Playing IS Learning

Being a full time student + stay at home mom has its challenges. Like keeping your child entertained while trying to study/do homework for 2+ hours. That is easier said than done. Especially if your child has the attention span of a pebble. Although my children are allowed to watch television, I REFUSE to use it as a babysitter. I'm not going to ask my son to sit in front of the TV for a couple of hours while I get stuff done. No way. Instead, I try to be creative and give him something that will benefit him, as well as myself.

I decided to give him his own Sensory Box. For those of you who don't know, a sensory box is a container that can be filled with "sensory" items, such as dried rice or beans, sand, water, leaves, etc. Most children learn by "doing" and touching. Also, it provides a way of learning for them as well as a fun activity they can do by themselves! 

You can add pretty much anything to a sensory box. You could even have a theme! Think Fall, Birthday, Ocean, anything! 

For my box, I just put in some stuff I had lying around. I used 2 bags of lentils. Let's be honest, I'm never going to cook them anyways haha! I threw in some straws, a plastic spoon, a cup, and two paper towel rolls, and a toy car.

I tried to contain the lentils by placing a blanket underneath his box. We'll get to that in a second...

He loved it! It was something different to do and he wasn't staring at a screen all day! He's even using some fine motor skills by pouring the lentils into the tube! 

And the best part? He did this for almost two hours!

I was able to get so much done. I loved watching him use his imagination. And yes, some lentils ended up in the floor. 

Well....more like A LOT of the lentils. But it was so worth it. They vacuumed up just fine haha:)

How do you keep your child learning/entertained while getting stuff done? I'm all ears! :)