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Monday, March 26, 2012

Farm Themed Sensory Bin

Howdy Folks!
As we start gearing up for the summer and our exciting Ranch Roundups that are just around the corner, we wanted to celebrate with a whole week dedicated to education!

So, to kick things off, here is one of our favorite farm-themed activity that you can do with your kiddos.  Plus, it can be made for only a few dollars!

A Faulkner's Ranch Farm Themed Sensory Bin
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 Hold up there pardner! What exactly is a sensory bin?
A sensory bin is a bunch of fun contained to one small bin or plastic tub.  
Sensory bins touch on all of the senses.  They are… 
  • Visually appealing (Most are so colorful that you just want to dive right in!) 
  • Texturally appealing (From soft fur to grainy corn, there is a wide variety of things to feel)
  • Audibly appealing (the crunch-crunch of objects being buried into the grain or the soothing sound of fabric leaves rubbing together)

Sensory bins appeal to a child’s senses in a fun way and on many different levels.  However, they do more than just provide imaginative play.  While sensory activities are achieved with these fun bins, a great deal of learning and developmental activities are encountered with sensory bins as well!  From toddlers to school aged children, a sensory bin can develop skills such as…
  • Fine Motor (placing small objects into small areas, using tongs or tweezers to pick up objects)
  • Transferring (moving objects from one container to another, i.e. pouring, scooping)
  • Matching (colors, shapes, objects, etc.)
  • Patterns (big, small, big, small or flower, butterfly, flower, butterfly, etc.)
  • Counting (how many of certain items do you see?)
  • Sorting and Classifying (into other objects such as ice cube trays, small buckets, egg platters)
  • Specific skill recognition & reinforcement (colors, letters, shapes, themes, etc.)

The possibilities are truly endless!
(Information on sensory bins from A Purpose Driven Home.)

To Make a Sensory Bin Like the One Pictured Above You Will Need:
  • A Plastic Tote - You can get these at the dollar store, Target, or Walmart
  • A Base Filler - This can be wood pellets, hay, corn kernels, bird seed, etc.
  •  Farmed Themed Objects - Examples include plastic farm animals, toy tractors, fake apples, etc.
  • Tools to Play With - Scoops, Tongs, Cups, etc.

Be as creative as your little heart desires! In fact, here are some more adorable farmed themed sensory bins to get ideas from:
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We love the mason jars in this one! They also included a wooden bowl and colored beads! Very fun!

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 This adorable bin from Counting Coconuts cost under $2 to make! 
 Some of our favorite things in this bin were the feathers, raffia for hay, the sugar spoon, and the plastic eggs left over from Easter.

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 We love the feed scoops and tongs used in this sensory bin! Plus, the noodles add for lots of extra fun!


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 This sensory bin from Pre-School Play took a different take on the sensory bin by dividing it into sections like  a real farm.  Our favorite was the pig pen, where chocolate playdough became the mud for the piggies!

Of course, parental supervision is always recommended (otherwise you might have chicken feed covering the floor of your house before you know it!)

Be sure to tag pictures of your sensory bins on our Facebook page! We'd love to see them!

Have a Happy Monday,

PS - If you are interested in learning more about our Ranch Round-Ups, click here!

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

AND THE WINNER IS...

Today, all the way from Florida, Marilyn and the Faulkner Fam drew the winner of the free pony party!

(So sunny. So tan.  It's okay to be jealous.)

AND THE LUCKY WINNER OF A FREE PONY PARTY IS...
*drumroll*
Sylvia Warner at Christ Lutheran School!

CONGRATS Syliva and a special thanks to everyone who entered!

Stay tuned for our next giveaway!

And by the way, did we mention that today
is Marilyn's Birthday?!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARILYN!

~ Your Friends at Faulkner's

Saturday, March 3, 2012

The Word from the Herd: Projects and Parties

Projects and Parties
Guest Post by Cowgirl Christine


Projects...
Picture this, two white legal pads.
One to-do list titled "HOME" and one titled "RANCH."

My to-do lists are subdivided by daily to-do’s and parking lots aka stuff I will get to eventually.  There is no greater satisfaction than crossing right through a single line item once the chore has been done.  And by done I mean “all the way rayed”.  All the way ray is a phrase we use a lot in our home.  Dishes for example are not all way the rayed until they removed from the table, scraped, rinsed, and stuck in the dishwasher.  Know what I mean?  Start to finish.  


Here are a few items I have recently crossed off the ole to-do list:
We planted some new trees at both the Ranch and the homestead.   This was a BIG project.  I did actually think I could dig the holes myself and get er done but in the end it took a bobcat and auger.  A BIG thanks to Matt and Fransisco for planting the trees.  I love them!


Also, in effort to make a more cozy home I have pimped my machines thanks to my cool cuz, Lisa Gosselin.

The next 2 projects I did not personally build or construct or create myself but they will soon be crossed off my to-do list ranch.

1.  Fransisco built a new fence. WOO HOO!

2.  Richard is re-storing our 50 year old mechanical pony.  (More on this to come.)   

This made me so excited for the inaugural Saturday, breaking it in with 7 pony parties!

Speaking of parties...
People dress up for pony parties and I love everything about the cool cowboy and cowgirl couture I see here on Saturdays.  I think my love of Western fashion is in my blood going way back to the days of the old Western Wear Store.  

That’s all for now.   There will be plenty to report after this past weekend with 7 pony parties, 2 corporate events on Saturday, and a photo shoot with the amazing Russ Lawrence on Sunday.
Word, 
Cowgirl Christine

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