You're reading Baby Play: Odds and Ends Bucket by Spell Outloud. If you've enjoyed this post, consider following SpellOutloud on Twitter and Facebook
Oh my, I can’t believe how fast Lil Pumpkin is growing! She is 8 1/2 months now, has a bunch of teeth and is getting around quite well. She’s not walking yet but is very close!
I’ve been trying to do some intentional activities with her each day. Lately I’ve been focusing on different ways for her to explore various textures. She loves to crawl on the grass in the backyard.
So I gathered various odds and ends from our toy bin and put them in a bucket. I let her play with them outside.
She clearly had three favorite objects in the bucket. The homemade rattle (a jingle bell in a spice bottle with the lid glued on), the Bristle block, and the red ball from our Melissa and Doug Stacking tower. She is at the fun stage where you can see her learning—I love that! She shook that rattle for the longest time. Then she banged the red ball against the green bowl. And of course, she had to chew on everything!
My 2yr. old saw her sister playing with all these things and decided that was what she wanted to do too. So they both played together. Now any other time when these objects would have been left on the floor, they both wouldn’t have paid any attention to them. But grouping them in a “special” bucket made them seem extra fun. 
Our Sponsors:
Sassafras Science Adventures: Science Education will never be the same again!
Harmony Fine Arts: Affordable Fine Arts Lesson Plans for Busy Moms
EEME: educational hands-on project kits and online video curricula to teach 7-12 year old kids electronics.