I usually don’t mind a mess if my kids are having fun. If they are learning at the same time, then I am more likely to repeat the project or play again despite the mess. Yet I had never done a sensory play project with the boys. I didn’t like the idea of cleaning up sand/rice/etc from everywhere. So I held out for a ling time.
But today I decided that while G napped the boys needed a quiet activity. I had boxes in my cabinet that had tiny amounts left in them-none being enough to make a dinner with. So into two baking pans I dumped rice, 2 pasta shapes, and instant potato flakes (Don’t judge. I only use them if I make my homemade version too runny.). I then put a couple toy cups, a measuring spoon, heart container, and a toy dump truck.
J took to filling the truck up, driving around the pan, and dumping its contents in another part of the pan:

here is j using spoon to fill truck
E liked scooping up with one cup and pouring the contents into another:
E did some munching while he was playing. Crunches of dry pasta came from his end if the table 🙂
Both were so focused on their play that it was almost uncharacteristicly quiet in my kitchen. In fact, I type this out as they still sit here at the table playing almost 40minutes later! I am almost okay with the fact that there is potato flakes and pasta strewn out on the table and dropping onto the floor. After all with this quiet learning and sensory play going on, a little mess is nothing that our dog a vacuum can’t handle.