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Putting together sensory bins doesn’t have to be complicated and with a few items kept in stock you can set up easy sensory bins quickly on the fly when you need them. Stocking whole coffee beans, coffee grounds (this makes a great “dirt” base), beans, salt, and other common kitchen basics is a great way to have a stock that doesn’t go to waste. The local pound shop or craft store is a great place to find small glass rocks or pebbles to use as a fun filler for your sensory bins. Pound shops often have fun small toys, fairy houses, and even small gardening tools perfect for your sensory bins.

Of course, like anyone with an academic background, we have done some research in the way of reading The Gentle Potty Training Book by Sarah Ockwell-Smith*, and we think we’re ready to make a start this week. However, it’s been on our minds that as M’s peers have all started potty training now, we should probably at least read a book on the matter! I chose Sarah Ockwell-Smith’s book mainly because I saw it in the library, and remembered that she made a lot of sense when I read her book about baby sleep while I was pregnant with M. To be clear, I’m not being paid to advertise this book, but the links in this article are affiliate ones, so if you choose to buy a copy for yourself, I’ll earn a few pennies. I’m not going to recount the whole of the book here, because that wouldn’t be fair to Sarah (click here to buy it! *) but there are a few things that stood out for me, that I think are a bit different to the usual potty training advice.

Every week I join in with Living Arrows, a blog linky run by Donna at What the Redhead Said. The name Living Arrows comes from a poem by Kahlil Gibran; “You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth”, and each Monday I share a photo of M, and one of B, and a bit about what we’ve been up to the previous week. I’ve been itching to finish decluttering since B moved into her own room, but it’s difficult to do anything effectively with a two year old and a one year old in tow! It’s by no means finished, though, so hopefully I’ll get a bit more done next week!

Easter Egg Hunt by Sam Taplin, and we’ve been using the paint sticks to do some Easter egg painting. Little Brian kindly sent us a wide selection of products to choose from for this craft activity, but we chose to use the pack of 24 mini paint sticks. The paint sticks don’t require any water; you just remove the lid, twist them up like a pritt stick and paint with them. I don’t think we’d have achieved better results with conventional paint, especially as the paint sticks are so quick-drying, so we were able to layer different colours easily.