365: Eat Beans Day

July 3 is Eat Beans Day. In lieu of actually eating the beans, we played with them instead.

I set out a metal bowl and a play tray full of dried northern beans, pinto beans, and split-peas (for extra color) and some measuring cups.

Jude enjoyed moving beans from one container to the other and took special delight in the sound the beans made as they were poured into the metal bowl. The older Jude gets, the less I feel like I need to structure his play. He is a brilliant little boy, and it's more fun for both of us if I just let him figure out what he wants to do.

Other than the obvious skills Jude worked on (pincer grasp, fine-motor, imaginative play), Jude also worked on direction following. There are a lot of "no mouths!" coming from me. He did a really nice job of spitting the beans out if I told him to. If you are doing this activity with a child who loves to taste everything, please be extra careful to watch them. These beans are small!

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365: Eat Beans Day