Quick Feel Box

This week we were talking about sight and being blind. I wanted to engage the kids in using their touch instead of sight, so I wanted to use some of our magnet shapes in a feel box. Now, there are many ways to create a feel box, but I pulled out something that had been lurking in one of my bins.

This particular feel box was one I used when I was working with 1s, so it's useful for all ages of preschoolers. And I like this one because it feeds my need to reuse and repurpose stuff. All you need is an empty oatmeal container and a new (unused) large athletic sock. Slide the sock over the oatmeal box...and you're done. Drop anything inside the box and it's ready to go. (This one also makes it difficult to "cheat" and look at what you are feeling. Not that any of your kids would ever do that.)

I put some of each shape in the box and lay one of each shape on the table. Then a child could feel a shape and guess which shape he was holding. Pull it out to see which shape it is. Here it is in action:

Of course, some of us had to use the shapes to create really cool designs (flowers, stars, etc.).