What is a Sensory Box?

If you had asked me a few months ago, I’d have been unable to tell you what a Sensory Box is.

Now I know that it’s a cat litter tray I bought for a bargain price in Poundland. At least that’s what passes for a sensory box in our house. And that cat litter tray probably gets as much action as it would if we actually had a cat.

When LBG was small and I needed to keep her occupied whilst I did some jobs in the kitchen, I would dig out a few Tupperware bowls and a wooden spoon or two. Then I’d dish out some dried pasta and get on with cooking, laundry, dishwasher-emptying. It was brilliant. What I did instinctively then turns out to encourage important skills in small children- the kind of stuff that they work on in nurseries and Kindergartens across the globe.

Fast forward to the same development stage with the Dimpled Assassin and lentils have been the dried pulse of choice. I confess it hasn’t been as popular with DH who summarily banned the use of lentils in all activities in future after it got into every crevice of the kitchen floor I hate so much and had to be picked up by hand.

But the Cat Litter Tray remains, filled with a variety of interesting things to occupy the minds and hands of two small girls who want my attention at the same time as the stained glass biscuits.

You can find so many ideas for sensory boxes around the internet, and they really don’t have to cost that much (take my cat litter tray as a good example.) The box that we have going at the moment is autumn-themed, but in the summer, I froze coloured water in ice-cube trays and emptied them out into the box together with a plastic tea set. Imagination Tree has an enviable Fairy Sensory Tub, Childhood 101 has a great garden-themed soil sensory box and you should look no further than Pink and Green Mama for the ultimate lowdown on Sensory Tubs, Tins and Boxes.