The Speech-Language MOMologist: Bug Sensory Box

So glad it finally feels like SPRING!!! The boy have been so happy playing outside and I am more than happy to spend as much time outdoors as they’d like. They’re favorite thing to do in our backyard is, of course, digging in the dirt! With all of that dirt and digging, they’ve also been finding some creatures, specifically worms and grubs. Super exciting for little boys! My mother-in-law recently bought them some new dirt and big gear, including shoves, rakes, magnifying glasses, and bug cages. Anthony and Michael have turned their bug cages into bug habitats – filling them with dirt, grass and weeds. We are totally BUGGIN’ over here! Ha! We have our bug related books out and we’re on watch for all the bugs and insects the spring and summer are sure to bring along! It seemed time to start up another sensory box with BUGS as our focus!

I emptied our Easter sensory box and gathered up some materials:

Dirt (just from the yard)

Moss/Grass combination

Green glass pebbles

Rocks

Fake bugs

I bought all my materials at the Dollar Tree, which is easily my favorite store for supplies for any of our activities. I filled the box up with dirt then threw in the bugs, moss/grass, and rocks. Then, I mixed everything up, burying the bugs. I had these huge fake bugs from working at the school, so I threw those on top for fun. I placed the box outside along with their shovels, rakes, and magnifying glasses. I even took out an information book about bugs and The Very Quiet Cricket by Eric Carle (one of my favorites!!!). I didn’t mention the box to the boys, but let them discover it on their own when we went outside after naps.

Finding the bugs really provided a language-rich experience. We used the phrase, “I FOUND the (name of bug)!,” each time we made a discovery. Using repeated phrases during an activity is a great way to MODEL appropriate language and also EXPAND your little one’s sentence length. Once we took out the bug, we were able to DESCRIBE it by talking about its COLORS and SIZE. We COUNTED wings and legs. We talked about HOW THEY MOVED and WHERE we might find them. We even took some time to look the bugs up in our book, which worked on MATCHING and provided us with more INFORMATION about the bugs. The boys also had fun running and flying around the yard PRETENDING to be different bugs.