Texture Boards - replay

Last week, I pulled out our texture boards for the littles to have some sensory fun. I made them last year and we didn't play with them long before packing them away. Ryan was just more interested in other stuff at that time. I actually wanted to present the boards to Rachel this time and so I was surprised to see that Ryan was very keen to play as well. The two of them ended up spending a long time going through all the boards.

For Ryan, the difference was striking. A year ago, he was less inclined to express himself verbally. A year on from then, and now he has a comment, if not an opinion, about every board in the box. He is much more confident in asking questions - "What's this?" He contributes conversational pieces - "This is pasta! I like eating pasta!" (he doesn't). He makes jokes - "These look like biscuits!" He makes up games and invites you to play along - "What colour is the next number on the board, mama?" and "Flip the board upside down, papa! The tassels go upside down!" In fact, Ryan was so enthusiastic about the boards that he chose two of his favourites and brought them with him when we left the house for dinner.

For babydoll, it was all about the textures. She pulled every board out from the box and took her time to explore all the different textures. As this is her first experience with the box, I didn't introduce any vocabulary. I didn't want to distract her from the sensorial aspect of the experience.

And yes, Ryan is wearing his Super Grover T-shirt again. Lately, he's been Superman, Batman, and Super Grover. His favourite, however, is still Super Ryan.

I am hoping that we can get more play out of the boards this time round. Rachel definitely loves touching and feeling the different items on the boards so it will probably be interesting to her for quite some time. As for Ryan, I think there is some scope to expand the activity for his level, so I'll do that. Should be fun!