Rice Tub

Im not a crafty mom, (i have boys, we play outside) but i am a mom who is into the latest and greatest sensory/brain building/creative activities.
Im also into natural play. So if the two go hand in hand, its even better! Trendy, i know.

Ive been hearing a lot of great things about "rice tubs". Great calming activity, yet brain stimulating at the same time. Used by a lot of professional child psychologists....blah blah blah.

I got to work and created a pretty awesome rice tub for Forest to enjoy. I got a little instructional help from a blog that was passed along to me. The woman who has the blog is a complete organizational, have your child do something educational every second of the day, lover of structure, above public school, does a family actually live in that house, nut job type of woman. However, she has a few creative ideas to offer. Its a neat activity that Forest can do inside or outside on the patio. And its currently keeping him busy while i write this blog post.
He helped with the dying process and helped me choose what colors we should use.
Here are some pictures of how it turned out!

Dying a batch of blue rice

Finished product. We did a multi-colored tub

We even some left over to make a mini tub for our friend

Thoroughly enjoying it! He likes to bury his animals

"Parenting means sacrifice. It seems that every couple of years some one comes out with a psychological or sociological study showing that parents have higher levels of anxiety and depression than those without children. I dont dispute those studies at all. The question, though, is, why is there such anxiety, such sadness, in the lives of parents?
I hope i dont succumb to the sin of anxiety or lack of trust in God. But i do worry about my sons.
I hope for the best for them. I felt conviction of sin when i snapped at someone, but i never felt the depression that comes with realizing that ive snapped at one of my sons. I feel sorry for a young man whos been rejected by the woman he thought was meant to be his wife, but ive never cried about it. I can imagine myself weeping behind closed doors, though, if it ever happened to my son.
Ive always loathed child molesters and raged against the way the courts and churches so often coddle them. But ive never had my blood pressure accelerate the way it does when a socially awkward, creepily friendly man kneels to talk to my kids.
Having a baby yanks one into a while new world of responsibility for shaping a life, a family, a future."

Russel Moore Adopted for Life