Sensory bins

So I had this brilliant idea!  I am going to make baby girl sensory bins!  She'll love them, it'll be great.  I watched a ton of videos on different bins and decided on a rice bin and a water bead bin. 

What could go wrong?  Everyone in the videos were having so much fun! 

I had such wrong expectations for these activities. 

Enjoying her new rice bin

First the rice bin.  Oh she so does love it!  Everything about it.  Especially throwing the rice everywhere.  She pours it from cup to cup, uses the spoons to pick up and put it on the floor.  She can't wait to get her hands in there to throw it above her head like confetti.  I started singing "make it rain, make it rain, rice rice rice!" today.  Which got a huge laugh out of her, but it was seriously humor to avoid screaming. 

And when it's time to take the rice away?  Oh the melt downs.  She wants to keep throwing it everywhere and can't understand when papa says that it's time for the bin to go away for a while.  You'd think I was killing her slowly with each grain of rice she can't throw on the floor! 

Aren't they so pretty?

Then we have the lovely water bead bin.  This one was my favorite.  I watched a video on using the ginormous water beads, for safety and all so they can't be swallowed whole, and because kids can easily pick them up!  So I immediately went online and ordered them.  Waited for 2 day shipping (free!) and then plunged about 10 into water and waited 3 days for them to fully swell (no ridges!).  Then I place then on the table for her and waited for magic.

Oh there was magic alright.  The magic of how quickly can she decimate the entire bin.  She got 4 beads in before I took the bin away from her.  That melt down she had over rice?  Quadruple it.  She was livid!  Absolutely livid. 

So, I'm sure this goes without saying, sensory bins are put away for a while.  The screaming, the tantrums, the mess.. just aren't worth it for right now.  I'm not saying forever, please don't yell at me over it, but I am saying for my sanity, this isn't going to happen again for a bit. 

Some of the carnage