Sorting Box

Found this cool activity here.
Made it really quickly, because I had to do it while everyone was napping, since there was a boxcutter involved!

I made holes for a few of her wooden blocks (circles and triangles) I made large ovalish holes for her big river rocks. There are three round holes- big, bigger, biggest (for marbles, gems and jingle bells. Also could fit pasta and straws.) The eight little squares are for her numbered/ colored mini-clothespins. The tiny slot at the bottom is for coins. Kenna is obsessed with coins right now.

I left one flap open on the side of the box, so she could reach in and grab the items once they dropped.

I set out some nature walk rocks, and our literacy rocks. Other items I set out included mini-clothespins, erasers, our "gems", some buttons, small jingly bells, and a few coins.

Kenna worked with this box for an hour before nap, and then woke up and we played for another 30 minutes. She loves it! She has made all kinds of interesting discoveries about size, weight, and shape. She loves when the jingle balls hit the bottom of the box.

Extension activities:

use the coin slot as a "bank" or "cash register" and name the coins, count the coins, or "buy" things with the money.

Use the literacy rocks to drop a sentence. "I Love You." Find those word rocks, and drop them into the box in order.

ABCs- get some abcs and drop them in, naming them, or spelling with them. (magnets, foamies, or even puzzle pieces)

soft and loud- drop items in after guessing whether they will be "soft" or "loud" when they land.

Put a metal pan on the bottom of the box to enhance the clangs.

Use tongs to put the items in the holes. (we used our mini-clothespins and that was super-fun!)