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Sensory Play with Peanut Shells

August 25, 2013 by OneMommy

 

Over the summer my kids discovered a love of peanuts (just the ones in their shells, mind you).  I think they really just like to try to crush the shells and make a bit of a mess, which is why I decided to start saving our peanut shells for some sensory play.  (Please keep in mind that children who are allergic to peanuts should not use the shells or any form of a peanut in sensory play!)preschooler sensory play idea

 

Once we had a nice collection of shells, I brought out our sensory bin, poured in the peanut shells and added a few of the trucks we sometimes use with our sensory bins.  I also sat out some of our play dishes, figuring they might spend time filling cups and bowls with the shells.

Like I expected, they both had fun crushing the shells into smaller bits with their fingers.  They also loaded up the mini dump trucks and eventually started filling the plastic cups to overflowing point.peanut shell sensory play

 

That’s when I suggested we add something to our peanut shells.

My son’s first reaction was, “Shaving cream!”  While shaving cream is always fun, I just didn’t think it would mix well with the shells…

Sand on the other hand?  That sounded like a treasure hunt in the making!

While they continued exploring the peanut shells, I grabbed a small bucket of sand and a cup of trinkets I had stored away for a rainy day.

They watched while I spread the trinkets in with the shells and then covered the whole thing with sand.

 peanut shell sensory play

 

Armed with some mini strainers, they started sifting through the sand, leaving just shells and the occasional trinket in their strainers.

They had a blast searching for their buried treasure!  In fact, once they found all the items, they asked me to hide them twice more.  peanut shell sensory play

 

What unusual things have you used for sensory play?  Have you held a mini treasure hunt yet?    (We actually had a bigger treasure hunt last year on pirate day.)

I’d love to hear your thoughts!

 

This post has been shared with some of these great link up parties!

 

Filed Under: Sensory Play Tagged With: preschooler, sand play, sensory play

Comments

  1. Eva @ The Multitasking Mummy says

    August 26, 2013 at 9:13 pm

    This is so cool. We love pistachio nuts in our house, so I guess these could be used too. My son would love this.

    Thanks for linking up for Mummy Mondays 🙂

    • OneMommy says

      August 27, 2013 at 5:10 pm

      I’m sure they would work just as well! 🙂

  2. jaime says

    August 27, 2013 at 12:30 pm

    We just did a peanut sensory bin last week, , ha.great minds think a like. I love how you added he trucks. By boys would have loved that:)

    • OneMommy says

      August 27, 2013 at 5:09 pm

      Great minds do think alike! 😉 I love how there really isn’t anything new under the sun… So often I do something, go to blog about it and find several others have done the same thing!

  3. sarah says

    August 28, 2013 at 1:08 pm

    This is great! I would love for you to share it today at my sensory play party!

  4. Emma says

    August 29, 2013 at 6:29 am

    So creative on your part – I never would have thought to use peanut shells as a sensory material!

  5. Kierna says

    August 30, 2013 at 12:04 pm

    Great idea, bet it makes a great sound & smells good too, thanks so much for joining in the Outdoor Play Party this week.

    • OneMommy says

      September 1, 2013 at 5:23 pm

      It did smell pretty good! 🙂
      Thanks for hosting!

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