Nativity Scene Play

The girls have really been enjoying the Little People Nativity scene we got this year.  I thought that perhaps I could expand their play a little bit by adding a touch of sensory to it.  We haven't done any of the sensory tubs yet but they really enjoyed a craft they did with rice the other day and I thought they might enjoy this.  We colored some rice green and yellow and then I threw in some brown rice I had.  They played together for about 30 minutes, we took a break to play outside, and then they played for another 30 minutes.  Today they woke up and started playing with it again and came straight back after school to play with it.  I think this is a hit!

Organizing rice and looking at the pieces to decide where to put everything.

Filling it with "straw"

Putting the animals in

Setting the rest of the scene

They got their scarves out to cover part of it after a while.

Notice how the brown and green are separated by the shepherds and sheep.

Trying to cover it for later play.

After a while they took out the nativity scene and got some of their bath toys. Then we cleaned up.  I thought we could vacuum those tiny pieces but Keeley wanted to make sure that we filled that pitcher all the way up so we picked up every single grain of rice!!

Making a rice sandwich with their washcloths.

We had such a good time!  I thought they would be frustrated that today the colors were all mixed up but it has not seemed to bother them at all!  I'll have to investigate this sensory tub thing a bit more.