the porch!

Have you made edible dirt before? I'm thinking of lots of different cereals that would work well, like Cocoa Puffs, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and Frosted Flakes. 

Jello Dig Sensory Tray for Babies (Taste-Safe)

This is turning into a Sensory Summer for Zoey because she loves sensory trays so much! She had a blast with her first ever tray, a water sensory tray, and then loved her baby food sensory tray. This time it got even messier - and way more fun! 

Zoey is 8 months old and puts everything in her mouth, so my number one rule for her sensory trays is that it must be taste-safe and choke-free for a baby. All of the sensory tray ideas I give will be perfectly safe for a supervised baby under a year old. 

I love this plastic tray that I’ve been using for Zoey’s activities. I got it from the Target dollar spot for $3.00 about ten years ago, and it’s still in perfect condition! I have seen similar on Amazon. It’s about two inches deep and very sturdy, which is what I recommend for this activity.

Make three packages of Jello according to the package directions. I used lemon flavor because it seemed the least likely to stain her hands, mouth, and clothes! I set several of her silicone toys in the tray and then poured the jello mixture over the toys about halfway up the tray lip. It sat in the refrigerator for about four hours before I pulled it out for Zoey to use. 

When she first touched the Jello, she wasn’t sure what to think! But she dug right in, digging for her toys. 

When she finally got one out, she thoroughly enjoyed sucking the Jello off of it! This was her first taste of Jello. I've been trying to introduce more foods to her - baby food and solid food - and she hasn't shown much interest. I'm hoping by having taste-safe sensory trays she will be more open to trying some foods.

She started squishing and squeezing the Jello between her fingers and rubbing it on her legs. She was having the best time with this! 

Even Zeke got in on the action. He doesn’t like getting sticky, but he did dig one toy out. He immediately went inside to wash his hands but came back out to watch Zoey play! 

This was really an easy activity. And clean up wasn’t bad - I doused the porch with a pitcher of warm water and stuck Zoey in the bathtub! Porch sensory trays are my new favorite thing! 

Have you done a Jello dig before? Would you try it?

Zeke's Tot School Resources

Zeke is 18-months old and I started Tot School with him a few weeks ago. I'm using Bible ABCs for Ones, Twos, and Threes for his curriculum. We have a Bible story each week that goes with a letter of the alphabet. He also has a color or shape each week, a Bible Big Idea, a song, a themed snack, crafts, and developmental activities that all tie in to the Bible story of the week.

I have some resources left from my older kids that I saved, but I did donate quite a bit of our educational toys and puzzles a few years ago. I gave myself a $100 budget for Zeke to order him a few fun resources that he can use throughout this year and more to come.

I think these color bean bags will be great for games and for learning his colors! At less than $20, this is a pretty good deal.

These simple shape puzzles from Imagimake are less than $10 and will be great for teaching colors, shapes, and puzzle skills. 

I love Larui Toys! These shape stackers will be fun for Zeke! I had this set for Titus years ago, but I gave it away. For $15, this set comes with 25 peg stackers and the shape puzzle. This is great for fine motor skills! Toddlers love stacking the pegs.

This puzzle from Melissa and Doug feature all of the shapes he will be learning this year. It's only $10 and such a pretty, bright puzzle. I love wooden puzzles.

I have a bag of random counting bears in various sizes and colors and am missing a few of the sorting cups, so I decided to get Zeke these jumbo counting bears and sorting cups for $22.

This set of 12 apples from Skoolzy have many ways to play! Zeke will learn numbers, counting, matching, colors, and more. These will be used for many different games. And they're on sale from $40 to $21! 

This stacking toy from Melissa and Doug will be a fun fine-motor challenge for Zeke, as well as help with colors and shapes. It's only $10 and I'm sure will be used many times.

And I've reached my $100 budget for Zeke! There are so many more toys and resources I'd love to get him, but I'm just putting them on a wish list for his birthday and Christmas. These should keep him busy until then! What would you add to my list?

Tot Learning Mats

I have been creating these really neat Tot Learning Mats for my 18-month old, Zeke. He really likes to use them! They are great for matching practice, increasing vocabulary, and speech therapy. They're also really simple - print two copies of each mat, laminate them both, and cut out the pictures from one of them to match to the corresponding mat! I store the loose pieces in envelopes with the title of the Tot Learning Mat written on the outside.

I have created two sets so far, but have plans for many, many more!

The Tot Learning Mat - Colors contains 10 mats with the colors: red, blue, green, orange, yellow, pink, purple, black, brown, and white.

The Old Testament Bible Stories A-Z includes 26 Bible stories from the Old Testament, such as Daniel in the Lion's Den and Noah's Ark. These are great for retelling Bible stories with your toddler!

I also have some play-dough shape mats!

Visit my Etsy shop and check them out!