The best laid plans, right? With the car fully loaded we headed to the library for our sensory workshop for children ages 18 months to 4 years old. I had my lesson plan all mapped out, things to talk about while the children explored all the fun sensory stations we had created. We had it all (water, colored rice, water beads, pinto beans, and shaving cream on trays). Moving on to gross motor we had a long tunnel, “balance beam” made of tape, bean bag toss, and scooter boards.

I had my little talk I planned on having, about why sensory exploration is essential for young children. I also had some suggestions for those kinds of activities and how to best do them on a budget. In addition I wanted to talk about the vestibular and proprioceptive senses that are lesser known and what they do and why they are important.

The room was all set up with organization and preparation…in my mind I had thought of every possible scenario. I also thought to bring tarps, large blankets, paper towels, and wipes. One of my pet peeves is being unprepared. I was prepared!!! What could go wrong?

So this (see below) happened…AND IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!!! I tossed my lesson plan with reckless abandon and went with it. It was loud, it was messy — it was soooooooooooooooo messy I still feel bad about it, but all my little friends had a ball. The beautiful (and new, I might add) room was a disaster. Little water beads squished into the carpet EVERYWHERE, pinto beans and rice all over the place…oh dear…but I would do it again in a heartbeat.

We had a lot of very young friends. When everyone arrived it was just too difficult to try to keep the children from wanting to dive head first into, well, everything. They were getting restless. Parents had that look in their eyes, kind of a pleading look, which I completely understood. They needed to be busy. And they were!!!!!

I hope the library takes a chance on me again once they have recovered.  Maybe next time I will be able to think of a way to talk a little more, if nothing else to explain the importance of why we were all gathered there in the first place. There were probably, I don’t know, maybe 50 – 60 people (adults and children) there. And I am so grateful for each and every one of them. Thank you Scott County Public Library for allowing me to come, and thank you parents for bringing your adorable children for some library fun.