Baby Explorers is one of my new favorite programs! My idea for it is to give babies sensory opportunities as they explore the world around them (and hopefully caregivers can easily recreate the activities at home). To that end, I try to have four stations: Gross Motor, Fine Motor, Create, and Explore. This program was 30 minutes and kids 0-36 months were invited, but most ended up being 6-20 months. Here's what we were up to this spring:
Gross Motor
We ran, jumped, stomped, and punched a huge section of bubble wrap we taped to the floor. This one was especially popular once a few families had left and the kids had more room.
Fine Motor
At this station, older kids could use tongs to sort pom-poms by color and younger kids could use their fingers to put the pom-poms in and out of the colored boxes. Simple, but a huge hit.
Create
We made sensory bags similar to these. This was a great (sneaky) way to use our backlog of random jingle bells, beads, and tiny pom-poms. Kids seemed to love squishing the gel around caregivers had a good time picking through the odds and ends.
Explore
The runaway hit of the evening was our discovery pool. I filled it with storytime props like bells, scarves, and shakers & kids had a blast digging through it. I made a sign with questions adults could ask the kids while they played. It was a giant mess to clean up, but so worth it.
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