B is for Beans

Here it is the end of the week again and I finally have time to sit down and concentrate on writing this post. 

B is for Beans

I really wasn't sure what to do for B at first. Then I remembered the Bean activities I created for the girls. When we were at co-op a couple of weeks ago the one mom brought a bean game for the preschool class to play. She set out dry beans on the floor and the children had to count out the beans to go into their egg cartons that she had written the numbers 1-12 on. 

This reminded me so much of an activity I had created for the girls 2 years ago to go with our B unit.

I filled a small tub with small beans (probably navy beans or great northern beans) and added 12 kidney beans.

The girls had to hunt for the beans (I was going for the sensory tub effect) and place them in the egg carton.

The girls were only to count one to one for this activity. However, when we got home from co-op the other day I had the girls find the correct number of beans for each compartment. It was definitely harder to hide all those beans rather than just the 12. 

Another activity that I came up with later that year was the Great Phonics Hunt.  I used the same tub, but switched to an 18 count egg carton. I placed 6 letters we had already worked on in the top row. Then I placed two objects that started with each letter in the bean tub. They had to match the object to the sound and place it in the holes in the rows beneath the letters.

Beans are one of my favorite sensory box materials. I've also started eating more of them as I strive to be healthier, but...that's a different story for another time (probably on my other blog.).

If you would like to try blogging through the alphabet, don't forget to link up with Marcy from Ben and Me.